BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1137
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Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1137 (Huff) - As Amended: April 10, 2012
Policy Committee: Education Vote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires all heritage school employees to be mandated
reporters and subject to the requirements of the Child Abuse and
Neglect Reporting Act (the Act). This measure also requires
each heritage school to file an electronic registration form to
the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), regardless of
one entity operates multiple schools.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor, absorbable GF administrative impact to both the State
Department of Education and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for
implementing requirements associated with the Act.
COMMENTS
1)Background . SB 1116 (Huff), Chapter 286, Statutes of 2010,
established a statewide process for operating a heritage
school, including requiring the school to file an electronic
registration form with the SPI and requiring all employees (if
they have contact with pupils) to abide by criminal background
checks conducted by DOJ, as specified.
Heritage schools vary in size and location throughout the
state. Traditionally, many have been referred to as Chinese,
Greek, or Japanese Schools because they provide enrichment for
children by ensuring that they maintain their cultural
heritage. Those types of schools have expanded fairly recently
to include many other cultures. The intent of these schools is
to maintain cultural heritages throughout generations. It is
not known how many of these schools exist in California and
what form they take. Some provide education only to children,
SB 1137
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while others mix adult and child students. To date, there are
373 heritage schools registered in the state. Of this amount,
164 heritage schools registered with the SPI in 2011 and 209
have registered in 2012.
2)Purpose . According to the author: "In an effort to provide an
even safer environment for students enrolled in the heritage
school programs, SB 1137 seeks to specify that each school
must register with the SPI. Further, the measure enhances the
electronic registration form by requiring the acknowledgement
that all heritage school employees must report any and all
known child abuse."
3)Current law regarding mandated reporters specifies a long list
of a mandated reporters, including teachers, specified school
employees, day camp administrators, social workers,
firefighters, physicians, coroners, clergy, and alcohol and
drug counselors, who if they have knowledge of a child in his
or her professional capacity or within the scope of his or her
employment, being abused or neglected, must report the
incident to law enforcement or child protection authorities as
soon as possible, with a written report within 36 hours. The
authorities who receive the reports are in turn required to
provide this information, once substantiated, to the DOJ,
which serves as a repository of the information in the Child
Abuse Central Index.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081