BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 135
Page 1
Date of Hearing: January 23, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 135 (Buchanan) - As Amended: January 6, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:
7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires the governing board of a school district,
county office of education (COE), or charter school, to adopt a
policy on reporting child abuse and the responsibilities of
mandated reporters in accordance with the Child Abuse and
Neglect and Reporting Act (CANRA). This bill requires the
policy to be reviewed within the first six weeks of each school
year at a regularly scheduled staff meeting.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs, of at least
$500,000, to school districts, COEs, and governing bodies of
charter schools to adopt a policy on the reporting of child
abuse, as specified. There were 1,016 districts and COEs in
2011-12. There are 1,066 charter schools in the state; it is
unknown, however, how many are governed by the same body.
2)Annual GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs, of
approximately $50,000, for school districts and COEs (charter
school costs are not reimbursable) to provide a copy of the
policy to all school employees at a regularly scheduled staff
meeting.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Recent newspaper accounts have detailed severe
allegations of incidents involving children at school.
According to the author, "Too many incidents across the state
have shown us that school personnel are not always aware of
their duty to report incidents of child abuse and neglect.
AB 135
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This results in individual criminal and civil liability for
the employee, liability for the district, and most
importantly, does not protect children. Currently, all
teachers, aides, classified and administrative employees have
a duty to report under [CANRA]. Failure to make a report can
result in jail time and/or a $1,000 fine. The law is clear,
but school employees need regular reminders of their
responsibilities to maintain a safe school environment for
children."
2)Existing law. Current law encourages employers (including
school districts, and COEs) to provide their mandated reporter
employees with training in the duties required under the Child
Abuse and Neglect Reporting Mandate (CANRA). Regardless if
employers provide this training to their employees, they are
required to provide these employees (prior to employment) with
a statement for their signature informing them of their
responsibilities as a mandated reporter. Likewise, statute
specifies mandated reporter employees are responsible for the
duties required under CANRA whether or not they have been
trained in these responsibilities.
Current law also requires school districts that do not provide
mandated reporter training to report to SDE the reasons why
this training is not provided. According to SDE, they have no
record of any districts providing this information.
Therefore, school districts are presumably providing this type
of training.
3)K-12 Mandate Block Grant . The 2012-13 Budget Act created the
K-12 Mandate Block Grant that allows a school district,
charter school, or COE to choose to receive a per-pupil
allocation to conduct existing K-12 mandated activities,
including those related to the CANRA mandate. If the
district, charter school, or COE chooses to receive this
allocation it forfeits its ability to claim mandate
reimbursement via the existing state process. The advantage
of this block grant is school districts will receive annual
funding now versus waiting to receive full payment under the
existing claims process, which the state has deferred paying
for a number of years.
The 2013 Budget Act allocated $217 million for this block
grant. This reflects an increase of $50 million over the
prior year due to the addition of the High School Graduation
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mandate. Presumably if the requirements of this measure are
determined to be a state mandated program, its requirements
and associated costs would be added to the block grant.
Prior to the enactment of the K-12 Mandate Block Grant, the
annual cost of the CANRA mandate was approximately $14,000
GF/98.
4)Related legislation . AB 1432 (Gatto), as introduced, requires
the Department of Education, in consultation with the State
Department of Justice and Department of Social Services, to
adopt a policy on the reporting requirements for CANRA. The
bill also requires mandated reporters to annually review the
policy and certify online that they have reviewed the policy.
5)Prior legislation. AB 1338 (Buchanan), 2013, held on Suspense
in this committee, is substantially similar to this bill.
AB 1435 (Dickenson), 2012, required training for
school-employed mandated reporters. This requirement was
deleted from the bill in this committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081