BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1432|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1432
Author: Gatto (D), et al.
Amended: 8/4/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/18/14
AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Huff, Monning
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-2, 6/24/14
AYES: Hancock, De Le�n, Liu, Mitchell, Steinberg
NOES: Anderson, Knight
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/14/14
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 66-5, 5/28/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Mandated child abuse reporting: school employees:
training
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires local education agencies to
annually train employees on their duties regarding the mandated
reporting of child abuse and neglect, as specified.
ANALYSIS : Under the existing Child Abuse and Neglect
Reporting Act, all school district teachers and employees are
considered to be "mandated reporters," including instructional
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aides, teacher assistants, classified employees, and employees
of a school district police or security department. Mandated
reporters are required to report to any law enforcement
department knowledge or observations they may have of a child
they know or reasonably suspect to have been the subject of
child abuse or neglect. The individual report must be made by
telephone immediately or as soon as practicable with a written
or electronic follow up within 36 hours.
The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act also specifies that
employers are strongly encouraged to provide their employees who
are mandated reporters with training in the duties imposed,
including training in child abuse and neglect identification and
training in child abuse and neglect reporting. School districts
that do not train their employees in the duties of mandated
reporters are required to report to the California Department of
Education (CDE) the reasons why this training is not provided.
Additionally, current law requires any mandated reporter, with
the exception of child visitation monitors, prior to commencing
his/her employment, to sign a statement on a form (provided by
the employer) to the effect that he/she has knowledge of the
mandated reporting procedures and will comply with those
provisions. Further, current law provides that the statement
shall inform the employee that he/she is a mandated reporter and
inform the employee of his/her reporting obligations and
confidentiality rights.
Current law requires school districts and county offices of
education to create comprehensive school safety plans for their
schools and requires the school safety plans to include child
abuse reporting procedures, as specified.
Current law also requires the State Office of Child Abuse
Prevention to develop and disseminate information to all school
districts and district school personnel regarding the detection
of child abuse. The information may be disseminated by the use
of literature, as deemed suitable by CDE. Staff development
seminars and any other appropriate means of instructing school
personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and the
proper action that school personnel should take in suspected
cases of child abuse and neglect, shall be developed by the CDE.
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This bill:
1.Deletes the requirement in current law for the State Office of
Child Abuse Prevention to develop and disseminate information
to all school districts and school personnel in California
regarding the detection of child abuse; deletes the
authorization for the information to be disseminated by the
use of literature; and deletes the requirement for the CDE to
develop staff development seminars and any other appropriate
means of instructing school personnel in the detection of
child abuse and neglect and the proper action that school
personnel should take in suspected cases.
2.Requires the CDE, in consultation with the Office of Child
Abuse Prevention to do all of the following:
A. Develop and disseminate information to all school
districts, county offices of education, state special
schools and diagnostic centers operated by CDE, and charter
schools, and their school personnel in California,
regarding the detection and reporting of child abuse.
B. Provide statewide guidance on the responsibilities of
mandated reporters who are school personnel in accordance
with the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. The
guidance shall include, but not be limited to, the
information on the identification of child abuse and
neglect and reporting requirements for child abuse and
neglect.
C. Develop appropriate means of instructing school
personnel in the detection of child abuse and neglect and
the proper action that school personnel should take in
suspected cases of child abuse and neglect, including, but
not limited to, an online training module to be provided by
the State Department of Social Services (DSS).
1.Requires all school districts, county offices of education,
state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by CDE,
and charter schools to do the following:
A. Provide annual training, as specified, to their
employees and persons working on their behalf who are
mandated reporters, as defined, on the mandated reporting
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requirements; provides that mandated reporter training
shall be provided to school personnel hired during the
course of the year; and requires the training to include
information that failure to report an incident of known or
reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect is a
misdemeanor punishable by up to six months confinement in a
county jail, or by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000)
or by both imprisonment and fine.
B. Develop a process for all persons required to receive
training to provide proof of completing the training within
the first six weeks of each school year or within the first
six weeks of that person's employment. This process may
include, but not necessarily be limited to, the use of a
sign-in sheet or the submission of a certificate of
completion to the applicable governing board school
district or body of the school district, county office of
education, state special school and diagnostic center, or
charter school.
C. Requires a school district, county office of education,
state special school and diagnostic center operated by CDE,
and charter school that does not use the online training
module provided by the DSS to report to CDE the training
being used in its place.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
CDE: Potentially significant one-time costs, likely in the
tens of thousands of dollars, to coordinate with DSS to
update the DSS training module, disseminate information to
schools, and provide guidance on the new requirements. Minor
ongoing workload to provide annual guidance.
DSS: Minor and absorbable workload to coordinate with the
CDE to update the online training module.
Mandate: Substantial reimbursable mandate for all schools
to annually train employees on their duties as mandated
reporters.
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SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/14)
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Federation of Teachers
California Police Chiefs Association
California School Employees Association
California State PTA
California Teachers Association
Child Abuse Listening, Interviewing & Coordination Center
Child Abuse Prevention Center
Crime Victims United of California
EdVoice
Hillsides
Keenan & Associates
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Los Angeles Unified School District
National Association of Social Workers
Northern California Regional Liability Excess Fund
Schools Association For Excess Risk JPA
Southern California Regional Liability Excess Fund
Statewide Association of Community Colleges
StudentsFirst
United Teachers Los Angeles
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Proponents of the bill argue that
school employees are not always aware of their duty to report
incidents of child abuse and neglect or are unsure of the proper
procedures for making reports. Additionally, recent incidents
have highlighted the lack of training of educators in their role
as a mandated reporter. In either case, this could lead to
incidents of unreported child abuse by school employees. To
address these issues, several pieces of legislation have
recently been introduced to take extra steps deemed necessary to
ensure that children are better protected.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 66-5, 5/28/14
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
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Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Melendez,
Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea,
John A. P�rez, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,
Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Donnelly, Hagman, Jones, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Ch�vez, Conway, Dahle, Beth Gaines,
Grove, Mansoor, Patterson, Vacancy
PQ:nl 8/17/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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