BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2560|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2560
Author: Bonilla (D)
Amended: 4/22/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/4/14
AYES: Liu, Wyland, Block, Hancock, Huff, Monning
NO VOTE RECORDED: Correa, Vacancy, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/8/14 (Consent) - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Teacher credentialing: applications: child abuse
reporting
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing (CTC), to require a credential holder, as part of
the initial issuance or renewal of a credential, to read and
attest by signature, a statement regarding their duties as a
mandated reporter.
ANALYSIS : Under the existing Child Abuse and Neglect
Reporting Act (CANRA), all school district teachers and
employees are considered to be "mandated reporters," including
instructional aides, teacher assistants, classified employees,
and employees of a school district police or security
department. Mandated reporters are required to report to any
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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 CANRA 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, existing 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, existing 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.
Existing 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.
Existing 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 the 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.
This bill requires the CTC, to require a credential holder, as
part of the initial issuance or renewal of a credential, to read
and attest by signature, a statement regarding their duties as a
mandated reporter. Specifically, this bill:
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1. Requires an initial applicant or renewal applicant who renews
their credential online, to read and attest by electronic
signature a specified statement that the applicant
understands the duties imposed by CANRA. Initial applicants
who renew by paper are also required to read and attest by
signature their duties under CANRA, as specified.
2. Codifies the language of the statement that the initial
applicant and renewal applicants are required to read and
sign.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/14)
Antioch Unified School District
Association of California School Administrators
California School Boards Association
California State PTA
California State Sheriffs' Association
California Teachers Association
Child Abuse Prevention Center
Commission on Teacher Credentialing
Concord Police Department
Contra Costa County Office of Education
County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department
EdVoice
Monument Crisis Center
Mt. Diablo Unified School District
Office of the District Attorney, Contra Costa County
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, there
has been a growing trend where mandated reporters have reported
suspected child abuse or neglect only to school administration
and not to law enforcement or child protective services. In
2013, in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, there were
cases of suspected abuse reported by several teachers to a
school principal. However, the school principal never
communicated the suspected abuse to authorities and instead, the
school attempted to internally address the alleged abuse. The
abuse continued and when law enforcement was finally informed,
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it was discovered that more than a dozen children had been
abused.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/8/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande,
Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A.
P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Mansoor, V.
Manuel P�rez, Vacancy
PQ:d 6/25/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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