BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 832 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 832 (Cristina Garcia) As Amended April 16, 2015 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes | |----------------+------+----------------------+---------------------| |Public Safety |5-2 |Quirk, Gonzalez, |Melendez, Lackey | | | |Jones-Sawyer, Low, | | | | |Santiago | | | | | | | |----------------+------+----------------------+---------------------| |Appropriations |10-5 |Gomez, Bloom, Bonta, |Bigelow, Chang, | | | |Eggman, Eduardo |Gallagher, Jones, | | | |Garcia, Holden, |Wagner | | | |Quirk, Rendon, Weber, | | | | |Wood | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: Provides that "sexual assault" for purposes of reporting incidents of abuse under the Child Abuse Neglect and Reporting Act (CANRA) does not include voluntary acts of sodomy, oral copulation, or sexual penetration, unless it involves a person who is 21 years of age or older engaging in these acts with a minor who is under 16 years of age. EXISTING LAW: 1)Establishes CANRA for the purpose of protecting children from AB 832 Page 2 abuse and neglect. 2)Defines "child" under CANRA to mean a person under the age of 18 years. 3)Enumerates categories of persons who are mandated reporters under CANRA. 4)Requires, except as provided, a mandated reporter to make a report to a specified agency whenever the mandated reporter, in his or her professional capacity or within the scope of his or her employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. The mandated reporter shall make an initial report to the agency immediately or as soon as is practicably possible by telephone and shall prepare and send, fax, or electronically transmit a written follow up report within 36 hours of receiving the information concerning the incident. The mandated reporter may include with the report any nonprivileged documentary evidence the mandated reporter possesses relating to the incident. 5)Defines "reasonable suspicion" to mean that it is objectively reasonable for a person to entertain a suspicion, based upon the facts that could cause a reasonable person in a like position, drawing, when appropriate, on his or her training and experience, to suspect child abuse or neglect. 6)Provides that any mandated reporter who fails to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect as required by this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months confinement in a county jail or by a fine of $1,000 or by both that imprisonment and fine. If a mandated reporter intentionally conceals his or her failure to report an incident known by the mandated reporter to be abuse or severe neglect under this section, the failure to report is a AB 832 Page 3 continuing offense until a specified agency discovers the offense. 7)Defines "child abuse or neglect" under CANRA to include physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined, neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or health of a child as defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury as defined. 8)States that "sexual abuse" means sexual assault or sexual exploitation. 9)Defines "sexual assault" as conduct in violation of one or more of the following crimes: rape, statutory rape involving a person who is 21 years of age or older with a minor who is under 16 years of age, rape in concert, incest, sodomy with a person who is under 18 years of age, lewd or lascivious acts upon a child who is under 14, or who is 14 or 15 years of age by a person who is at least 10 years older than the child, oral copulation, sexual penetration, or child molestation, as specified. 10)States that any person 21 years of age or older who engages in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is under 16 years of age is guilty of an alternate felony/misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment in county jail for two, three, or four years. 11)Makes any person over 21 years of age who participates in an act of sodomy with another person who is under 16 years of age guilty of a felony, except as provided in provisions of law related to lewd and lascivious conduct with minors under the age of 14. AB 832 Page 4 12)Provides that any person over 21 years of age who participates in an act of oral copulation with another person who is under 16 years of age is guilty of a felony, except as provided in provisions of law related to lewd and lascivious conduct with minors under the age of 14. 13)States, except as provided in provisions of law related to lewd and lascivious conduct with minors under the age of 14, any person over 21 years of age who participates in an act of sexual penetration with another person who is under 16 years of age shall be guilty of a felony. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, negligible state costs. COMMENTS: According to the author, "AB 832 creates a clear, uniform, and non-discriminatory standard for mandated reporters to follow when reporting instances of consensual sexual expressions amongst minors. Clear and consistent reporting requirements would ensure that reporters are more confident and knowledgeable about what needs to be reported and result in increased safety for our youth. "AB 832 would treat all consensual sexual activity the same way that sexual intercourse is treated for the purposes of child abuse reporting. All activity that is exploitive or coercive in nature would remain a mandated report." Analysis Prepared by: Stella Choe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0000255 AB 832 Page 5