Bill Text: CA AB1913 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Pupil safety: child abuse prevention: training.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 814, Statutes of 2024. [AB1913 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB1913-Chaptered.html
Assembly Bill
No. 1913
CHAPTER 814
An act to amend, repeal, and add Section 44691 of the Education Code, relating to pupil safety.
[
Approved by
Governor
September 28, 2024.
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 28, 2024.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1913, Addis.
Pupil safety: child abuse prevention: training.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Office of Child Abuse Prevention in the State Department of Social Services, to, among other things, (1) develop and disseminate information to all school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools, and their school personnel in California, regarding the detection and reporting of child abuse, (2) establish best practices for school personnel to prevent abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs, as provided, and (3) 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.
This bill would revise and recast these provisions by, among other things, requiring the department to (1) additionally develop and disseminate information to all school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools, and their school personnel in California, regarding the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs, and (2) additionally develop appropriate means of instructing school personnel in the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs, as provided. The bill would delete the above-described requirement that the State Department of Education establish best practices for school
personnel to prevent abuse, and would, commencing July 1, 2025, delete the existing requirement that the department 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, as provided.
Existing law requires school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools to provide annual training, using the online training module provided by the State Department of Social Services or an alternative training, to their employees and persons working on their behalf who are mandated reporters, as defined, on the mandated reporting requirements related to child abuse, as provided. Existing law also requires those entities to develop a process for all persons required to receive that training to provide proof of completing the
training within the first 6 weeks of each school year or within the first 6 weeks of that person’s employment. Existing law encourages those entities to participate in training on the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs, and also encourages those entities to provide all school employees with that training at least once every 3 years.
Commencing July 1, 2025, this bill would additionally require school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools to, among other things, provide annual training to their employees on the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs, as provided, and would apply the above-described proof of training requirements to this training. By imposing new duties on
local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 44691 of the Education Code is amended to read:44691.
(a) The State Department of Education, in consultation with the Office of Child Abuse Prevention in the State Department of Social Services, shall do all of the following:(1) Develop and disseminate information to all school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools, and their school personnel in California, regarding the detection and reporting of child abuse.
(2) Provide statewide guidance on the responsibilities of mandated reporters who are school personnel in accordance with the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 11164) of Chapter 2 of Title 1 of
Part 4 of the Penal Code). This guidance shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, both of the following:
(A) Information on the identification of child abuse and neglect.
(B) Reporting requirements for child abuse and neglect.
(3) 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.
(b) (1) The State Department of Education shall develop and disseminate information to all school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic
centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools, and their school personnel in California, regarding the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs.
(2) The State Department of Education shall develop appropriate means of instructing school personnel regarding the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs.
(c) School districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools shall do both of the following:
(1) Provide annual training, using the online training module provided by the State Department of Social Services or as
provided in subdivision (d), to their employees and persons working on their behalf who are mandated reporters, as defined in Section 11165.7 of the Penal Code, pursuant to this section and subdivision (d) of Section 11165.7 of the Penal Code on the mandated reporting requirements. Mandated reporter training shall be provided to school personnel hired during the course of the school year. This training shall include information that failure to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect, as required by Section 11166 of the Penal Code, 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 that imprisonment and fine.
(2) Develop a process for all persons required to receive training pursuant to this section 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. The process developed under this paragraph 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 or body of the school district, county office of education, state special school and diagnostic center, or charter school.
(d) School districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools that do not use the online training module provided by the State Department of Social Services shall report to the State Department of Education the training being used in its place.
(e) School districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools are encouraged to participate in
training on the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs, and are also encouraged to provide all school employees with that training at least once every three years.
(f) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2025, and, as of January 1, 2026, is repealed.
SEC. 2.
Section 44691 is added to the Education Code, to read:44691.
(a) The State Department of Education, in consultation with the Office of Child Abuse Prevention in the State Department of Social Services, shall do all of the following:(1) Develop and disseminate information to all school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools, and their school personnel in California, regarding the detection and reporting of child abuse, and post on the department’s internet website links to existing training resources.
(2) Provide statewide guidance on the responsibilities of mandated reporters who are school personnel in accordance with the Child
Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 11164) of Chapter 2 of Title 1 of Part 4 of the Penal Code). This guidance shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, both of the following:
(A) Information on the identification of child abuse and neglect.
(B) Reporting requirements for child abuse and neglect.
(b) (1) The State Department of Education shall develop and disseminate information to all school districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools, and their school personnel in California, regarding the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs.
(2) The State Department of Education shall develop appropriate means of instructing school personnel regarding the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs.
(c) School districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of Education, and charter schools shall do the following:
(1) (A) Provide annual training, using the online training module provided by the State Department of Social Services or as provided in subdivision (d), to their employees and persons working on their behalf who are mandated reporters, as defined in Section 11165.7 of the Penal Code, pursuant to this section and subdivision (d) of Section 11165.7 of the Penal Code on the
mandated reporting requirements. This training shall include information that failure to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect, as required by Section 11166 of the Penal Code, 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 that imprisonment and fine.
(B) Provide annual training on the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs.
(C) The training provided pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B) shall be provided to school personnel hired during the course of the school year.
(D) It is the intent of the Legislature that the child abuse prevention content, as added by Assembly Bill 1913 of the 2023–24 Regular
Session, will not add to the duration of training requirements pursuant to this section, as it read on January 1, 2024, but instead only alter the content of those training requirements.
(2) Develop a process for all persons required to receive training pursuant to this section 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. The process developed under this paragraph 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 or body of the school district, county office of education, state special school and diagnostic center, or charter school.
(d) School districts, county offices of education, state special schools and diagnostic centers operated by the State Department of
Education, and charter schools that do not use the online training module provided by the State Department of Social Services shall report to the State Department of Education the training being used in its place.
(e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2025.
