BILL NUMBER: AB 2410INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fuller FEBRUARY 19, 2010 An act to amend Section 13879.80 of the Penal Code, relating to child abuse. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2410, as introduced, Fuller. Child abuse: crime scenes: hallucinogens, methamphetamine, cocaine, PCP, and heroin. Existing law encourages every law enforcement and social services agency in this state to develop, adopt, and implement written policies and standards for their response to narcotics crime scenes where a child is either immediately present or where there is evidence that a child lives. Existing law provides that these policies shall reflect the fact that exposing a child to the manufacturing, trafficking, and use of narcotics is criminal conduct and that a response coordinated by law enforcement and social services agencies is essential to the child's health and welfare. This bill would make these provisions applicable also to crime scenes involving hallucinogens, methamphetamine, cocaine, PCP, and heroin. Existing law further provides that the needs of a drug endangered child are best served with written policies encouraging the arrest of an individual for child endangerment where there is probable cause that an offense has been committed coordinated with an appropriate investigation of the child's welfare by child protective agencies, and that protocols that encourage a dependency investigation contemporaneous with a law enforcement investigation at a narcotics crime scene, when appropriate, are consistent with a child's best interest. This bill would provide that the removal of a child from a crime scene, when appropriate, is also consistent with the child's best interest. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 13879.80 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 13879.80. (a) Every law enforcement and social services agency in this state is encouraged to develop, adopt, and implement written policies and standards for their response tonarcoticscrime scenes involving narcotics or hallucinogens where a child is either immediately present or where there is evidence that a child lives, by January 1, 2005. These policies shall reflect the fact that exposing a child to the manufacturing, trafficking, and use of narcotics or hallucinogens is criminal conduct and that a response coordinated by law enforcement and social services agencies is essential to the child's health and welfare. (b) The needs of a drug endangered child are best served with written policies encouraging the arrest of an individual for child endangerment where there is probable cause that an offense has been committed coordinated with an appropriate investigation of the child' s welfare by child protective agencies. Protocols that encourage a dependency investigation , and removal of the child from the crime scene , contemporaneous with a law enforcement investigation at anarcoticscrime scene involving narcotics or hallucinogens , when appropriate, are consistent with a child's best interest. (c) Subdivisions (a) and (b) shall also apply to crime scenes involving methamphetamine, cocaine, phencyclidine (PCP), and heroin.