California Assembly Bill AB717 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 717INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ammiano FEBRUARY 17, 2011 An act to amend Section 11169 of the Penal Code, relating to the Child Abuse Central Index. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 717, as introduced, Ammiano. Child Abuse Central Index. Existing law, subject to exceptions, requires specified local agencies to forward to the Department of Justice a report in writing of every case it investigates of known or suspected child abuse or severe neglect which is determined not to be unfounded, for purposes of inclusion by the department in the Child Abuse Central Index. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to those provisions. 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 11169 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 11169. (a) An agency specified in Section 11165.9 shall forward to the Department of Justice a report in writing of every case it investigates of known or suspected child abuse or severe neglect  which   that  is determined not to be unfounded, other than cases coming within subdivision (b) of Section 11165.2. An agency shall not forward a report to the Department of Justice unless it has conducted an active investigation and determined that the report is not unfounded, as defined in Section 11165.12. If a report has previously been filed which subsequently proves to be unfounded, the Department of Justice shall be notified in writing of that fact and shall not retain the report. The reports required by this section shall be in a form approved by the Department of Justice and may be sent by fax or electronic transmission. An agency specified in Section 11165.9 receiving a written report from another agency specified in Section 11165.9 shall not send that report to the Department of Justice. (b) At the time an agency specified in Section 11165.9 forwards a report in writing to the Department of Justice pursuant to subdivision (a), the agency shall also notify in writing the known or suspected child abuser that he or she has been reported to the Child Abuse Central Index. The notice required by this section shall be in a form approved by the Department of Justice. The requirements of this subdivision shall apply with respect to reports forwarded to the department on or after the date on which this subdivision becomes operative. (c) Agencies shall retain child abuse or neglect investigative reports that result in a report filed with the Department of Justice pursuant to subdivision (a) for the same period of time that the information is required to be maintained on the Child Abuse Central Index pursuant to this section and subdivision (a) of Section 11170. Nothing in this section precludes an agency from retaining the reports for a longer period of time if required by law. (d) The immunity provisions of Section 11172 shall not apply to the submission of a report by an agency pursuant to this section. However, nothing in this section shall be construed to alter or diminish any other immunity provisions of state or federal law.