Selected 2011 California Child-Related Bills
(Click on bill number for more information)
(groups supporting or opposing
are also noted where known)
ACR 6 / SEM / A declaration that makes January National Human Slavery Month and Fe. 1st CA’s “Free from Slavery” day. / Donnelly
AB 6 / N / Streamlines CalWORKs and CalFresh programs by requires counties to convert from a quarterly to a semi-annual reporting system; eliminating the Statewide Finger Imaging System (SFIS); and requiring DSS and the Department of Community Services and Development to design, implement and maintain a "Heat and Eat" program by January 1, 2013. / Fuentes / California Food Policy Advocates
AB 12 / SEM / Abolition of Child Commerce, Exploitation, and Sexual Slavery Act of 2011, and would require that a person who is convicted of a crime involving substantial sexual conduct, with a victim who is under 16 years of age, or who seeks to procure or procures the sexual services of a prostitute under 16 years old be ordered to pay an additional fine of $25,000 (on top of $5,000 that is already law) to be deposited in the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund for victims of human trafficking and sexual abuse. / Swanson
AB 39 / SN / Special Ed: Funding ($57 million from Prop 63) / Beall
AB 73 / FC / Presumptively open dependency courts – This bill would require, contingent upon the securing of private funding, the Judicial Council to establish a 4-year pilot project in 3 counties to create a presumption that juvenile court hearings in juvenile dependency cases shall be presumptively open to the public, unless the court finds that admitting the public would not be in a child’s best interest, as provided. The bill would require the Judicial Council to contract with an independent organization to conduct an evaluation and prepare a report to the Legislature regarding the results of the pilot project, as specified. / Feuer / Support:
ACR
Assn of Cert. Fam Law Specialists
CA Protective Pas Assn
Jud Council
LA County Board of Sups
LA DCFS
Ventura Board of Sups
Oppose:
CYC
CA PD Assn
CWDA
CA Ch. Of Nat’l Assn of SW
SEIU
AB 90 / SEM / A person who deprives or violates a child’s liberty with the intent to use the child under age 16 for a lewd or lascivious act is guilty of human trafficking. Anyone who uses a minor to prepare sexually graphic mater is guilty of human trafficking. Would expand existing CA state human trafficking law to NOT require force or coercion for children under age 18 to be more in line with federal Human trafficking law. / Swanson
AB 159 / FC / Foster family agencies are required to have one supervisory social worker for each 8 social workers (or fraction thereof) that they employ (the ratio used to be 1:6). This provision was supposed to sunset in Jan 2012 but, by this bill, would remain in effect only untilthe date when the total foster family agency rate by age group paid to licensed foster family agencies for the placement of children in certified foster family homes is restored to at least the rate in effect on September 30, 2009 (it was reduced by 10% in October, 2009), and the Director of Social Services issues a declaration to this effect to the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Senate Committee on Human Services, the Assembly Committee on Budget, and the Assembly Committee on Human Services, or their successor committees. Upon the restoration to at least the rate in effect on September 30, 2009, the director shall issue the declaration. On that date, this requirement would be repealed. / Beall / Alliance
AB 177 / JJ / Give the juvenile court authority to order parents into gang prevention parenting classes if their child has committed a gang related offense or minor who is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court for habitual disobedience or, a curfew violation, truancy, or an offense that is not gang-related if the court finds that factors exist that may indicate ganginvolvement on the part of the minor or may lead to future gang involvement. / Mendoza / American Fed of State,
County & Muni. Employees
CA Council for Adult Ed
CA State Sheriffs' Assoc.
League of CA Cities
AB 181 / FC /
- Foster youth: Mental Health Bill of Rights
- Enumerates Foster Children’s Rights and requires that they be informed of those rights.
AB 194 / TAY / Priority enrollment for current and former foster youth at CCC, CSU & UC. / Beall / Support:
ACE Scholar Services
CSU San Marcos
CCC Chancellor’s Office
CWDA
AB 212 / TAY / AB 12 Clean-up bill. / Beall / ACR
CLCLA
CWDA
SEIU
AB 254 / SN / Employment First Policy / Beall
AB 301 / CP / Medi-Cal: managed care
Summary: Would extend to January 1, 2018, the termination of the prohibition against CCS covered services being incorporated into a Medi-Cal managed care contract entered into after August 1, 1994. / Pan
AB 321 / JJ / This bill would authorize a school district to provide instruction regarding the potential risks and consequences of creating and sharing sexually suggestive or sexually explicit materials through cellular telephones, social networking Internet Web sites, computer networks, or other digital media.require the court, if the sexually explicitmatter was in the possession of a minor, to order the minor to, perform community service and to undergocounseling, with the cost of counseling to be borne by the minor’sparents / Hernandez
AB 395 / H&S / This bill would add severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID – “Bubble Boy Disease”) to the list of diseases for which the genetic disease unit is required to evaluate and prepare recommendations. / Pan
AB 396 / JJ / This bill would allow counties to receive any available federal financial participation for health care services provided to juvenile detainees who are admitted as inpatients in a medical institution. / Mitchell
AB 596 / CC / This bill would require the State Department of Education to collaborate with welfare rights and legal services advocates to develop and adopt regulations and other policy statements to provide CalWORKS recipients of child care the same level of due process and procedural protections as are afforded to public assistance recipients. / Carter / Coalition of CA Welfare Rts Orgs.
Support:
Am Fed of State, County & Municipal Employees
CA Communities United Institute
Child Care Law Center
WCLP
Oppose:
CDPI
Prof. Assoc. for Childhood Ed.
AB 669 / N / Taxation: sweetened beverage tax: Children’s Health Promotion Fund / Monning
AB 671 / FC / This bill would specify education and training requirements for social work supervisors and other personnel performing social work activities in a county CWS agency. This bill would exempt a social worker employed before January 1, 2012 from related field practice, course work, and experience requirements, as prescribed. / Portantino / Oppose:
CA Association of MFT
AB 687 / CW / This bill would authorize a licensed private adoption agency to conduct the inquiry into the whereabouts of a father in the case of a stepparent adoption. / Fletcher / Academy of CA Adoption Lawyers
Support:
Family Law § of the State Bar
AB 694 / JJ / Allow the court to sentence a child to Department of corrections (old CYA) for a crime other than a serious violent crime (707b) or a sex crime AS LONG AS there is a true finding of either a sex crime or serious violent crime in the child’s past. / Gorell
AB 702 / SEM / Allows a child to seal his/her record as it pertains to prostitution offenses when they turn 18 w/o having to show that they have not committed a further felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude or that rehabilitation was attained. It would also allow an adult or child tried as an adult for prostitution to have the court set aside the verdict or change the pleas of the adult where the adult can show they are a victim of human trafficking. / Swanson
AB 709 / FC / Currently, a foster child is to be enrolled in a school even if they cannot produce clothing or medical records normally required for admission. This bill would clarify that medical records include immunization records and would expand the bill to include enrollment in a child care or other private educational institution. / Brownley / Support:
Advancement Project
CA Comm. United Inst.
CASA Assn.
Ca State Assn. of Counties
CWDA
Public Counsel
NCYL
AB 735 / TAY / Department of Transportation would give preference to CalTrans “student assistant” applicants who are current or former foster children, or who have been previously incarcerated. / Mitchell
AB 764 / SEM / This bill allows individual citizens to voluntarily contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability to the Victims-Witness Assistance Fund without adding an additional financial burden on the state. / Swanson
AB 791 / FC / This bill would require the court, when it terminates or declines to order reunification services, to order that the child’s caregiver, or, if the child is over the age of 16, the child (if appropriate) receive his or her birth certificate. / Ammiano
AB 799 / SEM / Extend the pilot project dates for AB 499 for Alameda County from 2012 to expire in 2017 / Swanson
AB 823 / TAY / Would create a Children’s Counsel and bring together heads of various state agencies that affect children birth to adult transition with the purpose of promoting interagency sharing to come up with comprehensive strategies for working with these children. / Dickinson / Children Now
AB 839 / N / Requires school districts to engage in various activities aimed at increasing access to and participation in the federal School Breakfast Program. / Brownley / California Food Policy Advocates
AB 846 / FC / This bill would require the county welfare department or the State Department of Social Services to ascertain whether identity theft may have occurred under the described circumstances. The bill would authorize the county welfare department and the State Department of Social Services to refer the matter to a governmental agency or nonprofit organization that provides information and assistance to victims of identity theft. Current law requires such a referral. The bill would authorize the governmental agency or nonprofit organization to take remedial actions to clear the youth’s credit record and to report the results to the county welfare department or the State Department of Social Services. The bill would require the Office of Information Security and Privacy Protection, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services and other specified entities, to develop a list of governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations to which these matters may be referred for assistance in responding to an instance of suspected identity theft. / Bonilla
AB 863 / FC / This bill would specify that the Foster Family Home and Small Family Home Insurance Fund is not liable for any
loss arising out of a dishonest, fraudulent, criminal, or intentional act of a foster parent, and also would make various technical, nonsubstantive changes. / Bonilla / CAI
Support:
Aspiranet
Alliance
AB 970 / Ed / Over the next four years, eliminates the restriction in the Cal Grant B program that currently denies tuition benefits in the first year of enrollment and instead provides only a stipend for "access costs" (costs for books, supplies, living expenses, and transportation) for 98% of Cal Grant B recipients. / Fong
AB 989 / TAY / Mental health: children's services. (Prop 63 amendment adding “transition age foster youth” to list of priority populations served in Prop 63 (WIC 5847(e).) / Mitchell / CAI
AB 1015 / R/C-S / Child welfare services/county task forces / Calderon / Support:
SEIU
AB 1110 / FC / Dependent children of the juvenile court: county responsibilities: Supplemental Security Income Eligibility / Lara / CAI
ACR
AB 1111 / HY / This bill would prohibit a court from garnishing wages or levying a bank account for the enforcement and collection of fees, fines, forfeitures, or penalties imposed by a court against a person under 25 years of age who has been issued a citation for truancy, loitering, curfew violations, or illegal lodging that is outstanding or unpaid if the court obtains information that the person is homeless or has no permanent address, as defined. This bill would authorize a court to use these collection procedures when that person is 25 years of age or older, or if the court subsequently obtains evidence that the individual is no longer homeless. / Fletcher & Mitchell
(Co Author: DeLeon) / CAI
Support:
Advancement Project
CA Coalition for Youth
CA PTA
WCLP
AB 1147 / FC / This bill would require that in all status review reports, if the dependent child is a minor parent, the supplemental report specifically set forth the age and developmentally appropriate services that were provided to the parent to allow him or her to provide a permanent and safe home for the child or to facilitate a reunification with the child, consistent with the Teen Parents in Foster Care Act. / Yamada / Exec. Comm. Of the Fam Law § of State Bar of CA
Support:
Women Lawyers of Sacto
Wiley W. Manuel Bar Assoc.
AB 1199 / CC / This bill would require the State Department of Education, to the extent that funding is made available, to, by January 1, 2013, conduct an evaluation for submission to the Legislature of the centralized eligibility lists maintained and administered by the alternative payment agency in each county to determine their success in enabling families with child care needs to obtain information on available child care programs and to obtain care, as specified. / Brownley
AB 1312 / CC / This bill would change the parameters for which recreation programs must meet certain licensing requirements. Under existing law, an exempt public recreation program must operate for under 16 hours per week, except that specified programs are limited to 12 hours per week or less, and an exempt program must operate for a total of 12 weeks or less during a 12-month period. This bill would authorize any exempt public recreation program to operate for under 20 hours per week and for a total of 14 weeks or less during a 12-month period. / Smyth / Support:
CA Park & Rec Society
Oppose:
CA CCR&R
AB 1319 / H&S / Product Safety: Bisphenol A (BPA). This bill would ban BPS in baby bottles, cups, liners, etc. / Butler
AB 1387 / JJ / Existing law, until January 1, 2011, required the Department ofCorrections and Rehabilitation to establish a pilot program in Alameda County for parolees returning to Alameda County to conduct needs-based assessments of the individual parolees, as specified. This bill would require the California Emergency Management Agency, subject to an appropriation of funds, to establish a Youthful Offender Reentry (Cal-Yor) competitive grant program specifically targeting offenders who will be between 16 and 23 years of age upon their release from a local county juvenile facility, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Division of Juvenile Facilities, probation, or parole to assist in community reintegration upon release, as specified. The reentry programs would include construction training, academic services, counseling, and tracking of graduates after completion of the program. The bill would require the agency to maintain statistical information related to the reentry programs, as specified. / Solorio / CA YouthBuild Coalition
Support:
CA PD’s Assn
SB 9 / JJ / Allow a child sentence to life w/o parole a chance to petition the court to have his sentence reduced / Yee
SB 12 / CC / Appropriates $250 million on a one-time basis from the general fund to restore funding for CalWORKS stage 3 child care, which comes into play when a State Department of Education funded space becomes available for the child or children of a CalWORKS recipient. / Corbett
Principal Co-Author:
Alquist
Co-Author:
DeSaulnier
Evans
Hancock
Kehoe
Liu
Negrete McLeod
Pavley
Wolk
SB 36 / CP / County Health Initiative Matching Fund.
Summary: Would allow persons who are eligible for but unable to enroll in the Healthy Families Program as a result of enrollment policies initiated by MRMIB due to insufficient funding to receive this coverage and would also allow a county, a county agency, a local initiative, or a county organized health system that will provide an intergovernmental transfer to apply to MRMIB for funding to provide health care coverage to eligible children whose family income is at or below 400% of the federal poverty level. The bill would specify that implementation of these provisions is conditioned on MRMIB obtaining necessary federal approval thereof. This bill contains other existing laws. / Simitian
SB 65 / SN / Pupil Health: Prescription pancreatic enzymes (kids w/cystic fibrosis can inject themselves or have nurse or other designated school personnel assist) / Strickland
SB 105 / H&S / Public Safety: Snow Sport Helmets / Yee / CA Psych. Assoc.
SB 119 / HY / This bill proposes adding an emergency youth shelter for youth under the age of 18 who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless to the definition of “community care facility”. / Lowenthal
Co-Author:
Liu
SB 123 / HY / This bill would enact the California Runaway, Homeless, and
Exploited Youth Act, and would require, subject to the availability of adequate resources, the California Emergency Management Agency to develop, in collaboration with the Senate Office of Research and various interested parties, astatewide plan for runaway, homeless, and exploited youth, as specified. The bill would make related findings and declarations. / John Burton Foundation
SB 247 / JJ / Add vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and causing gross bodily injury while driving intoxicated to the list of crimes a prosecutor is allowed to make a “direct file” to adult court without first having to petition the juvenile court for leave to file in adult court. / Wyland / Oppos:
YLC
SB 248 / JJ / Require juveniles to give DNA if they are convicted of cruelty to animals, stalking , loitering for prostitution, installing two way mirror / Wyland
SB 309 / SN / Child day care facilities: youth with disabilities / Liu
SB 368 / FC / This bill would allow a Court to limit a parent’s right to make decisions regarding developmental services with respect to a dependent child. The Court would then have the authority to appoint an authorized representative or, if none is available, could make decisions with the input of interested parties. / Liu / Public Counsel
Support:
YLC
CA Prob. Parole & Corrections Assc.
Chief Prob Officers of CA
CLCLA
Disability Rights
SB 375 / CS / Existing law establishes a conclusive presumption that a man is the natural father of a child if he and the natural mother of the child are married and the child is born during the marriage, or if he signs a voluntary declaration of paternity, as provided. Under existing law, these presumptions of paternity may be rebutted by genetic evidence that another man is the biological father of the child. Existing law requires that a motion for genetic tests be filed not later than 2 years after the birth of the child, as specified. This bill would, notwithstanding those provisions, authorize a presumed father to file a motion for genetic tests within 2 years after he becomes aware of facts that lead him to reasonably believe that he may not be the biological father of the child. Existing law provides that, except as to cases in which paternity is presumed under the conclusive presumption described above, specified persons, including a man alleged or alleging himself to be the father, may bring an action to determine the existence of the father and child relationship. This bill would delete that exception, thereby authorizing those persons to bring an action to determine the existence of the father and child relationship in a case in which another man is presumed to be the father. Existing law declares that there is a compelling state interest in determining paternity for all children. This bill would instead declare that there is compelling state interest in determining biological paternity for all children, and would further declare that establishing paternity for biological fathers would increase respect for the judicial system. / Wright