FINAL BILL REPORT

2SSB 6220

C 135 L 04

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Regarding school employee duty to report suspected child abuse or neglect.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators Kohl-Welles, Johnson, McAuliffe, Esser, Winsley, T. Sheldon, Rasmussen, Kline and Keiser).

Senate Committee on Education

Senate Committee on Ways & Means

House Committee on Education

Background: Under current law, school personnel who have reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect must report the incident or cause the incident to be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency or the Department of Social and Health Services.

Summary: Reference to the mandatory child abuse or neglect reporting laws and school personnel's responsibilities under those laws are added to the education code. Within existing training programs and related resources, school employees must receive training regarding the reporting obligations in their orientation training when hired and then every three years.

All school employees who have knowledge of or reasonable cause to believe that a student has been a victim of physical abuse or sexual misconduct must report the abuse or misconduct to the school administrator.

School administrators must follow the reporting requirements of the mandatory reporting laws and report to law enforcement, if necessary. During the process of determining whether a report must be filed, the school administrator must contact all parties involved in the complaint.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate       48  0

House       95  0    (House amended)

Senate       48  0    (Senate concurred)

Effective: June 10, 2004