Existing law requires certain persons or entities to report the commercial sexual exploitation of a child to an agency which provides child welfare services. (NRS 62C.015, 432B.220, 432C.110) Upon receiving such a report, existing law requires an agency which provides child welfare services to: (1) conduct an assessment to determine whether the child is a victim of commercial sexual exploitation; and (2) take certain actions to protect the safety of the child and meet the other needs of the child. (NRS 432C.130) Existing law requires a local facility for the detention of children, a regional facility for the treatment and rehabilitation of children and a state facility for the detention of children to screen each child who is committed to, or placed under the custody of, the facility to determine whether the child is in need of mental health services or has a substance use disorder. (NRS 62C.035, 62E.513) With certain exceptions, sections 2 and 3 of this bill additionally require such facilities to screen each child to determine whether the child is a victim of commercial sexual exploitation. Sections 2 and 3 also: (1) require such facilities to report the commercial sexual exploitation of the child to an agency which provides child welfare services if the results of the screening indicate that the child is a victim of commercial sexual exploitation; and (2) deem such a report to be a report of commercial sexual exploitation for purposes of certain mandatory requirements and procedures for reporting abuse, neglect or exploitation of a child. Section 1 of this bill makes a conforming change by removing certain requirements relating to the reporting of commercial sexual exploitation of a child that are now addressed by section 2. Section 6 of this bill requires an agency which provides child welfare services to take certain actions to protect the safety of the child and meet the other needs of the child upon receipt of a report submitted pursuant to sections 2 and 3. Existing law prescribes certain requirements relating to the method of screening used by a local facility for the detention of children to comply with certain statutory requirements relating to the screening of a child in its custody. (NRS 62E.516) Section 4 of this bill additionally requires the method of screening to be reliable and valid for identifying a child who is a victim of commercial sexual exploitation. With certain exceptions, section 5 of this bill requires an agency which provides child welfare services to screen each child in its custody to determine whether the child is a victim of commercial sexual exploitation. Section 5 also: (1) prescribes requirements relating to the method used by an agency which provides child welfare services to conduct the screening; and (2) requires the agency to take the actions required by section 6 if the results of the screening indicate that the child is a victim of commercial sexual exploitation.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 62C.015, 62C.035, 62E.513, 62E.516, 432C.130
Reprint 1: 62C.015, 62C.035, 62E.513, 62E.516, 432C.130
As Enrolled: 62C.015, 62C.035, 62E.513, 62E.516, 432C.130
BDR: 62C.015, 62C.035, 62E.513, 62E.516, 432C.130