BILL NUMBER: S3158
SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing the
"child abuse reporting expansion act"
 
PURPOSE:
This bill adds clergy members to the list of mandated reporters of
suspected child abuse and maltreatment.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 states that this act shall be known as the "child abuse
reporting expansion (CARE) act".
Section 2 amends section 413 of the social services law to add clergy
members as mandated reporters of suspected child abuse and maltreatment.
Section 3 amends section 413 of the social services law to clarify
matters relating to certain privileges.
Section 4 provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
New York's recently enacted Child Victims Act allows child victims of
sexual abuse, who were previously time-barred by the statute of limita-
tions, the opportunity to file lawsuits concerning their abuse up to age
55. While this is an important step in ensuring prior victims of child
sexual abuse are made whole, it is also imperative that we close the
loopholes in our law that permitted such abuse to exist undetected for
decades. One way to do that is to ensure that clergy members be added to
the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse and maltreatment. Clergy
members are not included in the otherwise extensive list of profes-
sionals required to report suspected cases of child abuse.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S.1399 of 2021-2022 (Hoylman): Died in Rules
A.0888 of 2021-2022 (Wallace): Died in Children and Families
S.5711-B of 2019-2020 (Hoylman): Died in Judiciary
A.6662-B of 2019-2020 (Wallace): Passed Assembly
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.