Department of Justice: child abuse reporting.
Summary
Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain an index of all reports of child abuse and severe neglect submitted by an agency mandated to make those reports. Existing law requires the department to make relevant information contained in the index available to specified law enforcement agencies, county welfare departments, and other agencies that are conducting a child abuse investigation. Existing law authorizes a designated Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program to submit fingerprint images and related information of employment and volunteer candidates to the department for the purpose of obtaining information as to the existence and nature of a record of a child abuse investigation contained in the Child Abuse Central Index, state- or federal-level convictions, or state- or federal-level arrests for which the department establishes that the applicant was released on bail or on their own recognizance pending trial. Existing law requires the department to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of processing the requests for federal-level criminal offender record information and prohibits the department from charging a fee for state-level criminal offender record information. This bill would instead require a CASA program to submit fingerprint images and related information of employment and volunteer candidates to the department for the purpose of conducting a state and federal criminal history background check. The bill would require the department to monitor the Child Abuse Central Index and notify the CASA program if a record of a child abuse investigation involving a CASA employee or volunteer is added to that index. The bill would impose notification and review requirements on a CASA program to request that the department remove the notification for an individual who is no longer employed by or volunteering with the CASA program, as specified. The bill would require the department to terminate notification for an individual upon receipt of that request. The bill would authorize the department to increase its fee for a CASA employment and volunteer candidate to cover the cost of processing those subsequent notifications.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Jun 2025
Assembly Passage
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Sep 2025
Signed into Law
Oct 2025
Introduced Feb 18, 2025
Signed Oct 11, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons
What changed between versions
07/14/25 - Amended Senate
→
09/16/25 - Enrolled
·
5 edits
·
Sep 16, 2025
MODERATE
The enrolled version of AB 741 makes three substantive changes from the amended Senate version: it narrows the scope of records CASA programs can obtain through this section by removing explicit references to state and federal convictions and bail/own-recognizance arrests (keeping only Child Abuse Central Index child abuse records), it removes an explicit requirement for the Department of Justice to forward federal requests to the FBI, and it replaces a detailed inline definition of 'designated CASA program' with a cross-reference to the Welfare and Institutions Code. The remaining changes are formatting updates reflecting the bill's progression to enrolled status.
SCOPE
Subsection (a) no longer explicitly includes state or federal-level convictions, or arrests where the applicant was released on bail or own recognizance pending trial, as part of the records CASA programs can obtain. The section now limits additional information requests to child abuse investigation records in the Child Abuse Central Index only, though a general criminal history background check is still required under Section 11105(u).
REQUIREMENT
Removed the sentence requiring the Department of Justice to forward federal-level criminal offender record information requests to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This obligation may still apply through the referenced subdivision (u) of Section 11105, but it is no longer stated in this section.
DEFINITION
The definition of 'designated CASA program' was simplified from a detailed inline description (requiring adoption of Judicial Council guidelines, designation by the local presiding juvenile court judge, and specific functions like recruiting, screening, training, and supervising volunteers) to a brief cross-reference to Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
TECHNICAL
Fixed a typo in subsection (e)(3): changed 'child abuse investigations' to 'child abuse investigation.'
Cleaned up amendment markup throughout: removed line numbers, resolved 'may shall' to 'shall' in subsection (a), and removed old struck-through language in subsection (d).
Floor votes · Senate Jun 27, 2025 · Assembly Apr 24, 2025
How they voted
38–0
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 40
Jun 27, 2025
D
Democratic30
96% Yea
R
Republican10
90% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
28
Key actions
12
Committee
6
Amendments
6
Oct 11, 2025
Signed into law
Approved by the Governor.
legislature
Sep 13, 2025
Lower · Passed
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3454.).
lower
Sep 12, 2025
Introduced
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
lower
Sep 11, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2884.).
upper
Jul 14, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
upper
Jul 14, 2025
Upper · Passed
Action rescinded whereby the bill was read third time, passed, and to Assembly.
upper
Jun 27, 2025
Introduced
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
lower
Jun 27, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1809.).
upper
Jun 23, 2025
Upper · Passed
From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar.
upper
Jun 11, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
upper
Jun 10, 2025
Introduced
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 10).
upper
May 7, 2025
Committee
Referred to Com. on PUB. S.
upper
Apr 24, 2025
Lower · Passed
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 1279.)
lower
Apr 9, 2025
Lower · Passed
From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 9).
lower
Mar 26, 2025
Lower · Passed
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (March 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
lower
Mar 3, 2025
Committee
Referred to Com. on PUB. S.
lower
Feb 19, 2025
Lower · Passed
From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Rhodesia Ransom
DDemocratic
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