By Marisa Lagos
San Francisco Chronicle
November 24, 2011
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/24/BAC71M3D1R.DTL&type=politics
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| The bill is sponsored by Assemblyman Juan Vargas, D-San Diego. |
A San Diego lawmaker announced legislation Wednesday that would require all university athletic directors and coaches to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement, a proposal prompted by the child molestation scandal at Penn State University.
Sen. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, said coaches at higher education institutions, private and public, should have the same legal responsibility to report abuse as a host of other officials who deal with children, including public employees, doctors and therapists.
His legislation also would increase penalties for those who fail to report child abuse - including making it a felony to "willfully fail" to report abuse and neglect or impede someone else from reporting it if the abuse results in death or great bodily injury.
The proposed law also says a "mandated reporter" would face up to 12 months in jail and a $5,000 fine for failing to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse.
Another lawmaker, Assemblyman Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County), also announced Wednesday that he will introduce legislation that would strip nonprofits of their tax-exempt status if they fail to report the sex abuse of a child.
Earlier this month, prosecutors filed criminal charges against Jerry Sandusky, a longtime Penn State assistant football coach accused of molesting several boys, some on campus, over a 15-year period.
Famed coach Joe Paterno was later fired after trustees determined he didn't do enough to report at least one instance of the alleged abuse, which he had been told about by another assistant in 2002. Details of Paterno's response were released in a grand jury report.
"After reading the grand jury report, I got sick," Vargas said in a written statement. "I couldn't believe these men, who are adults and leaders, didn't take the abuse they witnessed and learned of immediately to the police."
While Paterno told his supervisor, as he was legally obligated to do, Vargas said it should be a crime not to tell police.
"These men protected their football team rather than the innocent boys," he said. "That is disgusting and never should happen again."
E-mail Marisa Lagos at mlagos@sfchronicle.com
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