II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1887 

To protect children from abuse and neglect. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2011 

Mrs. BOXER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect children from abuse and neglect. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘State Children’s Pro5 tection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STATE LAWS. 

7 (a) LAW REQUIRED.—Each State shall pass and im8 plement a law requiring, at a minimum— 

9 (1) any person who knows or has reasonable 

10 cause to believe or suspect that a child has been sub11 jected to child abuse or neglect or who observes any 

12 child being subjected to conditions or circumstances 


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1 that would reasonably result in child abuse or ne2 glect, shall immediately report it to the child protec3 tive agency or local law enforcement agency; and 

4 (2) any person, official, institution or agency 

5 participating in good faith in any act required to re6 port child abuse or neglect is immune from any civil 

7 or criminal liability that might otherwise result by 

8 reason of the action. Immunity shall not be accorded 

9 to persons acting in bad faith. 

10 (b) PENALTY.—A State that fails to pass and imple11 ment the requirements of this section within 1 year of the 

12 enactment of this Act, shall— 

13 (1) forfeit the ability to reserve up to 10 per14 cent of its grants under the Edward Byrne Memorial 

15 Justice Assistance Grant Program under part E of 

16 title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

17 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3751(e)) for admin18 istrative use; and 

19 (2) be required to return to the Federal Gov20 ernment the portion of their Byrne Justice Assist21 ance Grant funding used for such purpose in the 

22 prior fiscal year. 

23 (c) PREEMPTION.—Nothing in this section shall pre24 empt the right of a State to protect privileged communica25 tions. 


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1 SEC. 3. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR CRIMES AGAINST CHIL2 DREN. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—At the request of a State, Indian 

4 tribal government, or unit of local government, the Attor5 ney General shall provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, 

6 or any other form of assistance in the criminal investiga7 tion or prosecution of any crime that— 

8 (1) constitutes a felony under the laws of the 

9 State or Indian tribe; and 

10 (2) is committed against an individual under 18 

11 years of age. 

12 (b) PRIORITY.—If the Attorney General determines 

13 that there are insufficient resources to fulfill requests 

14 made pursuant to subsection (a), the Attorney General 

15 shall give priority to requests for assistance to— 

16 (1) crimes committed by, or believed to be com17 mitted by, offenders who have committed crimes in 

18 more than 1 State; and 

19 (2) jurisdictions that have limited resources and 

20 difficulty covering the extraordinary expenses relat21 ing to the investigation or prosecution of the crime. 

22 (c) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Every 180 days following 

24 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen25 eral shall submit to Congress a report on applicaVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:36 Nov 19, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1887.IS S1887

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1 tions for Federal assistance under this section, and 

2 Federal assistance provided under this section. 

3 (2) CONTENTS.—Each report under paragraph 

4 (1) shall include— 

5 (A) a listing of all applications for Federal 

6 assistance under this section during the pre7 vious 180 days; 

8 (B) a description of each application sub9 mitted during the previous 180 days, whether 

10 approved, denied, or pending, including the 

11 name of the requesting party and the nature of 

12 the request for assistance; 

13 (C) reasons for approval or denial of each 

14 application, and the persons involved in the re15 view and decisionmaking process for each appli16 cation; and 

17 (D) if Federal assistance was provided, a 

18 description of the assistance provided, including 

19 the date on which the assistance was provided. 

20 SEC. 4. ENHANCED TRACKING AND COORDINATION OF FBI 

21 EFFORTS IN ADDRESSING CRIMES AGAINST 

22 CHILDREN. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 

25 submit a report to the appropriate committees of ConVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:36 Nov 19, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1887.IS S1887

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1 gress, the Director of the Office of Management and 

2 Budget and the Domestic Policy Council that sets forth 

3 the proposed systems, procedures and protocols developed 

4 and implemented in response to Chapter 3 of the Office 

5 of Inspector General’s Audit Report 09–08 (January 

6 2009) entitled ‘‘The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Ef7 forts to Combat Crimes Against Children,’’ including any 

8 additional funding needs for development and implementa9 tion of the recommendations. 

10 (b) CONTENT.—If any recommendation proposed in 

11 the Office of Inspector General’s Audit Report 09–08 

12 (January 2009) remains incomplete or has not been imple13 mented at the time the report required under subsection 

14 (a) is prepared, the report shall describe— 

15 (1) the reasons that the remaining rec16 ommendation has not been implemented; or 

17 (2) a specific action plan for implementing or 

18 completing implementation of the remaining rec19 ommendation. 

20 (c) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES.—In this section, the 

21 term ‘‘appropriate committees of Congress’’ means— 

22 (1) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Com23 mittee on Appropriations, and the Committee on 

24 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen25 ate; and 


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1 (2) the Committee on the Judiciary, the Com2 mittee on Appropriations, the Committee on Edu3 cation and Labor, and the Committee on Energy 

4 and Commerce of the House of Representatives. 

5 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 

7 such sums as needed to carry out this section. 

Æ 


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