MANDATORY REPORTING; TRAINING MATERIAL                                                         H.B. 4120 (H-1):

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                     REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

House Bill 4120 (Substitute H-1 as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Representative Julie M. Rogers

House Committee:  Judiciary

Senate Committee:  Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Child Protection Law to do the following:

-- Require the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to create training materials for individuals required to report suspected child abuse or neglect and make the materials publicly available on its website.

-- Require an employer or organization to provide the training materials to an employee who was required to report.

Proposed MCL 722.623b

BRIEF RATIONALE

According to testimony, mandatory reporters often fail to report child abuse, child neglect, and sexual assault. An example of such failure is the case of Larry Nassar, a former doctor for Michigan State University's gymnastics team who was convicted of several counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) that he perpetrated during his work as the team doctor. Reportedly, some victims of Nassar's crimes reported the CSC but nothing came of those reports; some people believe this was a failure in the training of mandatory reporters.

PREVIOUS LEGISLATION

(Please note: This section does not provide a comprehensive account of all previous legislative efforts on the relevant subject matter.)

The bill is a reintroduction of House Bill 4377 from the 2019-2020 Legislative Session. House Bill 4377 passed the House.

                                                                         Legislative Analyst:  Tyler P. VanHuyse

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill likely would result in a minor fiscal impact on the DHHS. Information provided by the DHHS indicates that, because it has developed and posted mandatory reporter training materials and resources on its website, the cost to create comprehensive training materials for mandatory reporters would be minimal. The DHHS will make these materials available; accordingly, there would be no fiscal impact on local units of government.

Date Completed:  6-14-23                                               Fiscal Analyst:  Ellyn Ackerman

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.