Signed by Governor Gina Raimondo

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires educators to report indications that a student has been sexually abused.

Highlights:

• Requires employees, agents, contractors or volunteers of an educational program to report any “reasonable cause to know or suspect” that a child has been a victim of sexual abuse within 24 hours to the principal, headmaster, director, or other individual in charge of the educational program (Sec. 1).

• Requires the individual who is in charge to report all notifications to the Department of Children, Youth, and Families as well as the superintendent (Sec. 1).

• Requires the individual in charge to disclose in their report the name and contact information of any individual who is believed to have direct knowledge of the allegation (Sec. 1).

• Requires the Department of Children, Youth, and Families to immediately forward any report to state police and local law enforcement, who will determine whether it meets the appropriate criteria to initiate an investigation (Sec. 1).

• Requires notifying parents of the child who is alleged to be a victim of the abuse if the allegations are substantiated (Sec. 1).

• Defines “reasonable cause to know or suspect” as objectively reasonable for an individual to entertain a suspicion, based on “facts that could cause a reasonable person in a like position with similar training and experience” to suspect child abuse (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that "reasonable cause to know or suspect" does not require certainty that child sexual abuse has occurred nor does it require a specific medical indication of child sexual abuse (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text