Speak Up to Protect Every Abused Kid Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Speak Up to Protect Every Abused Kid Act
This bill expresses the sense of Congress with respect to abused children.
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is amended to direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to eligible entities to carry out educational campaigns and provide evidence-based or evidence-informed training regarding state laws for mandatory reporting of incidents of child abuse or neglect.
The state plan under a grant for child abuse or neglect prevention and treatment programs shall contain specified assurances about: state laws or programs that include procedures for an individual to report suspected or known incidents incidents of child abuse or neglect to state child protective services agencies or to law enforcement agencies;
procedures to ensure coordination between the state law or statewide program and relevant law enforcement and state or community-based victims' services agencies with respect to referrals of child victims of acts by a perpetrator other than a parent or caretaker that would otherwise be considered child abuse or neglect;
primary state responsibility to accept and investigate reports of known and suspected child abuse or neglect pertaining to an incident that occurred in the state, even if the child or alleged perpetrator resides in a different state; as well as
established state procedures meeting certain requirements to screen for domestic violence in the course of investigating child abuse.
State law shall require certain licensed, certified, or professional individuals to report suspected or known incidents of child abuse or neglect. The annual state application for a grant for programs relating to investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect cases shall contain an assurance that the state will support training for adults who work with children in a professional or volunteer capacity to report suspected and known incidents of child abuse or neglect. Requires the state multidisciplinary task force on children's justice to evaluate the state's efforts to train such adults to report such incidents. A state shall adopt state task force recommendations in the category of experimental, model, and demonstration programs for testing innovative approaches and techniques that may improve reporting to the state child protective services agencies or to law enforcement agencies of and response to suspected and known incidents of child abuse or neglect by adults. A state, to be eligible to receive any form of financial assistance, shall include in its plan or application an assurance that the state has in effect a state law for mandatory reporting of child abuse or neglect. HHS shall collect information on and otherwise study the efforts of states relating to state laws for mandatory reporting of incidents of child abuse or neglect in order to assess the implementation of CAPTA. Any application for a community-based grant shall contain an assurance that the state has in effect a state law for mandatory reporting of child abuse or neglect.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on December 3, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 3, 2015: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced it on December 3, 2015, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on December 3, 2015, 3934 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3934 days ago, on December 3, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers