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 amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 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.
A state plan under a grant program for child abuse or neglect prevention and treatment shall contain specified assurances about: mandatory reporting of suspected or known incidents of child abuse or neglect to state child protective services agencies or law enforcement agencies; procedures to ensure coordination with law enforcement and state or community-based victims' services agencies to ensure that child abuse victims are referred for appropriate follow-up services; primary state responsibility to accept and investigate reports of known and suspected child abuse or neglect for an incident that occurred in the state, even if the child or alleged perpetrator resides in a different state; and established state procedures to screen for domestic violence in the course of investigating child abuse.
The bill specifies those individuals and professionals who are required to report suspected or known incidents of child abuse or neglect. HHS shall collect information on state laws for mandatory reporting of incidents of child abuse or neglect in order to assess the implementation of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on April 27, 2017. 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 April 27, 2017: 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 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 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 April 27, 2017, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 2 Democrats.
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 April 27, 2017, 3423 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3423 days ago, on April 27, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 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