This year, two bills were introduced to help address the impacts of Assembly Bill 218 (2019), which made two predominant changes to the statute of limitations for childhood sexual assault claims. First, it temporarily resurrected the statute of limitations for childhood sexual assault claims from Jan. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2022. Second, it extended the time period a claim could be filed from three to five years dependent on when the victim reasonably becomes aware they were a victim of childhood sexual assault.
Since then, many school districts and county offices of education have experienced a sharp rise in the number of claims, resulting in substantial financial settlements impacting their ability to provide compensation and resolution for victims while striving to meet the needs of their students.
Two legislative measures have been introduced this year the impacts of AB 218 claims — Senate Bill 577 (Laird, D-Santa Cruz) and SB 832 (Allen, D-Santa Monica) — but only SB 577 will be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
CSBA moved quickly to take a Support position on SB 832, which proposed to increase the evidentiary standard of liability for AB 218 cases that are at least 20 years old to require a clear and convincing evidence standard for liability. It would also have required courts, when deciding whether to reduce the amount of money awarded for things like pain and suffering in AB 218 cases against public agencies, to review and consider the mission and purpose of the public agency when determining lower award amounts.
With SB 832 not being heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee, effectively killing the bill, some of its elements are expected to be amended into SB 577. Although helpful, the amendments to SB 577 do not address the core impacts of AB 218 claims. As a result, CSBA has taken an Oppose Unless Amended position on the bill. In the absence of award caps, amendments CSBA is asking for include the inclusion of the increased evidentiary standards as proposed in SB 832 and inclusion of the standard that a local educational agency had actual knowledge or were made aware as opposed to whether they “had reason to know” of an alleged incident.
SB 577 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 22.
