Assembly Bill No.1775 was signed by Governor Brown on August 22, 2014 and became effective January 1, 2015. This bill amends Section 11165.1 of the Penal Code relating to the existing Child Abuse and Neglecting Reporting Act: Sexual Exploitation.

The purpose of this update is to provide you with information about how this law impacts our profession and assure you that SCV-CAMFT will be monitoring events as they unfold.

Today I spoke with CAMFT attorney Ann Tran regarding this new law and below is a summary of our conversation.

Penal Code Section 11165.1 does not specifically include Internet usage of child pornography within the definition of “sexual exploitation” because it was written before the prolific use of the Internet and does not reflect modern technology.

Prior to the passage of this law the existing law, known as the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, defines sexual abuse as sexual assault or sexual exploitation for purposes of mandating certain persons to report suspected cases of child abuse or neglect. Under the act, sexual exploitation refers to, among other things, a person who depicts a child in, or who knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges, a film, photograph, videotape, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct, except as specified. Failure to report known or suspected instances of child abuse, including sexual abuse, under the act is a misdemeanor.

The passage of this new bill provides that sexual exploitation also includes: A person who knowingly downloads, streams, or accesses through any electronic or digital media, a film, photograph, videotape, video recording, negative, or slide in which a child is engaged in an act of obscene sexual conduct. The bill imposes a state-mandated local program because it expands the scope of a crime and imposes additional duties on local officials.

A Question about Sexting: Ann Tran said child sexual abuse reporting has always included sexting. Sexting includes printing, duplicating, downloading, a photograph in which a child is engaged in sexual conduct. However, there are a lot of interpretations, and it is not very clear when a report is required.

I posed a couple scenarios and Ann responded:

• If a minor is “sexting” a photo of herself in bra & panties to her boyfriend and she is not posing in an obscene manner, that may not be reportable.
• If a minor sends a photo of herself nude, or posing in an obscene way, the exchange of those photos is reportable and was always reportable, even prior to the passage of AB1775.

Law enforcement would say yes, sexting in both instances are reportable. Some therapists may say no, Item 1 is not reportable, because the example states she is NOT posing in an obscene manner. However, it becomes a problem if the boyfriend then forwards the photo to others.

Regarding scenarios 1 and 2 above, according to Ann Tran, both are reportable because the law applies the words “a person” to the minor who “depicts a child in . . .” by sending the self-photo.

However, here’s an interesting note: Texting sexual content (using words) is not reportable, according to Ann Tran.

Should you report? Yes, if you make the report you’re protected. If you don’t make the report you can be fined or charged with a misdemeanor, or reported to the Board. And although it can have an impact on the therapeutic relationship, the law requires a report.

This is a new law and there are a lot of concerns. How does reporting a teen sexting a photo to a friend impact that young person’s future? There is concern among therapists with specialties in sexual addiction and those who work with sex offenders. How are they able to help their clients if they are mandated to make a report for downloading images electronically?

A Petition for Writ of Prohibitory Mandate, Request For Immediate Stay of A.B.1775‘s Amendment of Penal Code Sections 11165.1, Subd. (C) has been filed. It will be going through the court system and there may be changes. But in the meantime, we must follow the current law, which became effective January 1, 2015.

You can read more about AB1775, the Petition, and various articles at the following link http://stopab1775.org/articles/

I asked Ann about the contents contained in the above link and she stated the site is a good source of information regarding this new law. She also stated that she disagrees with a few opinions in some of the articles there and cautioned readers to keep each author’s perspective in mind while reading.

This law is generating much discussion. With so many moving parts, information about the law may be confusing and vague. It will be interesting to see what happens when the Petition is heard in court. SCV-CAMFT will be monitoring it closely.

In the meantime, feel free to use the chapter exchange to share new information you may receive or new links that may be beneficial for our membership regarding this new law.