FCMAT report and LA County testimony warn AB 218 liability surge could force deep local cuts or borrowing

The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Accountability and Transparency heard testimony that California’s recent expansion of the statute of limitations for childhood sexual‑assault claims under AB 218 has created a large and growing fiscal liability for local governments, school districts and nonprofit providers, and that state and local officials need financing mechanisms and stronger prevention measures to manage obligations to survivors without collapsing public services.

Michael Fine, chief executive officer of the State’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), presented a report the team issued after six months of study. The report, published Jan. 31, offers 22 recommendations across four themes: data collection, financing mechanics, a study of a victims’ compensation fund, and prevention measures.

Why it matters: AB 218 extended the window for some survivors to bring civil claims, exposing local public agencies to settlements and judgments that FCMAT and county officials said could be large enough to jeopardize budgets and services if handled only through existing local insurance and reserve mechanisms.

FCMAT findings: financing, data and prevention

Michael Fine summarized the report’s core conclusions: public agencies’ fiscal exposure is difficult to quantify because data are inconsistent, insurance…