Subcommittee recommends pursuing legislation on training to detect child abuse; no public testimony taken

The Children and Family Law subcommittee met in a work session to review retained HB 1590, which addresses training on detecting child abuse and neglect, and unanimously recommended that the full committee consider pursuing further legislation.

Chair (Unidentified) opened the meeting and emphasized that it was not a public hearing and that the subcommittee would not take testimony. "This is not a hearing. We do not take testimony from the public at this," the chair said, adding the group would make only an informal recommendation to the full committee.

Representative Long, identified in the session as the prime sponsor of the original bill, said he would "make the recommendation that that this be... could further legislated" and noted questions that had arisen during prior testimony from the hospital association about who would be mandated to take the training and how often re-certification would be required.

Several members voiced support for moving forward but urged that the training's scope and accreditation be clarified. One member argued the mandated group should be broader to include first responders and child specialists; Representative Ball raised concerns that the topic may already be covered in existing medical continuing education and cautioned against legislating the practice of medicine. "We've often said we shouldn't legislate the practice of medicine," Ball said, adding questions about whether a new mandate would replace or add to current CEU requirements and who would determine an "accredited" training program.

Members also discussed logistics and timing: the subcommittee will send its informal recommendation to the full Children and Family Law committee when it meets Tuesday, October 22 at 10:30 a.m., and members noted November is the bill-filing period should a member choose to file follow-up legislation. Representative DeSimone and other members offered to help draft a bill if a sponsor is identified.

The subcommittee did not take a formal roll-call vote; instead, the chair asked members to signal support by a thumbs-up. The chair reported that the signal "looks like 6 to none," describing the outcome as the subcommittee's unanimous suggestion to the full committee to pursue legislation based on HB 1590.

The meeting closed after the recommendation was recorded; no public testimony was heard and no amendments to HB 1590 were made during the session.