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Committee advances bill to criminalize willful false child-abuse reports with defenses for reasonable reliance
Summary
House Bill 1577 would make an intentionally false report of child abuse a punishable offense (fines up to $5,000 and up to one year in jail) while protecting reporters who reasonably relied on credible information; the committee adopted clarifying language and removed CPS as a prosecuting entity.
The committee reviewed House Bill 1577, which makes a willful false report of child abuse unlawful when the filer intentionally submitted a report they knew to be false and the report lacked credible evidence. "It shall not be considered filed in good faith... when it's unsupported by credible evidence, and the person who filed the report intentionally submitted the report knowing that it was false," the sponsor read.
The bill prescribes penalties "not to exceed $5,000, by imprisonment in jail not to exceed 1 year or both," but preserves a defense when the reporter reasonably relied on credible information. Committee members debated scope (whether it should cover only mandatory reporters or any person) and the role of anonymity; an amendment was adopted to improve the drafting and another amendment removed the Department of Child Protection Services as a named prosecuting agency because CPS is not a prosecuting entity. The committee passed the strike-all as amended and recorded a favorable report in the transcript.
