Michigan revisiting mandatory reporting of suspected abuse
Lawmakers at odds over move to exempt paid coaches, athletic trainers from bill
Michigan lawmakers were at odds Wednesday over a decision to scale back a proposed expansion of the state’s mandatory reporting law that arose from the Larry Nassar abuse scandal, with one state senator vowing to keep fighting to add paid coaches and athletic trainers to the list of professionals who must report suspected child abuse to the authorities.
A state House committee was expected to pass a bill that would include physical therapists and physical therapist assistants to the list, a day after it backed away from extending it to college employees, sports coaches and trainers, citing cost concerns, unintended consequences and other issues. The decision to scale back the law drew swift criticism in the state Senate, which passed a more inclusive version of the bill in March. State Sen. Rick Jones, a Grand Ledge Republican, said he would move to add paid coaches and trainers in his committee after the full House approves its Nassarinspired bills on Thursday. “That is ridiculous. A paid professional coach or trainer should have enough common sense and enough training to report a sexual assault on a teenager,” he said. Some of Nassar’s victims have said they told a gymnastics coach and trainers at Michigan State University, where the former sports doctor worked, that he had molested them under the guise that it was treatment, but nothing was done. No one has faced charges for not reporting the abuse years ago, but there are multiple investigations underway into the school’s handling of complaints. Like all other states, Michigan requires health providers, psychologists, teachers, police, clergy and others to report suspected child abuse or neglect to the authorities.
House Law and Justice Committee Chairman Klint Kesto, a Republican from Oakland County’s Commerce Township, said implementing a “complete expansion” of the mandatory reporting law would cost too much and cited problems when Pennsylvania expanded its law after the Penn State University sexual abuse scandal. “One of the things that the social workers and others pointed out is that if you’re increasing the flood of what comes in, then you’re taking away the attention from the cases that really, really need it most — potentially,” said Rep. Stephanie Chang of Detroit, the ranking Democrat on the panel.
The committee also narrowed a proposed window for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits retroactively, to within 90 days of the law taking effect. Going forward, minors would have until their 28th birthday or within three years of realizing they had been abused. The cutoff is now their 19th birthday.
Other House bills would lengthen the time restriction to bring criminal charges in lower-degree sexual misconduct cases, boost training for mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect, require students in grades 6-12 to receive sexual misconduct and harassment information, mandate that parents give written consent before procedures involving vaginal or anal penetration are performed on a minor, toughen child pornography penalties and make other changes.
State Sen. Margaret O’Brien, a Portage Republican who spearheaded bills through the Senate on behalf of Nassar victims, said the revisions to the mandatory reporting and statute of limitations legislation were “disappointing.” While Nassar survivors could sue retroactively, others could not unless they were alleging abuse at the hands of a physician under the guise of treatment.