Bill on failure to report child abuse moves forward

A bill that would mean school officials and others can be held accountable for up to three years for not reporting suspected child sexual abuse passed a Colorado Senate committee Wednesday.

Currently, mandatory reporters of abuse can only be charged for up to 18 months after the incident.

Senate Bill 19-049 had called for extending the statute of limitations to five years, but the Judiciary Committee approved an amendment by Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs.

“I prefer it be 10 years or 50 years or something, but there’s not votes in this committee to do that,” Gardner said, adding that three years could garner more broad support.

A similar bill failed to make it out of the GOPcontrolled Senate last year.

Arapahoe District Attorney George Brauchler and Denver District Attorney Beth McCann spoke in favor of the bill, citing cases where they said mandatory reporters of child abuse were not prosecuted because of the 18-month provision.

Brauchler said current law, allowing those who are required to report suspected child abuse to escape penalty after 18 months, puts more children at risk for abuse.

He cited the case of two Cherry Creek School District employees at Prairie Middle School, who were indicted by a grand jury last year for failure to report child abuse. The charges were dismissed because of the statute of limitations.

“This ruling highlights the tremendous risk of danger to our children created by an extremely weak law,” Brauchler said in a statement.

McCann spoke to the committee about an incident involving an East High School student whose parents were allegedly discouraged from reporting their child’s abuse, and when they finally did, the statute of limitations had run out.

McCann said the young girl was “bullied mercilessly” and had to transfer schools.

Democratic Sen. Rhonda Fields of Aurora, the bill’s sponsor, said some mandatory reporters try to conduct their own investigations or don’t believe a child and therefore don’t report. But that’s not their responsibility, she said.

In Colorado, priests, teachers, medical professionals and other people who work with kids are required to report to law enforcement and the Department of Human Services when a child tells them they’ve been abused or if there’s any suspicion of abuse.

Fields said the bill aims to make sure the most vulnerable are protected.

“When you think about how powerless a child is and they muster enough courage to tell a trusted adult what’s going on … 18 months and 1 day is not enough time,” she said.

Opponents of the bill included attorney David Beller, who represented the principal in the Prairie Middle School case.

He cited problems with evidence collection five years after a report, especially when it comes to records that could prove a person’s innocence.

Brauchler testified in favor of a five-year statute of limitations and noted later that in the Prairie Middle School situation — the case that prompted the legislation — the time lapse was four years.

But he called the move to increase the requirement from 18 months to three years “a step in the right direction.” Saja Hindi: shindi@denverpost.com or @BySajaHindi