[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3486 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3486

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to require States 
receiving funds under section 106 of such Act to have in effect a State 
  law providing for a criminal penalty on an individual who fails to 
  report witnessing another individual engaging in sexual abuse of a 
                                 child.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 2011

Ms. Bass of California (for herself, Mr. Schilling, Mr. McDermott, Mr. 
   Fortenberry, Mr. Carnahan, Mr. Towns, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. 
 Loebsack, Ms. Clarke of New York, and Ms. Richardson) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
                             the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to require States 
receiving funds under section 106 of such Act to have in effect a State 
  law providing for a criminal penalty on an individual who fails to 
  report witnessing another individual engaging in sexual abuse of a 
                                 child.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Speak Out to Stop Child Abuse Act'' 
or the ``SOS Child Abuse Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT ON STATES RECEIVING GRANTS FOR CHILD ABUSE AND 
              NEGLECT PREVENTION AND TREATMENT PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--Section 106(b)(2) of the Child Abuse Prevention 
and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a(b)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (F), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (G), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(H) an assurance in the form of a certification 
                by the Governor of the State that the State has in 
                effect and is enforcing a State law providing for a 
                criminal penalty on an individual 18 years of age or 
                older who fails to report to a State or local law 
                enforcement official or child protective services that 
                the individual has witnessed another individual in the 
                State engaging in sexual abuse of a child.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on December 31, 2013.
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