[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3708 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3708

                 To encourage reporting of child abuse.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 21, 2012

    Mr. Kyl introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
                 To encourage reporting of child abuse.

    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 ``Stop Abuse For Every Child Act of 
2012'' or the ``SAFE Child Act''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL SPECIAL ASSESSMENT.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 20 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 3013 the following:
``Sec. 3014. Additional special assessment
    ``(a) In addition to the assessment imposed under section 3013, the 
court shall assess on any person other than an individual convicted of 
an offense against the United States an amount equal to 3 times the 
amount that would be assessed on a person under section 3013 for the 
same offense.
    ``(b) There is established in the Treasury a fund, to be known as 
the `Surcharge Fund' (referred to in this section as the `Fund'), to be 
administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
    ``(c) Notwithstanding section 3302 of title 31, or any other law 
regarding the crediting of money received for the Government, there 
shall be deposited in the Fund an amount equal to the amount of the 
assessments collected under this section, which shall remain available 
until expended.
    ``(d) From amounts in the Fund, and without further appropriation, 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall, for fiscal year 2013, 
and every 3 fiscal years thereafter, award a competitive grant with a 
grant period of 3 years and in the amount of $1,000,000 for each year 
to a private nonprofit organization that has a successful multi-year 
record of operating a national child abuse hotline, which shall be 
used--
            ``(1) to operate such a hotline, which shall--
                    ``(A) operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with 
                individuals answering calls;
                    ``(B) be staffed by individuals that are trained to 
                handle crisis counseling and child abuse and neglect 
                inquiries, including individuals with a background or 
                advanced degrees in counseling, mental health, social 
                work, or other related fields;
                    ``(C) have the ability to provide assistance to 
                callers in multiple languages;
                    ``(D) have chat or text message capability to 
                increase access and participation for children and 
                youth who may not be as likely to call on a telephone; 
                and
                    ``(E) provide--
                            ``(i) assistance in reporting incidences of 
                        child abuse and neglect;
                            ``(ii) crisis counseling;
                            ``(iii) referrals to relevant resources in 
                        the caller's community; and
                            ``(iv) education and resources on the signs 
                        and symptoms of abuse, risk factors, parenting 
                        concerns, and adult survivor issues; and
            ``(2) to encourage reporting of child abuse and conduct 
        public education on child abuse.
    ``(e)(1) Effective on the day after the date on which an award is 
made under subsection (d), or, for a fiscal year in which no award is 
made under subsection (d), effective on September 30 of that fiscal 
year, all unobligated balances in the Fund shall be transferred to the 
Crime Victims Fund established under section 1402 of the Victims of 
Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10601).
    ``(2) Amounts transferred under paragraph (1)--
            ``(A) shall be available for any authorized purpose of the 
        Crime Victims Fund; and
            ``(B) shall remain available until expended.
    ``(f) The amount assessed under subsection (a) shall be collected 
in the manner that fines are collected in criminal cases.
    ``(g) The obligation to pay an assessment imposed on or after the 
date of enactment of the SAFE Child Act shall not cease until the 
assessment is paid in full.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 20 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 3013 the following:

``3014. Additional special assessment.''.
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