Both AB 452 and SB 558, which received just one vote opposing the two bills, reflect the Legislature’s recognition of the acute trauma that survivors of CSA experience and a decision to remove barriers that prevent such survivors from seeking redress against their abusers and other responsible persons and institutions that may have concealed or ignored their claims. These laws continue a pattern in California’s efforts to support survivors of sexual assault. Over the years, California has engaged in various reforms of its CSA-related laws, including amending Government Code section 905 (SB 640 (2008)) to exempt childhood sexual abuse from the claims presentation requirement of the Government Tort Claims Act. In 2018, the Legislature amended Government Code section 935 (SB 1053) to clarify the legislative intent to make SB 640’s exemption applicable to the claims presentation requirements set by local public entities, such as school districts. The following year, AB 218 (Ch. 861, Statutes of 2019) expanded the definition of childhood sexual abuse, changed the reference to it to “CSA” (formerly known as childhood sexual abuse), and extended the time limit for initiating legal action to recover damages for CSA to a plaintiff’s 40th birthday or five years from when the plaintiff discovered or reasonably should have discovered that psychological injury they suffered was caused by a sexual assault. AB 218 also enhanced damages recoverable by a plaintiff if a responsible institution engaged in a cover up of CSA and provided a three-year window in which expired claims were revived.

With these laws, school districts and county offices of education will potentially be exposed to more liability, defense costs and monetary damages that they will only be able to mitigate in the future by implementing multifaceted measures to protect their students from harm. Among such measures should be the implementation of rigorous hiring practices that include verification of employee work location and residence, effective monitoring and supervision of students and employees, ongoing training for employees, and adoption and enforcement of clear and unambiguous policies.