California Bill Would End Medical Worker Mandate to Report Suspected Domestic Violence

The California State Capitol building in Sacramento on April 18, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Legislation to remove mandatory requirements for doctors and other health practitioners to report suspected domestic violence is set to be considered by a California senate committee Aug. 11.

Assembly Bill 2790, proposed by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Berkeley) and co-authored by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), has received both praise and criticism.

The bill removes criminal liability from health care professionals who don’t notify law enforcement when they suspect a patient has been assaulted or abused. Instead, the provider would be required to provide brief counseling and a referral to local or national domestic violence services.

The legislation was suspended in the Senate Appropriations Committee Aug. 1 as lawmakers consider its fiscal impacts. The cost to implement it is still unknown and could require the state to reimburse both local public health departments and agencies hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to a legislative analysis.

“Research has shown that mandatory reporting to law enforcement can keep survivors of domestic & sexual violence from seeking health care or sharing information w/health providers,” Wicks wrote on Twitter regarding the bill in June.

Removing such reporting could encourage survivors to speak more openly to their healthcare providers, according to Jane Stoever, a law professor at the University of California–Irvine who testified in support of the bill before the California Assembly Appropriations Committee in May.

“Research shows that when survivors are able to openly disclose abuse without fear of police involvement and to have trauma-informed conversations with medical providers, abuse survivors are four times more likely to utilize domestic violence resources and agencies, which is key to long-term safety,” Stoever said.

Current law criminalizes medical professionals who don’t report domestic violence and is “contrary to current research showing that mandatory reporting of adult domestic violence doesn’t reduce homicide or assaults, and instead creates barriers to healthcare access for survivors,” she said.

Domestic violence survivor Joyce Bilyeu, who now serves as deputy director of the Sacramento Regional Family Justice Center in Sacramento, said she strongly opposed the bill.

“I do not think victims are discouraged from seeking medical attention because of the current reporting requirement,” Bilyeu told The Epoch Times. “If this bill passes, I feel it will make things worse for [the] victim.”

As a survivor who went to the hospital many times throughout her 10-year marriage, Bilyeu said she firmly believes if the abuse was reported the first time she sought medical care, maybe things would have turned around early for her and her children.

The mother of two said she would never have told anyone about the abuse out of fear of retaliation. Reporting the violence might be the only thing that saves a victim’s life, she said.

“I can tell you that victims are not going to report,” she said. “I have been working with survivors for 40 years now as a professional and I have never once encountered a victim not wanting to get the medical treatment they needed out of fear of a report being made to [law enforcement].”

Others involved in California law enforcement have also weighed in.

District Attorney Susan Rios of Northern California’s Lassen County, said on social media she was disappointed with the State Assembly’s passage of the bill. Lawmakers approved the bill in a 42–23 vote May 26—with 13 abstentions—before it was sent to the Senate for consideration.

“This bill removes health care workers as mandated reporters for child abuse, domestic violence, human trafficking, and elder abuse, unless a firearm is involved,” Rios said in a Facebook post. “So many of these cases are not brought to law enforcement’s attention until a health care worker is involved; and now, if this passes, we may never know unless the victim asks for it to be reported ... [this is] another measure in place to protect criminals in this state.”

The bill has received some attention from outside of the state.

Dr. Kaitlin Sidorsky, an associate professor of political science at South Carolina’s Coastal Carolina University said the bill has been criticized by both political parties.

“A perfect example of how the relationship between party ID and domestic violence policy is not always so clear. AB 2790 is sponsored by two Democrats in the CA General Assembly and is heavily criticized by both prosecutors and [domestic violence] groups,” Sidorsky posted on Twitter Aug. 2.

Wicks did not return requests for comment by press time.