The San Diego–Imperial Council, Boy Scouts of America (“Council”) is in full support of the effort to be in full compliance with Section 18975, Chapter 2.9 Youth Service Organizations, Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, commonly known as AB506, which requires that administrators, employees, and “regular volunteers” are required to complete child abuse and neglect reporting training (aka mandated reporter training) and requires administrators, employees, and “regular volunteers” to undergo LiveScan fingerprinting and a background check.
A “regular volunteer” is defined in the bill as a volunteer with the youth service organization who is 18 years of age or older and who has direct contact with, or supervision of, children for more than 16 hours per month or 32 hours per year. In order to be a registered member or employee of the San Diego-Imperial Council or Scouting America, any adult over the age of 18 must completed this process.
Registered adults in the BSA who do not meet the definition of a "regular volunteer" must complete the "Declaration of Exception"
Unfortunately this is something that our state government has imposed upon all youth organizations without consideration for the economic burden. Our council does not have the resources to pay for approximately 4,000 registered volunteers.We recognize that this is a burden on many, but it is small in comparison to the value of keeping youth safe.
