A committee kills a bill designating Clergy members, such as rabbis and priests, as mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect.
House Bill 1216 would put members of the clergy in the same breath as teachers, social workers, law enforcement and doctors as mandatory reporters.
Under 10 conditions outlined in state statute, clergy members would be required to report abuses including sexual abuse, improper home without proper care and legal guardians knowingly exposing a child to an environment that’s using or selling controlled drugs. If a clergy member "intentionally" failed to do so while knowing or having "reason to suspect that a child has been abused or neglected" they would be guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor, which carries a max one-year imprisonment in a county jail and $2,000 fine.
Rep. Erin Healy is the bill’s prime sponsor. She said that “if nothing harmful is happening nothing will be uncovered.”
"And this bill is not about punishing clergy. It’s not about turning faith leaders into agents. It’s asking to remove ambiguity. It’s asking to remove a gray area,” Healy said. “It takes the burden off individual judgement calls and makes it very clear that protecting a child is not optional.”
Healy further stated the bill guarantees trust in religious institutions for youth who have been abused or neglected.
"Do we want kids to lose their faith because they were a victim of abuse and a trusted member of the clergy did not report it? Do we want that?" Healy asked. "Because I don't want that."
Michael Pauley, the Executive Director of the South Dakota Catholics Conference, opposed the bill and said both internal and external reporting is already conducted within the church that's been in place "for many years."
"The only exception to that obligation to report would concern privileged communication between a priest and a penitent during the sacrament of confession," Pauley said.
The South Dakota Catholics Conference raised concerns that the bill would violate the church's sacrament rules. If a priest were to break that code of confidentiality in confession, it would lead to excommunication from the church.
A similar bill was made law in Washington. It was contested in court but ultimately agreed that clergy members are not required to disclose information if it’s “solely through confession or its equivalent in other faiths.” Healy said HB 1216 has protections for such religious practices baked in.
Another proponent is Melissa McCauley, a lobbyist for the South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault, who said the issue exists in South Dakota.
“Again, we have 72 organizations across 66 counties," McCauley said. "When Rep. Healy asked about bringing this bill, I put an ask out to our organizations and within an hour I had about eight comments back to us saying, ‘This is an issue.’”
Still, others raised concerns about all the conditions clergy would be mandated to report on in state statute. Those include a child:
- Whose parent, guardian, or custodian has abandoned the child or has subjected the child to mistreatment or abuse;
- Who lacks proper parental care through the actions or omissions of the child's parent, guardian, or custodian;
- Whose environment is injurious to the child's welfare;
- Whose parent, guardian, or custodian fails or refuses to provide proper or necessary subsistence, supervision, education, medical care, or any other care necessary for the child's health, guidance, or well-being;
- Who is homeless, without proper care, or not domiciled with the child's parent, guardian, or custodian through no fault of the child's parent, guardian, or custodian;
- Who is threatened with substantial harm;
- Who has sustained emotional harm or mental injury as indicated by an injury to the child's intellectual or psychological capacity evidenced by an observable and substantial impairment in the child's ability to function within the child's normal range of performance and behavior, with due regard to the child's culture;
- Who is subject to sexual abuse, sexual molestation, or sexual exploitation by the child's parent, guardian, custodian, or any other person responsible for the child's care;
- Who was subject to prenatal exposure to abusive use of alcohol, marijuana, or any controlled drug or substance not lawfully prescribed by a practitioner; or
- Whose parent, guardian, or custodian knowingly exposes the child to an environment that is being used for the manufacture, use, or distribution of methamphetamines or any other unlawfully manufactured controlled drug or substance.
Pauley was one of those with concerns; he said the bill goes "far beyond the issue of sexual abuse of a minor."
"Our church is in the business of dealing with broken people. It's what we've done for 2,000 years. Our concern is this bill creates huge ambiguities for our clergy," Pauley said. "Instead of focusing their energy's on trying to help parents and families in need, they will constantly be evaluating whether they are under a reporting obligation. Understanding their obligations under the law is complicated because the definition of what is a neglected child is extremely vague and subjective."
He further held it would lead to people not turning to the church due to a lack of trust.
Rep. John Hughes called the intent of the bill “pure” but voted against it.
“If I’m a member of the clergy, I’m going to have my lawyer on speed dial and I’m going to be seeking legal opinions because I don’t want to get charged with a crime," Hughes said. "But my concern is that we’re going to destroy the role of the clergy because generally when you report, you’ve breached the relationship. You’ve created a betrayal.’”
HB 1216 died in the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday following an eight to four vote.
