PONY Baseball and Softball would like to pass on to you an important new bill that has passed in California, Assembly Bill No. 506 which is a new state law to protect children from sex abuse from youth organizations.
The new law requires fingerprint based background checks and child abuse and neglect reporting training for volunteers that are in direct contact with or supervision of children more than 16 hours a month or 32 hours a year. For leagues, this includes coaches, managers, board members, umpires, etc.
The new law also mandates that organizations have policies in place to ensure that these regular volunteers for an organization are reporting suspected child abuse. This is described in Section 11165.9 and Section 11166.05 of the California Penal Code as well as requiring that at least two mandated reporters are there when interacting with youth players. Mandated reporters are described in Section 11165.7 of the California Penal Code.
The law went into effect for the entire state of California as of January 1, 2022.
This new law includes a background check as described in Section 11105.3 of the California Penal Code. This requires a volunteer to get a background check through a fingerprint scan at a Live Scan location (located all over California).
Please note that this does not replace the PONY Baseball and Softball required background check (Background checks at a MINIMUM must be a search from the National Sex Offender database but additional checks such as ID Search and National Criminal Search are recommended). PONY recommends its partner JD Palentine and their background check services for these checks at JDP.com/pony.
Leagues must also do required training for volunteers for child abuse and neglect training. Utilization of the free USA Baseball Abuse Awareness Volunteer Training (SafeSport) is recommended.
What a PONY League needs to complete...
- PONY League Board Member should be appointed to run the Bill 506 background Check process as well as the PONY mandated background checks.
- Board member completes the Application for Authorization Pursuant to. Penal Code Section 11105.3 form.
- You will need your non-profit organization’s status. PONY Leagues that cannot show their proof on non-profit status may be charged fees.
- Mail the Application for Authorization Pursuant to. Penal Code Section 11105.3 to the address on the form.
- PONY Leagues will receive their ORI code (code to give volunteers so the state knows which youth organization they belong to in processing/retentio
- PONY Leagues MUST give the ORI code to the volunteer BEFORE they get fingerprinted at a Live Scan location.
What a PONY Volunteer needs to complete...
- Ask your PONY League for their ORI number BEFORE continuing.
- Make sure you are using the correct ORI number for the PONY Organization.
- Select a Live Scan location to do your fingerprinting.
- Complete the 8016 - Request for LiveScan Service form and bring it with you.
PONY Volunteers will be required to go through the California Bill 506 for any and all youth organizations they volunteer for. It is prohibited to share results of the Bill 506 background check with other youth organizations.
A Live Scan fingerprint background check may cost from $15 to $70 depending on location. The volunteer will be responsible for the cost of the service.
Any questions you may have about the new procedures may be addressed to the PONY Background Security Team - [email protected]