What needs to change in California.

• Penitential-communication exemption (Penal Code § 11166(d)(1))

  Penal Code § 11166(d)(1) provides that a clergy member who acquires knowledge or a reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect **during a penitential communication is not subject to** the reporting duty. The statute defines a penitential communication as one intended to be confidential, made to a clergy member who is authorized or accustomed to hear such communications and is under a duty to keep them secret. Subdivision (d)(2) limits the carveout to penitential communications only, so the clergy member's reporting duty stays intact for information learned in any other capacity.

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• Clergy expressly enumerated as mandated reporters (Penal Code § 11165.7(a)(32))

  Penal Code § 11165.7(a)(32) lists a clergy member as a mandated reporter and defines the term as a priest, minister, rabbi, religious practitioner, or similar functionary of a church, temple, or recognized denomination or organization. California neither relies on an all-person catch-all nor leaves clergy off the list, which is why its status is expressly-named.

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• Parallel evidentiary privilege (Evidence Code §§ 1030 to 1034)

  California's clergy-penitent privilege is also codified in the Evidence Code: § 1033 lets the penitent refuse to disclose a penitential communication and § 1034 gives the clergy member a parallel right of refusal. This evidentiary privilege reinforces the § 11166(d)(1) reporting carveout and is one reason California's privilege posture is classified as preserved rather than overridden.

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What it takes to close the gap.

How California got here.

• 1996
  California adds clergy to the mandated-reporter list

  The Legislature amended the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act to name clergy as mandated reporters while writing in the penitential-communication exemption that survives today. The statute references activity prior to January 1, 1997, consistent with a 1996 enactment, but no contemporaneous session-law record is cited here.

• 2019
  SB 360 passes the state Senate

  Sen. Jerry Hill's SB 360 would have narrowed the penitential-communication exemption so it did not cover communications between clergy or between a clergy member and a co-employee. The Senate passed it on May 23, 2019.

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• 2020
  SB 360 dies in the Assembly

  After the Assembly Public Safety Committee raised First Amendment and enforceability concerns, the bill never advanced. Its last action was 'From Assembly without further action' on November 30, 2020, and it is recorded as an inactive bill that died. As of its last recorded action, no successor bill had been tracked.

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Litigation shaping the law.

• Conti v. Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc.

  235 Cal.App.4th 1214·2015

  California Court of Appeal decision holding that a religious organization had no common-law duty to warn its members that another member was a known child molester, reasoning in part that the public policy protecting the confidentiality of penitential communications, which underlies the privilege and the reporting statutes, weighed against imposing the duty. The leading California appellate authority on how the § 11166(d) penitential exemption and the Evidence Code clergy privilege shape a church's tort duties.

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• People v. Edwards

  203 Cal.App.3d 1358·1988

  California Court of Appeal decision construing the clergy-penitent privilege in Evidence Code §§ 1030 to 1034. The court read the discipline-and-tenets and in-confidence requirements narrowly and rejected the privilege claim because the communications did not satisfy the statutory definition. Frequently cited on the boundaries of penitential communication, the same defined term that drives the § 11166(d) reporting exemption.

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Public-record sources UCO is tracking.

Always verify against the underlying statute or filing before quoting.

• California Legislative Information· current text 2026
  California Penal Code § 11165.7 — Mandated reporters

  Official statute enumerating mandated reporters. Subdivision (a)(32) names a clergy member and defines the term. Primary anchor for the expressly-named classification.

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• California Legislative Information· current text 2026
  California Penal Code § 11166 — Duty to report; penitential-communication exemption

  Official statute imposing the reporting duty. Subdivision (d)(1) exempts knowledge gained during a penitential communication; (d)(2) limits that carveout. Primary anchor for the preserved privilege posture and the gap.

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• California Legislative Information· 2019-2020 session
  SB 360 (2019-2020) — Mandated reporters: clergy (bill status)

  Official bill-status page. SB 360 amended §§ 11165.7 and 11166; it passed the Senate in 2019 and died in the Assembly ('Inactive Bill - Died', last action 11/30/2020). The operative recent attempt to narrow the clergy exemption.

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• Child Welfare Information Gateway, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau· 2023
  Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect (State Statutes)

  Federal HHS compilation listing California among the states that expressly enumerate clergy as mandated reporters while preserving the clergy-penitent privilege for penitential communications. Corroborates both classifications.

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• Angelus News· 2019-07-09
  SB 360 withdrawn by sponsor day before key hearing

  Reports that the Assembly Public Safety Committee staff report (July 8, 2019) identified serious First Amendment and enforceability concerns with SB 360, and that the author withdrew the bill the day before the scheduled July 9 hearing. Corroborates the committee-concern characterization in timeline[2].note.

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