SACRAMENTO, CA — Following the shocking dismissal of a criminal case for child abuse involving a special education teacher in the Visalia Unified School District (VUSD), Dr. Jasmeet Bains (D-Delano) announced today a major expansion to the SCRIVNER Act (AB 2273). The newly added provisions will extend the statute of limitations for cases involving vulnerable students and impose severe, personal and financial penalties on elected officials who break the law by using taxpayer funds to buy the silence of abuse victims. Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo (R-Tulare) will join Dr. Bains as a coauthor, adding a bipartisan Valley voice to the legislative effort.
The dismissed case involves the families of four non-verbal, autistic children at VUSD’s Highland Elementary School. The suit alleged that a special education teacher was witnessed hitting a student on the head and kicking a child in the chest, yet remained in the classroom despite the reports. Yesterday, the case was dismissed on a technicality, denying these disabled children justice.
"Our good intentions are not good enough when predators walk free and the system actively protects them," said Dr. Jasmeet Bains. "When a case involving non-verbal children is thrown out because of an arbitrary ticking clock, the law is broken. We need to fix the law so that no school district can run out the clock on child abuse."
While a recent Los Angeles Times investigation revealed a staggering 750+ lawsuits and a statewide "flurry" of districts utilizing secret settlements, VUSD’s record demonstrates a particularly severe and concentrated pattern of institutional cover-ups. Between February 2023 and March 2025 alone, VUSD settled five separate sexual abuse cases for nearly $15 million.
This includes an $8 million settlement for a minor sexually abused by a VUSD campus supervisor who the district actively rehired despite a previous firing for serious misconduct. In another egregious instance, the VUSD Board of Education unanimously approved a $3 million settlement regarding a kindergarten teacher that included non-disclosure provisions designed specifically to keep the community "in the dark forever."
“It is our fundamental duty to protect children,” said Assemblywoman Macedo, who has long advocated for harsher punishment to abusers who target children. “Predators who prey on children, especially those with special needs, must be held accountable for their despicable acts. Because these children face disproportionate risks due to communication and dependency barriers, we must strengthen current laws to shield them from abusers.”
Macedo added, “Predators cannot hide behind secret settlements or arbitrary timelines. No society can claim to be successful if it fails to protect its children.”
To combat these abuses, Dr. Bains will amend the SCRIVNER Act to include two sweeping accountability measures:
- The bill will be expanded to ensure that technicalities and expired timelines can no longer be weaponized to dismiss especially vulnerable child abuse cases, allowing cases like the one in Visalia to move forward and be heard on their merits.
- The expanded bill will also target the architects of these cover-ups. Any elected official who approves a child abuse settlement containing an illegal non-disclosure agreement used to silence a victim or prevent other victims from seeking justice will be held personally and financially liable to reimburse the public agency for the expenditure of taxpayer funds.
"For too long, politicians have used taxpayer dollars as hush money to protect their own reputations," Dr. Bains continued. "If you vote to illegally silence a victim and keep a predator's secrets in the dark, you will pay for it out of your own pocket. We are ending the era of the backroom deal."
The SCRIVNER Act (AB 2273), part of Dr. Bains’ sweeping Lords of Bakersfield< legislative package, recently passed the State Assembly and will advance to the State Senate with these new aggressive accountability measures.
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Dr. Jasmeet Bains represents the 35th Assembly District in Kern County, including the cities of Bakersfield, Delano, Wasco, Arvin, Shafter, and McFarland.