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Child Abuse Law Changes Approved, Continued Study Defeated

Associated Press0

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A state House committee has approved a measure aimed at making child sexual abuse reporting clearer but has defeated a plan to authorize more time to study how to address the issue in South Dakota.

The House State Affairs Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve a plan that would require a mandatory reporter who first hears a child’s account of abuse to be available when it’s reported.

But the panel voted 10-2 against a proposal to allow the Jolene’s Law Task Force to continue working this year. The panel is named after Jolene Loetscher, of Sioux Falls, who was a victim of sexual abuse as a teenager and has talked publicly about her story.

Loetscher says the vote is heartbreaking because there’s “so much more we need to do.”

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