Andrew Mollenbeck, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – The scandal at Penn State is pushing lawmakers to re-examine reporting requirements for those who work directly with kids.

Like many states, Maryland and Virginia have mandatory reporting requirements under the threat of fines.

But that may not be tough enough, some lawmakers believe.

“The problem with the law is that it doesn’t have any teeth to it,” says Maryland State Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-Harford, noting there is no criminal penalty for failure to report.

“The thing I am looking at is doing criminal penalties, especially when it comes to an educator,” she says.

The Virginia law states, “any person required to file a report… who fails to do so within 72 hours of his first suspicion of child abuse or neglect shall be fined not more than $500 for the first failure.”

Maryland has similar consequences that may come under scrutiny in the next General Assembly.

“If there is a failure to report if a child talks to a teacher or a counselor about that, there should be a criminal penalty,” Jacobs says.

She says lawmakers are looking at the types of criminal penalties other state have. They’re also consulting state’s attorneys.

Following such graphic allegations as those at Penn State, the immediate reaction is to better protect kids.

Jacobs says it doesn’t have to be knee-jerk.

“What happens a lot of time is you see something like this come up, and you realize we have a loophole in the Maryland law we need to close,” she says.

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