AB 2242
CFC WatchingPupil safety: sextortion informational poster
CFC Says
CFC is watching AB 2242.
This bill would require California public middle and high schools to put up posters in school restrooms that explain what sextortion is and provide resources for students who may be targeted. The posters would be available in both English and Spanish.
Currently at 2nd Committee, having cleared 3 stages. Hearing in Senate Appropriations Committee in 35 days.
Legislative Progress
CFC's Position Letter
March 25, 2026
The Honorable Asm. Davies, Laurie
Assembly Education Committee
1021 O Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Assembly Woman, Laurie:
On behalf of tens of thousands of constituents, allied organizations, and more than 2,000 churches across California, the California Family Council gladly supports AB 2242.
AB 2242 requires California public schools serving grades 7–12 to display bilingual informational posters in restrooms, providing students with resources and awareness about sextortion. This commonsense, low-cost intervention addresses a rapidly escalating threat to the safety and well-being of California's children. We urge the Committee to move this bill forward.
Sextortion, in which predators coerce minors into producing explicit images and then weaponize those images for money, continued exploitation, or both, has exploded in recent years. The FBI has described sextortion as "a growing threat," documenting approximately 1,000 investigated cases per month from 2021 through early 2023, with a 20% surge in the final six months of that period.1 National cyber tips related to sextortion more than doubled in a single year, rising from 186,800 in 2023 to 456,000 in 2024.1 The FBI has linked at least 20 suicides directly to sextortion incidents.1 These are not abstract statistics; they represent children in California classrooms.
The threat is not theoretical or distant. In Orange County alone, Homeland Security Investigations reported approximately 10 active sextortion cases per month in early 2025, up from roughly 25 cases for all of 2024.1 Special Agent Tory Torres of the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force estimates that at any given time, at least a dozen local children, predominantly boys between the ages of 14 and 17, are being actively targeted.1 California's scale means the statewide numbers are far larger.
Sextortion inflicts trauma that extends far beyond financial loss. Investigators describe victims experiencing profound damage to their confidence, mental health, and sense of personal safety. Agent Torres noted that "a lot of victims have contemplated or actually taken their lives."1 Adolescents, who are developmentally vulnerable and less equipped to recognize or report exploitation, are particularly at risk. Early awareness and access to reporting resources can be lifesaving.
Predators frequently contact minors through platforms popular among school-age children. Because many victims are isolated by shame and fear, they do not disclose abuse to parents or teachers. A discreet poster in a school restroom, a private space where a student can read and absorb information without peer pressure, provides exactly the kind of confidential access to resources that could prompt a targeted child to seek help. This placement is both strategically sound and practically achievable.
By requiring bilingual posters, AB 2242 ensures that California's substantial Spanish-speaking student population receives the same protections as English-speaking peers. Child exploitation does not discriminate by language, and neither should our protective infrastructure.
California has previously enacted human trafficking awareness poster requirements in businesses, transit stations, and other venues, recognizing that visible, accessible information saves lives. AB 2242 applies the same proven model to the school environment. Multiple states have enacted sextortion awareness and education mandates in recent years, reflecting a growing legislative consensus that proactive disclosure is essential to combating online child exploitation.
This bill imposes a modest, one-time compliance cost, the production and display of posters, while delivering substantial protective value. Given that sextortion investigations are resource-intensive for law enforcement and that victimization carries enormous long-term societal costs, the cost-benefit case for AB 2242 is clear. Prevention is always less costly than remediation.
For these reasons, California Family Council is proud to support AB 2242. We commend Assemblywoman Davies for bringing forward this practical, child-protective measure and urge the Committee's approval.
Respectfully,
Greg Burt
Vice President
California Family Council
References
1 Andre Mouchard, "Increasingly dangerous scam targets kids through sextortion," Orange County Register, April 3, 2025. https://ocregister.com/2025/04/03/increasingly-dangerous-scam-targets-kids-through-sextortion
Official Description
Existing law requires each educational institution in the state to have a written policy on sexual harassment and to display that policy in a prominent location, as defined, in the main administrative building or other area of the educational institution’s campus or schoolsite. Existing law requires each schoolsite in a school district, county office of education, or charter school, serving pupils in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, to create a poster that notifies pupils of that policy and to prominently and conspicuously display the poster in each bathroom and locker room at the schoolsite, as specified. This bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school maintaining any combination of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, on or before the start of the 2027–28 school year, to display, at each schoolsite, as defined, in at least one men’s restroom, one women’s restroom, and one all-gender restroom used by pupils a legible poster printed in both English and a primary language other than English spoken by at least 15% of pupils enrolled at the schoolsite, that contains specified information relating to sextortion, including, among other information, an age-appropriate description of sextortion, as defined, and contact information for local, state, and federal law enforcement for purposes of reporting or seeking assistance relating to sextortion. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2027, to develop and post on its internet website a model template of the poster for use by those local educational agencies. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.