BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2229
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2010
Chief Counsel: Gregory Pagan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
AB 2229 (Brownley) - As Amended: April 7, 2010
SUMMARY : Allows members of a multidisciplinary personnel team
engaged in the prevention, identification, and treatment of
child abuse to disclose and exchange information telephonically
and electronically if there is adequate verification of the
identity of the multidisciplinary team (MDT) members involved in
the disclosure or exchange of information. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Authorizes members of a multidisciplinary personnel team
engaged in the prevention, identification, and treatment of
child abuse to disclose and exchange information
telephonically and electronically if there is adequate
verification of the identity of the multidisciplinary team
members involved in the disclosure or exchange of information.
2)Reduces the size of a multidisciplinary personnel team from
three persons to two persons.
3)Lists the specific professions and required experience of
persons eligible to become members of a multidisciplinary team
contained in other existing provisions of law.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes members of a multidisciplinary personnel team
engaged in the prevention, identification, and treatment of
child abuse to disclose and exchange information and writings
to and with one another relating to any incidents of child
abuse that may also be part of a juvenile court record or
otherwise designated as confidential under state law if the
member of the team having that information reasonably believes
it is generally relevant to the prevention, identification or
treatment of child abuse. (Welfare and Institutions Code
Section 830.)
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2)Defines "multidisciplinary personnel" as any team of three or
more persons who are trained in the prevention,
identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect cases
and who are qualified to provide a broad range of services
related to child abuse. The team may include but not be
limited to:
a) Psychiatrists, psychologists or other trained counseling
personnel;
b) Police officers or other law enforcement agents;
c) Medical personnel with sufficient training to provide
health services;
d) Social workers with training or experience in child
abuse prevention; and,
e) Any public or private school teacher, administrative
officer, supervisor of child welfare and attendance, or
certificated pupil personnel employee. (Welfare and
Institutions Code Section 18951.)
3)Provides that any county may establish a computerized data
base system within that county to allow provider agencies, as
defined, to share specified identifying information regarding
families at risk for child abuse and neglect, for the purposes
of forming multidisciplinary personnel teams. (Welfare and
Institutions Code Section 18961.5.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "Due to budget
cuts, and the lack of staff children who are victims of abuse
and taken into protective custody cannot receive timely
treatment for medical problems unless information is shared
among verified members of the team investigating the abuse.
"Existing law requires at least three team members convene
before confidential information may be shared. Nurses, social
workers and law officers complain that valuable time is lost
while responding to an emergency child abuse problem while
trying to locate a third team member.
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"AB 2229 would help by allowing multidisciplinary investigative
teams to be two or more people be allowed to be considered a
multidisciplinary team, which is currently practiced when
investigating elder abuse; which was originally a three person
team as well.
"By doing so we are insuring that no time in responding to an
emergency child abuse problem is lost, and the safety of the
child in danger is put first."
2)Background : According to background information provided by
the author, "Existing law provides for the formation of a
child abuse MDT comprised of three individuals who are trained
in the prevention, treatment and identification of child
abuse. The benefit and purpose of forming a child abuse MDT
is that information that would otherwise be confidential may
be shared within the confines of the team. Unfortunately,
nurses, social workers, and law enforcement personnel complain
that valuable time is lost in responding to an emergency child
abuse program while a third party is sought to complete the
team and allow for the information to be shared.
Additionally, the existing statute is silent as to the
telephonic and electronic communication as an acceptable mode
for the sharing of information upon the proper verification of
the recipient's status as a team member.
"In 1987, the Legislature enacted AB 1049 (Bader), which first
authorized the use of MTDs in both child abuse and elder abuse
cases to exchange confidential information. At that time,
MDTs were a relatively new concept, which primarily existed as
pilot projects in certain counties. In 1994, however, there
was a comprehensive overhaul of the elder abuses statutes
proposed by SB 1681 (Mello). SB 1681 reduced from three to
two the number of members necessary to form an elder abuse
MDT. By 1994, the change from three to two members was no
longer considered controversial because there was no
discussion of this change in the legislative history of SB
1681. However, since that time, the law regarding MDTs in
elder abuse and child abuse cases has no longer been
consistent.
"According to the Elder Abuse Unit in Los Angeles County, elder
abuse MDTs currently exchange information telephonically, and
there have been no problem with either the formation of elder
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abuse MDTS with two members or the manner of communication
among them.
"Because there is a significant amount of confusion among
members of child abuse MDTS regarding their legal ability to
communicate by the prospect of civil liability, our office and
ICAN believes it is necessary to clarify the law to
specifically permit telephonic and electronic communication
among team members upon the proper verification of the
recipient's status as a team member.
"The work of child abuse MDTs is very time sensitive because
county Children's Protective Service agencies only have 48
hours from the time an incident of potential child abuse is
reported to make a determination on whether or not to file a
petition under California Welfare and Institutions Code
Section 300. Because of this short time line, it is critical
that information needed by a Children's Protective Service
agent that may be in the possession of an agency represented
on the child abuse MDT be shared.
"By bringing the law regarding child abuse MDTs into line with
existing law regarding elder abuse MDTs, which only require
two members, AB 2229 will enhance the treatment and prevention
of child abuse by streamlining the ability of qualified
personnel to aid victims by promptly sharing relevant
information, and save time and resources by eliminating the
need for a redundant third person consulted merely to satisfy
the statute."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office (Sponsor)
Opposition
American Civil Liberties Union
Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744