BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2013-2014 Regular Session B
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AB 406 (Torres and Bloom)
As Introduced February 15, 2013
Hearing date: May 14, 2013
Welfare and Institutions Code
AA:mc
CHILD ABUSE MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERSONNEL TEAMS
HISTORY
Source: Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Prior Legislation: AB 2229 (Brownley) - Ch. 464, Stats. 2010
Support: Child Abuse Prevention Center; County Welfare Directors
Association of California; Crime
Victims Action Alliance; Crime Victims United of California;
Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee;
Chief Probation Officers of
California; California Probation, Parole and Correctional
Association; California District
Attorneys Association; California State Sheriffs' Association;
California Catholic Conference; Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors
Opposition:Unknown
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 75 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUE
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SHOULD THE JANUARY 1, 2014, SUNSET ON THE LAW AUTHORIZING
COUNTIES TO ESTABLISH CHILD ABUSE MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERSONNEL
TEAMS TO ALLOW PROVIDER AGENCIES TO SHARE CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION, AS SPECIFIED, BE REPEALED?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to delete the January 1, 2014,
sunset date on provisions of law authorizing counties to
establish child abuse multidisciplinary personnel teams to allow
provider agencies to share confidential information in order to
investigate reports of suspected child abuse and neglect, as
specified.
Current law 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 (WIC) � 830.)
Current law provides that counties may establish child abuse
multidisciplinary personnel teams within that county to allow
provider agencies to share confidential information in order for
provider agencies to investigate reports of suspected child
abuse and neglect, as specified, or for the purpose of child
welfare agencies making a detention determination. (WIC �
18961.7(a).)
Current law defines "multidisciplinary personnel" in this
context 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
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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. (WIC �
18961.7(b)(1).)
Current law in this context defines "provider agency" as any
governmental or other agency that has as one of its purposes the
prevention, identification, management, or treatment of child
abuse or neglect. The provider agencies serving children and
their families that may share information shall include, but not
be limited to the following entities or agencies:
a) social services;
b) children's services;
c) health services;
d) mental health services;
e) probation;
f) law enforcement; and,
g) schools. (WIC � 18961.7(b)(2).)
Current law provides that notwithstanding any other provision of
law, during a 30- day period, or longer if good cause exists
following a report of suspected child abuse or neglect, members
of a child abuse multidisciplinary team engaged in the
prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse may
disclose to, and exchange with one another information and
writing that relate to any incident of child abuse that may also
be designated as confidential if the member of that team having
that information or writing reasonably believes it is generally
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relevant to the prevention, identification, and treatment of
child abuse. Any discussion relative to the disclosure or
exchange of the information or writings during a team meeting is
confidential, and notwithstanding any other provision of law,
testimony concerning that discussion is not admissible in any
criminal, civil, or juvenile court proceeding. (WIC �
18961.7(c)(1).)
Current law states that all information and records communicated
or provided to the team members by all providers agencies, as
well as information and records created in the course of a child
abuse or neglect investigation, shall be deemed private and
confidential and shall be protected from discovery and
disclosure by all applicable statutory and common law
protections. Existing civil and criminal penalties shall apply
to the inappropriate disclosure of information held by team
members. (WIC � 18961.7 (h).)
Current law sunsets these provisions on January 1, 2014. (WIC �
18961.7(i).)
This bill would delete this sunset.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation
relating to conditions of confinement. On May 23, 2011, the
United States Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two
years from the date of its ruling, subject to the right of the
state to seek modifications in appropriate circumstances.
Beginning in early 2007, Senate leadership initiated a policy to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate the
prison overcrowding crisis through new or expanded felony
prosecutions. Under the resulting policy known as "ROCA" (which
stands for "Receivership/ Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation"), the
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Committee held measures which created a new felony, expanded the
scope or penalty of an existing felony, or otherwise increased
the application of a felony in a manner which could exacerbate
the prison overcrowding crisis. Under these principles, ROCA
was applied as a content-neutral, provisional measure necessary
to ensure that the Legislature did not erode progress towards
reducing prison overcrowding by passing legislation which would
increase the prison population. ROCA necessitated many hard and
difficult decisions for the Committee.
In January of 2013, just over a year after the enactment of the
historic Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, the State of
California filed court documents seeking to vacate or modify the
federal court order issued by the Three-Judge Court three years
earlier to reduce the state's prison population to 137.5 percent
of design capacity. The State submitted in part that the, ". .
. population in the State's 33 prisons has been reduced by over
24,000 inmates since October 2011 when public safety realignment
went into effect, by more than 36,000 inmates compared to the
2008 population . . . , and by nearly 42,000 inmates since 2006
. . . ." Plaintiffs, who opposed the state's motion, argue in
part that, "California prisons, which currently average 150% of
capacity, and reach as high as 185% of capacity at one prison,
continue to deliver health care that is constitutionally
deficient." In an order dated January 29, 2013, the federal
court granted the state a six-month extension to achieve the
137.5 % prisoner population cap by December 31st of this year.
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In an order dated April 11, 2013, the Three-Judge Court denied
the state's motions, and ordered the state of California to
"immediately take all steps necessary to comply with this
Court's . . . Order . . . requiring defendants to reduce overall
prison population to 137.5% design capacity by December 31,
2013."
The ongoing litigation indicates that prison capacity and
related issues concerning conditions of confinement remain
unresolved. However, in light of the real gains in reducing the
prison population that have been made, although even greater
reductions are required by the court, the Committee will review
each ROCA bill with more flexible consideration. The following
questions will inform this consideration:
whether a measure erodes realignment;
whether a measure addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
whether a bill corrects a constitutional infirmity or
legislative drafting error;
whether a measure proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy; and
whether a bill addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy.
COMMENTS
1. Stated Need for This Bill
The author states:
In 2010 Governor Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill
2229 into law.
AB 2229 authorized counties to create two-person child
abuse multidisciplinary personnel teams (MDTs), rather
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than three-person MDTs, engaged in the investigation
of suspected child abuse or neglect, and permitted the
disclosure of the information gathered by a child
abuse MDT to be disclosed among team members
electronically and telephonically upon the proper
verification of the recipient's status as a team
member.
Child Abuse MDTs are intended to identify, treat, and
prevent child abuse, and are comprised of qualified
persons who may include psychiatrists, psychologists,
medical personnel, law enforcement personnel, social
workers and teachers. 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.
By conforming the law regarding child abuse MDTs with
the law regarding elder abuse MDTs, which only
required two members, AB 2229 enhanced the treatment
and prevention of child abuse by streamlining the
ability of qualified personnel to aid victims by
promptly having relevant information, and saved time
and resources by eliminating the need for a redundant
third person consulted merely to satisfy the statute.
Assembly Bill 2229 contained a sunset clause of
January 1, 2014.
Assembly Bill 406 (Torres and Bloom) will allow county
child abuse multidisciplinary teams that are engaged
in the investigation of suspected child abuse and
neglect to continue to utilize two-person
multidisciplinary teams which not only have enhanced
the ability of these teams to aid victims of child
abuse and neglect but have saved counties both time
and resources. AB 406 accomplishes these important
goals by repealing the sunset clause currently
contained in Welfare and Institutions Code Section
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18961.7.
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