Amended in Assembly April 18, 2013

Amended in Assembly March 21, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 845

Introduced by Assembly Member Cooley

February 21, 2013

An act to add and repeal Section 24523 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to infant safety.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 845, as amended, Cooley. Shaken baby syndrome.

Existing law requires that information and instructional materials regarding shaken baby syndrome be provided free of charge by each health facility to parents or guardians of each newborn, upon discharge from the health facility and by the State Department of Social Services to child care providers upon licensure.

This bill would require the department, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, the Department of Justice, begin delete the Office of Emergency Services, end delete and First begin delete Five end delete begin insert 5 end insert California, to develop begin delete a process for the selection of counties and to select eligible counties in the state to voluntarily participate in the program, which is designed to end delete begin insert and implement the Shaken Baby Syndrome Education Program, which would end insert provide new parents and other adult caregivers of newborns and young infants with information and education relating to the prevention of shaken baby syndrome. begin insert The bill would also require these agencies to develop a process for the selection of eligible counties to voluntarily participate in the program. end insert

The bill would require the department, by January 1, 2020, to evaluate and submit to the Legislature a report on the effectiveness of the program in reducing the number of injuries and infant deaths in the state resulting from shaken baby syndrome, including a review of benchmarks, feedback about the program, and improvement opportunities, as applicable. The bill would provide that the activities required by its provisions shall be funded with available moneys from the Children’s Trust Fund. The bill would also authorize the department to accept and expend other private funds received by the department from donations for the purposes of the program.

The bill would make its provisions inoperative on July 1, 2020, and repeal them by January 1, 2021.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 24523 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read:

24523.  

(a) The department, in consultation with the State
Department of Public Health, the Department of Justice, begin delete the Office
of Emergency Services, end delete First begin delete Five end delete begin insert 5 end insert California, and other interested
stakeholders shall, by July 1, 2015, develop and implement the
Shaken Baby Syndrome Education Program. The program is
intended to use delivery approaches and public education materials
for the presentation of information on shaken baby syndrome,
based on current scientific evidence and best practices. The
program shall be in effect for no more than five years.

(b) The department, in consultation with the State Department
of Public Health, the Department of Justice, begin delete the Office of
Emergency Services, end delete and First begin delete Five end delete begin insert 5 end insert California, shall develop a
process for the selection of eligible counties in the state to
voluntarily participate in the program and select the counties that
will participate. A county begin delete shall end delete begin insert may end insert participate at its option.

(c) In designing the Shaken Baby Syndrome Education Program,
using its own experts and drawing on the expertise of stakeholders,
the department shall select the most appropriate evidence-based
approaches to provide new parents and caregivers of newborns
and young infants with information and education relating to
shaken baby syndrome, including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) Selecting and developing instructional materials designed
to teach parents and other caregivers of infants about shaken baby
syndrome and its prevention.

(2) Providing information and materials to parents and caregivers
of infants, based on the current best practices for the delivery of
educational and prevention-related information.

(3) Developing an implementation plan that addresses the
phasing in, including the launch, expansion, and bringing to scale
of the core components of the evidence-based program across the
state and that incorporates additional components as appropriate
to raise awareness of shaken baby syndrome.

(d) The department shall, by January 1, 2020, prepare and submit
to the Legislature a report evaluating the effectiveness of the
program in reducing the number of injuries and infant deaths in
the state from shaken baby syndrome, including a review of the
benchmarks, feedback about the program, and improvement
opportunities, as applicable.

(e) The activities required by this section shall be funded with
available moneys from the Children’s Trust Fund, established
pursuant to Section 18969 of the Welfare and Institutions Code,
but shall not be funded from General Fund moneys. The State
Department of Social Services may also accept and expend other
private funds from donations that are received by the department
for the purposes of this section.

(f) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2020, and,
as of January 1, 2021, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2021, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.