AB 1340, as amended, Achadjian. State Hospital Employees Act.
Existing lawbegin delete provides forend deletebegin insert establishesend insert state hospitals for the care, treatment, and education of mentally disordered persons. These hospitals are under the jurisdiction of the State Department of State Hospitals, which is authorized by existing law to adopt regulations regarding the conduct and management of these facilities. Existing law requires each state hospital to develop an incident reporting procedure that can be used to, at a minimum, develop reports of patient assaults on employees and assist the hospital in identifying risks of patient assaults on employees.
This bill would requirebegin insert
eachend insert statebegin delete hospitalsend deletebegin insert hospital, beginning July 1, 2015,end insert to establish and maintain an enhanced treatment unit as part of its facilities. The bill would also require any case of assault by a patient of a state hospital, as specified, to be immediately referred to the local district attorney, and ifbegin insert,end insert after the referral, the local district attorney declines to prosecute, or the patient is found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity, thebegin insert bill would require theend insert patientbegin delete is requiredend delete to
be placed in the enhanced treatment unit of the hospital until the patient is deemed safe to return to the regular population of the hospital.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
This act may be known and cited as the State
2Hospital Employees Act.
Section 4142 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
4Code, to read:
begin deleteEach end deletebegin insertCommencing end insertbegin insertJuly 1, 2015, each end insertstate hospital shall
6establish and maintain an enhanced treatment unit as part of its
7facilities for the placement of patients described in Section 4143.
8The hospital administrator of each state hospital shall establish
9procedures to provide an increased level of security for the
10enhanced treatment unit.
Section 4143 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
12Code, to read:
(a) Any case of assault by a patient of a state hospital
14that causes injury to or illness of, or has the potential to cause
15future illness of, a state hospital employee or another patient of
16the state hospital shall be immediately referred to the local district
17attorney.
18(b) If, after referral to the local district attorney, the local district
19attorney declines prosecution, or the patient is found to be
20incompetent to stand trial, or the patient is found not guilty by
21reason of insanity, the patient shall be placed in the enhanced
22treatment unit of the state hospital until such time as the individual
23is deemed safe to return to the regular population of the hospital.
24(c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2015.
end insertO
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