California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1623

Introduced by Assembly Member Atkins

February 10, 2014

An act to add Title 5.3 (commencing with Section 13750) to Part 4 of the Penal Code, relating to family justice centers.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1623, as introduced, Atkins. Family justice centers.

Existing law, until January 1, 2014, authorized the Cities of Anaheim and San Diego, and the Counties of Alameda and Sonoma to establish, as a 2-year pilot project, a multiagency, multidisciplinary family justice center to assist victims of domestic violence, officer-involved domestic violence, sexual assault, elder or dependent adult abuse, stalking, cyberstalking, cyberbullying, and human trafficking, to ensure that victims of abuse are able to access all needed services in one location and to enhance victim safety, increase offender accountability, and improve access to services for victims of crime, as provided. That law permitted the family justice centers to be staffed by law enforcement, medical, social service, and child welfare personnel, among others. That law required each family justice center to consult with community-based crime victim agencies, survivors of violence and abuse, and their advocates in the operations process of the family justice center and to develop a procedure for input, feedback, and evaluation of the family justice center.

This bill would reenact and recast those provisions to authorize, commencing January 1, 2015, any city, county, or community-based nonprofit organization to establish a multiagency, multidisciplinary family justice center to assist victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, and human trafficking, as specified. The bill would also specify additional confidentiality provisions relating to information disclosed by a victim in a family justice center, as provided, and would require each family justice center to maintain a mandatory training for all staff members, volunteers, and agency professionals.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

Title 5.3 (commencing with Section 13750) is
added to Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:

 

Title 5.3.  Family Justice Centers

 

13750.  

(a) A city, county, city and county, or community-based
nonprofit organization may each establish a multiagency,
multidisciplinary family justice center to assist victims of domestic
violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, and human trafficking, to
ensure that victims of abuse are able to access all needed services
in one location in order to enhance victim safety, increase offender
accountability, and improve access to services for victims of
domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, and human
trafficking.

(b) For purposes of this title, the following terms have the
following meanings:

(1) “Abuse” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 6203
of the Family Code.

(2) “Domestic violence” has the same meaning as set forth in
Section 6211 of the Family Code.

(3) “Sexual assault” means an act or attempt made punishable
by Section 220, 261, 261.5, 262, 264.1, 266c, 269, 285, 286, 288,
288.5, 288a, 289, or 647.6.

(4) “Elder abuse” means an act made punishable by Section
368.

(5) “Human trafficking” has the same meaning as set forth in
Section 236.1.

(c) For purposes of this title, family justice centers shall be
defined as multiagency, multidisciplinary service centers where
public and private agencies assign staff members on a full-time or
part-time basis in order to provide services to victims of domestic
violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, or human trafficking from
one location in order to reduce the number of times victims must
tell their story, reduce the number of places victims must go for
help, and increase access to services and support for victims and
their children. Staff members at a family justice center may be
comprised of, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) Law enforcement personnel.

(2) Medical personnel.

(3) District attorneys and city attorneys.

(4) Victim-witness program personnel.

(5) Domestic violence shelter service staff.

(6) Community-based rape crisis, domestic violence, and human
trafficking advocates.

(7) Social service agency staff members.

(8) Child welfare agency social workers.

(9) County health department staff.

(10) City or county welfare and public assistance workers.

(11) Nonprofit agency counseling professionals.

(12) Civil legal service providers.

(13) Supervised volunteers from partner agencies.

(14) Other professionals providing services.

(d) Nothing in this section is intended to abrogate existing laws
regarding privacy or information sharing. Family justice center
staff members shall comply with the laws governing their
respective professions.

(e) Victims of crime shall not be denied services on the grounds
of criminal history. No criminal history search shall be conducted
of a victim at a family justice center without the victim’s written
consent unless the criminal history search is pursuant to a criminal
investigation.

(f) Victims of crime shall not be required to participate in the
criminal justice system or cooperate with law enforcement in order
to receive counseling, medical care, or other services at a family
justice center.

(g) (1) Each family justice center shall consult with
community-based domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse,
and human trafficking agencies in partnership with survivors of
violence and abuse and their advocates in the operations process
of the family justice center, and shall establish procedures for the
ongoing input, feedback, and evaluation of the family justice center
by survivors of violence and abuse and community-based crime
victim service providers and advocates.

(2) Each family justice center shall develop policies and
procedures, in collaboration with local community-based crime
victim service providers and local survivors of violence and abuse,
to ensure coordinated services are provided to victims and to
enhance the safety of victims and professionals at the family justice
center who participate in affiliated survivor-centered support or
advocacy groups. Each family justice center shall maintain a formal
client feedback, complaint, and input process to address client
concerns about services provided or the conduct of any family
justice center professionals, agency partners, or volunteers
providing services in the family justice center.

(h) (1) Each family justice center shall maintain an informed
client consent policy and shall be in compliance with all state and
federal laws protecting the confidentiality of the types of
information and documents that may be in a victim’s file, including,
but not limited to, medical, legal, and victim counselor records.
Each family justice center shall have a designated privacy officer
to develop and oversee privacy policies and procedures consistent
with state and federal privacy laws and the Fair Information
Practice Principles promulgated by the United States Department
of Homeland Security. At no time shall a victim be required to
sign a client consent form to share information in order to access
services.

(2) Each family justice center is required to inform the victim
that information shared with staff members at a family justice
center may, under certain circumstances, be shared with law
enforcement professionals. Each family justice center shall obtain
written acknowledgment that the victim has been informed of this
policy.

(3) Information obtained from victims in family justice centers
shall be privileged and confidential to the extent it is protected
from disclosure under existing California or federal law. Nothing
in this title related to confidentiality and client-authorized
information sharing is intended to change existing state law.

(4) A victim’s consent to share information pursuant to the client
consent policy shall not be construed as a waiver of confidentiality
or any privilege held by the victim or family justice center
professionals.

(5) An authorization by a victim for sharing information within
a family justice center pursuant to this section shall not be
construed as a universal waiver of any existing evidentiary
privilege that makes confidential any communications or
documents between the victim and any service provider, including,
but not limited to, any lawyer, advocate, sexual assault or domestic
violence counselor as defined in Section 1035.2 or 1037.1 of the
Evidence Code, human trafficking caseworker as defined in Section
1038.2 of the Evidence Code, therapist, doctor, or nurse. Any oral
or written communication or any document authorized by the
victim to be shared for the purposes of enhancing safety and
providing more effective and efficient services to the victim of
domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, or human trafficking
shall not be disclosed to any third party, unless that third-party
disclosure is authorized by the victim, or required by other state
or federal law or by court order.

(i) An individual staff member, volunteer, or agency that has
victim information governed by this section shall not be required
to disclose that information unless the victim has authorized the
disclosure or it is otherwise required by other state or federal law
or by court order.

(j) A disclosure of information authorized by the victim in a
family justice center, made for the purposes of clinical assessment,
risk assessment, safety planning, or service delivery, shall not be
deemed a waiver of any privilege or confidentiality provision
contained in Sections 2263, 2918, 4982, and 6068 of the Business
and Professions Code, the lawyer-client privilege protected by
Article 3 (commencing with Section 950) of Chapter 4 of Division
8 of the Evidence Code, the physician-patient privilege protected
by Article 6 (commencing with Section 990) of Chapter 4 of
Division 8 of the Evidence Code, the psychotherapist-patient
privilege protected by Article 7 (commencing with Section 1010)
of Chapter 4 of Division 8 of the Evidence Code, the sexual assault
counselor-victim privilege protected by Article 8.5 (commencing
with Section 1035) of Chapter 4 of Division 8 of the Evidence
Code, or the domestic violence counselor-victim privilege protected
by Article 8.7 (commencing with Section 1037) of Chapter 4 of
Division 8 of the Evidence Code.

13751.  

Each family justice center established pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 13750 shall maintain a formal training
program with mandatory training for all staff members, volunteers,
and agency professionals of not less than eight hours per year on
subjects, including, but not limited to, privileges and
confidentiality, information sharing, risk assessment, safety
planning, victim advocacy, and high-risk case response.