Amended in Assembly May 30, 2013

Amended in Senate April 2, 2013

Senate BillNo. 346


Introduced by Senator Beall

February 20, 2013


An act to amend Section 10850 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 346, as amended, Beall. Public social services: records.

Existing law establishes various public social services programs to provide for protection, care, and assistance to the people of the state in need of those services, by providing appropriate aid and services to the needy and distressed. Counties are responsible for administrating some of these programs, such as CalWORKs, CalFresh, and the Medically Indigent Services Program or the County Medical Services Program. Existing law, in this regard, and with some exceptions, requires all applications and records concerning any individual made or kept by any public officer or agency in connection with the administration of public social services for which grants-in-aid are received by this state from the federal government be kept confidential, and authorizes a county welfare department in the state to release lists of applicants for, or recipients of, public social services to any other county welfare department or the State Department of Social Services, as specified.

This bill would provide that if a county administers public social services through more than one county department or agency, each county department or agency that administers a public social service in that county shall be deemed a county welfare department for the purposes of these provisions. The bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

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

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

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SECTION 1.  

Section 10850 of the Welfare and Institutions
2Code
is amended to read:

3

10850.  

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, all
4applications and records concerning any individual made or kept
5by any public officer or agency in connection with the
6administration of any provision of this code relating to any form
7of public social services for which grants-in-aid are received by
8this state from the United States government shall be confidential,
9and shall not be open to examination for any purpose not directly
10connected with the administration of that program, or any
11investigation, prosecution, or criminal or civil proceeding
12conducted in connection with the administration of that program.
13The disclosure of any information that identifies by name or
14address any applicant for or recipient of these grants-in-aid to any
15committee or legislative body is prohibited, except as provided in
16subdivision (b).

17(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall
18publish or disclose or permit or cause to be published or disclosed
19any list of persons receiving public social services. Any county
20welfare department in this state may release lists of applicants for,
21or recipients of, public social services, to any other county welfare
22department or the State Department of Social Services, and these
23lists or any other records shall be released when requested by any
24county welfare department or the State Department of Social
25Services. These lists or other records shall only be used for
26purposes directly connected with the administration of public social
27services. Except for those purposes, no person shall publish,
28disclose, or use or permit or cause to be published, disclosed, or
29used any confidential information pertaining to an applicant or
30recipient.

31(c) Any county welfare department and the State Department
32of Social Services shall provide any governmental entity that is
33authorized by law to conduct an audit or similar activity in
P3    1connection with the administration of public social services,
2including any committee or legislative body so authorized, with
3access to any public social service applications and records
4described in subdivision (a) to the extent of the authorization.
5Those committees, legislative bodiesbegin insert,end insert and other entities may only
6request or use these records for the purpose of investigating the
7administration of public social services, and shall not disclose the
8identity of any applicant or recipient except in the case of a criminal
9or civil proceeding conducted in connection with the administration
10of public social services.

11(d) This section shall not prohibit the furnishing of this
12information to other public agencies to the extent required for
13verifying eligibility or for other purposes directly connected with
14the administration of public social services, or to county
15superintendents of schools or superintendents of school districts
16only as necessary for the administration of federally assisted
17programs providing assistance in cash or in-kind or services
18directly to individuals on the basis of need. Any person knowingly
19and intentionally violating this subdivision is guilty of a
20misdemeanor.

21(e) In the context of a petition for the appointment of a
22conservator for a person who is receiving or has received aid from
23a public agency, as indicated above, or in the context of a criminal
24prosecution for a violation of Section 368 of the Penal Code both
25of the following shall apply:

26(1) Anbegin delete Adult Protective Servicesend deletebegin insert adult protective servicesend insert
27 employee orbegin delete Ombudsmanend deletebegin insert ombudsmanend insert may answer truthfully at
28any proceeding related to the petition or prosecution, when asked
29if he or she is aware of information that he or she believes is related
30to the legal mental capacity of that aid recipient or the need for a
31conservatorship for that aid recipient. If thebegin delete Adult Protective
32Servicesend delete
begin insert adult protective servicesend insert employee orbegin delete Ombudsmanend delete
33begin insert ombudsmanend insert states that he or she is aware of such information, the
34court may order thebegin delete Adult Protective Servicesend deletebegin insert adult protective
35servicesend insert
employee orbegin delete Ombudsmanend deletebegin insert ombudsmanend insert to testify about his
36or her observations and to disclose all relevant agency records.

37(2) The court may order thebegin delete Adult Protective Servicesend deletebegin insert adult
38protective servicesend insert
employee orbegin delete Ombudsmanend deletebegin insert ombudsmanend insert to testify
39about his or her observations and to disclose any relevant agency
40records if the court has other independent reason to believe that
P4    1thebegin delete Adult Protective Servicesend deletebegin insert adult protective services end insert employee
2orbegin delete Ombudsmanend deletebegin insert ombudsmanend insert has information that would facilitate
3the resolution of the matter.

4(f) The State Department of Social Services may make rules
5and regulations governing the custody, use, and preservation of
6all records, papers, files, and communications pertaining to the
7administration of the laws relating to public social services under
8their jurisdiction. The rules and regulations shall be binding on all
9 departments, officials and employees of the state, or of any political
10subdivision of the state and may provide for giving information
11to or exchanging information with agencies, public or political
12subdivisions of the state, and may provide for giving information
13to or exchanging information with agencies, public or private, that
14are engaged in planning, providing, or securing social services for
15orbegin delete inend deletebegin insert onend insert behalf of recipients or applicants; and for making case
16records available for research purposes, provided that making these
17case records available will not result in the disclosure of the identity
18of applicants for or recipients of public social services and will
19not disclose any personal information in a manner that would link
20the information disclosed to the individual to whom it pertains,
21unless the department has complied with subdivision (t) of Section
221798.24 of the Civil Code.

23(g) Any person, including every public officer and employee,
24who knowingly secures or possesses, other than in the course of
25official duty, an official list or a list compiled from official sources,
26published or disclosed in violation of this section, of persons who
27have applied for or who have been granted any form of public
28social services for which state or federal funds are made available
29to the counties is guilty of a misdemeanor.

30(h) This section shall not be construed to prohibit an employee
31of a county welfare department from disclosing confidential
32information concerning a public social services applicant or
33recipient to a state or local law enforcement agency investigating
34or gathering information regarding a criminal act committed in a
35welfare department office, a criminal act against any county or
36state welfare worker, or any criminal act witnessed by any county
37or state welfare worker while involved in the administration of
38public social services at any location. Further, this section shall
39not be construed to prohibit an employee of a county welfare
40department from disclosing confidential information concerning
P5    1a public social services applicant or recipient to a state or local
2law enforcement agency investigating or gathering information
3regarding a criminal act intentionally committed by the applicant
4or recipient against any off-duty county or state welfare worker in
5retaliation for an act performed in the course of the welfare
6worker’s duty when the person committing the offense knows or
7 reasonably should know that the victim is a state or county welfare
8worker. These criminal acts shall include only those that are in
9violation of state or local law. Disclosure of confidential
10information pursuant to this subdivision shall be limited to the
11applicant’s or recipient’s name, physical description, and address.

12(i) The provisions of this section shall be operative only to the
13extent permitted by federal law and shall not apply to, but exclude,
14Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) of this division,
15entitled “Basic Health Care,” and for which a grant-in-aid is
16received by the state under Title XIX of the federal Social Security
17Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396 et seq.).

18(j) For the purposes of this section, if a county administers public
19social services through more than one county department or agency,
20each county department or agency that administers a public social
21service in that county shall be deemed a county welfare department
22for the purposes of administering that public social service.

23(k) begin deleteExcept as provided in subdivision (i), public end deletebegin insertPublic end insertsocial
24services, as defined in Section 10051, includes publicly funded
25health care services established under this division.



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