Amended in Assembly August 8, 2013

Amended in Assembly May 30, 2013

Amended in Senate April 2, 2013

Senate Bill No. 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 begin delete 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. end delete begin insert include in the definition of public social services publicly funded health care services, as specified. The bill would state that this provision clarifies existing law. end insert 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:

SECTION 1.  

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

10850.  

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

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

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

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

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

(1) An adult protective services employee or ombudsman may
answer truthfully at any proceeding related to the petition or
prosecution, when asked if he or she is aware of information that
he or she believes is related to the legal mental capacity of that aid
recipient or the need for a conservatorship for that aid recipient.
If the adult protective services employee or ombudsman states that
he or she is aware of such information, the court may order the
adult protective services employee or ombudsman to testify about
his or her observations and to disclose all relevant agency records.

(2) The court may order the adult protective services employee
or ombudsman to testify about his or her observations and to
disclose any relevant agency records if the court has other
independent reason to believe that the adult protective services
employee or ombudsman has information that would facilitate the
resolution of the matter.

(f) The State Department of Social Services may make rules
and regulations governing the custody, use, and preservation of
all records, papers, files, and communications pertaining to the
administration of the laws relating to public social services under
their jurisdiction. The rules and regulations shall be binding on all
departments, officials and employees of the state, or of any political
subdivision of the state and may provide for giving information
to or exchanging information with agencies, public or political
subdivisions of the state, and may provide for giving information
to or exchanging information with agencies, public or private, that
are engaged in planning, providing, or securing social services for
or on behalf of recipients or applicants; and for making case records
available for research purposes, provided that making these case
records available will not result in the disclosure of the identity of
applicants for or recipients of public social services and will not
disclose any personal information in a manner that would link the
information disclosed to the individual to whom it pertains, unless
the department has complied with subdivision (t) of Section
1798.24 of the Civil Code.

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

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

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

begin delete

(j) For the purposes of this section, 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 administering that public social service.

(k)

end delete

begin insert (j) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert (1) end insert  Public social services, as defined in Section 10051,
includes publicly funded health care services established under
this division.

begin insert

(2) This subdivision clarifies existing law.

end insert