BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Leland Y. Yee, Chair
BILL NO: SB 651
S
AUTHOR: Pavley
B
VERSION: February 22, 2013
HEARING DATE: April 9, 2013
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FISCAL: Yes
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CONSULTANT: Mareva Brown
SUBJECT
Developmental centers and state hospitals
SUMMARY
Requires that designated investigators of developmental
centers and state hospitals ensure that a resident who is a
victim or suspected victim of sexual assault is provided a
medical evidentiary examination performed at an appropriate
off-site facility, as specified; deems that a developmental
center's failure to report specified incidents to local law
enforcement a class B violation.
ABSTRACT
Existing law
1) Establishes the state Department of Developmental
Services and identifies the state's Developmental
Centers as being within its jurisdiction. (WIC 4400,
4440)
2) Establishes the state Department of State Hospitals
and identifies the state institutions for the mentally
disordered as being within its jurisdiction. (WIC 7200
et seq.)
Continued---
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3) Establishes an investigative force within each
developmental center and state hospital for the
purpose of enforcing the rules and regulations of the
hospital, preserving peace and order on the premises
thereof, and protecting and preserving the property of
the state. (WIC 4493)
4) Requires a developmental center to immediately
report specified incidents involving a resident to the
local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over
the city or county where the developmental center is
located. (WIC 4427.5(a)(1))
5) Establishes that the Department of Public Health
licenses and regulates health facilities, including
long term care facilities, as specified. (HSC 1417, et
seq.)
6) Establishes a series of fines and penalties to be
levied against skilled nursing facilities and
intermediate care facilities for each citation, as
specified. (HSC 1424.5)
7) Requires the California Emergency Management
Agency, with the assistance of an advisory committee,
to establish a protocol for the examination and
treatment of victims of sexual assault and attempted
sexual assault, including child molestation, and the
collection and preservation of evidence therefrom. (PC
13823.5)
8) Requires that each county designate at least one
general acute care hospital to perform examinations on
victims of sexual assault, including child
molestation. (PC 13823.9 )
9) Requires that each county with a population of more
than 100,000 shall arrange for professional personnel
trained in the examination of victims of sexual
assault, including child molestation, to be present or
on call either in the county hospital which provides
emergency medical services or in any general acute
care hospital which has contracted with the county to
provide emergency medical services. In a county with a
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population of 1 million residents or more, the
presence of these professional personnel shall be
arranged in at least one general acute care hospital
for each 1 million persons in the county. (PC 13823.9)
This bill
1) Establishes that failure of a developmental center
to report specified criminal incidents to local law
enforcement is a class B violation and subject to
specified penalties as defined in HSC 1424.5.
2) Requires that designated investigators at state
hospitals ensure that a state hospital resident who is
a victim or suspected victim of sexual assault, as
specified, is provided a medical evidentiary
examination performed at an appropriate facility off
the grounds of a state hospital.
3) Requires that designated investigators at
developmental centers ensure that a developmental
center resident who is a victim or suspected victim of
sexual assault, as specified, is provided a medical
evidentiary examination performed at an appropriate
facility off the grounds of a developmental center.
FISCAL IMPACT
This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal committee.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill
The author states that the SB 651 will address the lack of
appropriate follow-care for victims and suspected victims
of sexual assaults in state developmental centers and state
mental hospitals. Victims typically are interviewed and
examined by staff physicians and investigators at the
developmental centers, who lack the level of experience of
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trained investigators to conduct examinations and collect
physical evidence.
According to the author, residents are vulnerable to sexual
assault, but few, if any, receive timely forensic medical
examinations by trained independent sexual assault
examiners. The author writes that medical evidence is
crucial in cases involving individuals with disabilities
who may lack the ability to give testimony in court.
SB 651 also remedies a concern that a 2012 bill that
required DDS to report major crimes to outside law
enforcement agencies did not impose a penalty for failure
to do so.
Senate oversight hearings
In March 2012, concerns about the investigative
qualifications of the law enforcement force within the
state's developmental centers prompted a Senate Human
Services Committee oversight hearing in March 2012,
"Examining Law Enforcement Practices within State
Developmental Centers."
The hearing was prompted by media coverage that questioned
the effectiveness and professionalism of the Office of
Protective Services (OPS), which performs law enforcement
activities within the developmental centers. For more than
a decade, the officials have debated how to balance the
need for an experienced, outside detective force to
investigate major crimes at the Developmental Centers and
State Hospitals against the need for in-house investigators
who are trained in communicating with and investigating
crimes against individuals with severe developmental
disabilities.
In 2002, a special Attorney General investigation concluded
that despite significant reservations about the on-site
investigators' experience, questions about their
independence from site management, DDS should not eliminate
its police force, the Office of Protective Services (OPS),
nor eliminate the OPS investigative functions. Instead, the
Attorney General recommended establishing Memorandums of
Understanding with local law enforcement agencies that
provide authority for those agencies to independently
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review investigations completed by OPS, and create a
process for local agencies to assist with or take over
investigations that are in progress. Those MOUs were
required by legislation in 2001.
The MOUs, which are in effect today, provide an avenue for
local law enforcement detectives to intervene in major or
complex cases while permitting OPS to handle less complex,
smaller cases. Additional legislation had required DDS to
report all resident deaths and serious injuries of unknown
origin to the appropriate outside law enforcement agency.
After the March 2012 hearing, two bills were passed which
granted additional oversight of major crime investigations.
SB 1051 required all major incidents to be also reported to
the state's designated Protection and Advocacy Agency,
which advocates for residents within the facilities. It
also bolstered the job requirements of the chief of OPS and
changed his reporting from within the DDS to the Secretary
of the Health and Human Services Agency. SB 1522 defined a
list of major crimes that must be reported to outside law
enforcement agencies including death, sexual assault,
assault with a deadly weapon by a nonresident of the
developmental center, an assault with force likely to
produce great bodily injury, an injury to the genitals when
the cause of injury is undetermined, or a broken bone when
the cause of the break is undetermined.
In October 2012, concerns about ongoing licensing troubles
prompted a joint Senate Human Services Committee and
Subcommittee #3 of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review
Committee (Health and Human Services) oversight hearing on
developmental centers. Among the issues addressed in the
hearing, "A System in Transition: California's
Developmental Centers," were questions of oversight and
care at Sonoma Developmental Center, which since has lost
federal certification for 40 percent of its intermediate
care units. In a 250-page licensing report prepared by the
Department of Public Health, a number of specific patient
abuses were outlined, including the sexual assault of two
patients by a staff member, suspected injuries from a stun
gun on numerous residents of one unit, inadequate
supervision resulting increased attacks on residents by
other residents, and other harmful incidents.
Sexual Assault Forensic Exam teams
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California law requires that a sexual assault victim be
examined by a forensic medical examiner who shall document
findings, including the collection of evidence, by using a
series of standard state forensic medical report forms.
Examiners also are trained to adhere to specific protocols.
State law also requires each county to designate at least
one general acute hospital to perform examinations for
sexual assault victims. Counties with populations of
100,000 residents or more are required to have a medical
professional trained in sexual assault examinations present
or on call at all times in the designated county emergency
medical services hospital. (PC 13823.9) Counties with fewer
than 100,000 residents may contract or partner with a
Sexual Assault Forensic Exam team in a nearby county.
Related legislation
AB 602 (Yamada, 2013) would require the Commission on Peace
Officer Standards and Training to establish and keep
updated a continuing education classroom training course
relating to law enforcement interaction with mentally
disabled and developmentally disabled persons living within
a state mental hospital or state developmental center by
July 1, 2015.
SB 1051 (Liu, Emmerson, Chapter 660, Statutes of 2012)
required DDS and DSH to report certain crimes involving
death or major injury to the state's designated protection
and advocacy agency; required that mandated reporters
within a developmental center immediately report suspected
abuse to OPS and defined the job requirements for the
director of OPS.
SB 1522 (Leno, Chapter 666, Statutes of 2012) required DDS
to report major crimes, as specified, to the local law
enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the developmental
center regardless of whether OPS had investigated the facts
of the incident.
AB 430, (Cardenas, Chapter 171, Statutes of 2001), the
health trailer bill, required developmental centers to
establish Memorandums of Understanding with local law
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enforcement agencies.
Comments
Stakeholders have expressed concern about the ability of
OPS to "ensure" a medical examination is completed after a
referral is made. Therefore, the author's office, with
staff's concurrence, recommends the following amendments:
4313.5. Designated investigators of state hospitals shall
ensure that a authorize a sexual assault forensic medical
examination for any resident of a state hospital who is a
victim or suspected victim of sexual assault, as defined in
Section 15610.63, is provided a medical evidentiary
examination performed at an appropriate facility off the
grounds of a state hospital in accordance with Sections
13823.5 to 13823.12, inclusive, of the Penal Code.
4427.7. Designated investigators of developmental centers
shall ensure that a authorize a sexual assault forensic
medical examination for any resident of a developmental
center who is a victim or suspected victim of sexual
assault, as defined in Section 15610.63, is provided a
medical evidentiary examination performed at an appropriate
facility off the grounds of the developmental center in
accordance with Sections 13823.5 to 13823.12, inclusive, of
the Penal Code.
POSITIONS
Support:
California Association of Psychiatric
Technicians
California District Attorneys Association
California Statewide Law Enforcement
Association
National Association of Social Workers
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy in
California
Oppose: None received
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