BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1001
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
1001 (Maienschein)
As Amended August 18, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(January 27, |SENATE: |39-0 |(August 22, |
| | |2016) | | |2016) |
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Original Committee Reference: HUM. S.
SUMMARY: Requires specified actions by the Department of Social
Services (DSS) pertaining to the license, special permit, or
certificate of a community care facility when the department
finds that an administrator or licensee has violated specified
mandated reporting laws, expands the definition of "mandated
reporter" to include specified board members, and prohibits an
organization's internal policy from directing an employee to
allow his or her supervisor to file or process a mandated
report.
The Senate amendments:
1)Require DSS to, by July 1, 2017, develop a notice that
contains the telephone number for making a complaint regarding
a community care facility or child care facility, and includes
information about the prohibition of impeding mandated reports
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and about the option to make a confidential complaint.
Further, require this notice to be posted conspicuously in a
prominent area in all foster family agencies.
2)Expand the definition of "mandated reporter" to include a
board member of an organization, including a foster family
agency, whose duties require direct contact with and
supervision of children.
3)Prohibit an organization's internal policy from directing an
employee to allow his or her supervisor to file or process a
mandated report under any circumstances.
4)Delete provisions requiring DSS to, in consultation with
counties and labor organizations, establish by January 1,
2018, a process for voluntary disclosures to DSS if a social
worker at a foster family agency has reasonable cause to
believe that a policy, procedure, or practice violates the
prohibition on impeding or inhibiting a mandated report and
specifying information from such voluntary disclosures that
the department must report to the Legislature and post on its
Internet Web site by July 1, 2019.
5)Make chaptering amendments.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the California Community Care Facilities Act to
provide for the licensure and regulation of community care
facilities. (Health and Safety Code Section (HSC) 1500 et
seq.)
2)Defines community care facility as any facility, place, or
building that is maintained and operated to provide nonmedical
residential care, day treatment, adult day care, or foster
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family agency services for children, adults, or children and
adults, including, but not limited to, individuals with
physical disabilities or mental impairments and abused or
neglected children. (HSC 1502)
3)Requires DSS to conduct unannounced visits of each licensed
community care facility, except for foster family homes, and
requires that no facility or center be visited less frequently
than once every five years. Further requires DSS to conduct
annual unannounced visits of licensed facilities under
specified circumstances, such as when a licensee is on
probation. Additionally requires annual visits of a random
sample of at least 20% of facilities and centers not subject
to annual inspections for specified circumstances. Increases
the minimum number of annual inspections in specified
community care facilities beginning January 1, 2017. (HSC
1534)
4)Defines a foster family agency as any public agency or private
organization engaged in the recruiting, certifying, and
training of, and providing professional support to, foster
parents, or in finding homes or other places for placement of
children for temporary or permanent care who require that
level of care. Further requires private foster family
agencies to be organized and operated on a nonprofit basis.
(HSC 1502(a)(4))
5)Authorizes DSS to deny an application for, or suspend or
revoke, any license, or any special permit, certificate of
approval, or administrator certificate, or deny the transfer
of a license issued to a community care facility on certain
grounds, including conduct which is inimical to the health,
morals, welfare, or safety of either the people of this state
or an individual in, or receiving services from, the facility
or certified family home. (HSC 1550)
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6)Establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA),
for the general purpose of protecting children from abuse and
neglect. (Penal Code Section (PC) 11164 et seq.)
7)Enumerates categories of mandated reporters of child abuse,
including teachers, clergy members, peace officers, licensees,
administrators, or employees of a licensed community care
facility, social workers, therapists, and other individuals
whose professions may or may not include routine interactions
with children. (PC 11165.7)
8)Requires mandated reporters to report suspected child abuse or
neglect to any police department or sheriff's department,
county probation department, as specified, or the county
welfare department and specifies procedures for the agencies
receiving a report to ensure it is transmitted to the proper
jurisdiction, when the agency lacks jurisdiction. Prohibits
agencies that are required to receive reports of suspected
child abuse or neglect from refusing to accept a report from a
mandated reporter or other person, as specified, and requires
the receiving agency to maintain a record of all reports
received. (PC 11165.9)
9)Requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to make a report to
one of the aforementioned agencies whenever the mandated
reporter, in his or her professional capacity or within the
scope of his or her employment, has knowledge of or observes a
child whom he or she knows or reasonably suspects has been the
victim of child abuse or neglect. Requires a mandated
reporter to make an initial report by telephone immediately or
as soon as is practicably possible, and requires the mandated
reporter to prepare and send a written follow-up report via
fax or electronic transmission, within 36 hours of receiving
the information concerning the incident. (PC 11166(a))
10)Provides that mandated reporting duties are individual and
prohibits any supervisor or administrator from impeding or
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inhibiting an individual's reporting duties, and prohibits
sanctioning an individual for making a mandated report. (PC
11166(i))
11)Provides that no mandated reporter who reports a suspected
incident of child abuse or neglect shall be held civilly or
criminally liable for any report required or authorized by
CANRA. (PC 11172(a))
12)Sets forth potential imprisonment and monetary fines for any
supervisor or administrator who impedes or inhibits a report
of abuse or neglect by a mandated reporter. (PC 11166.01)
13)Requires a law enforcement agency to immediately, or as soon
as practicably possible, report by telephone, fax, or
electronic transmission to the agency given responsibility for
investigation of a child welfare services case and to the
district attorney's office every known or suspected instance
of child abuse or neglect reported to it, as specified. (PC
11166 (k))
14)Prohibits an employer, or any person acting on behalf of the
employer, from making, adopting, or enforcing any rule,
regulation, or policy preventing an employee from disclosing
information to a government or law enforcement agency, to a
person with authority over the employee, or to another
employee who has authority to investigate, discover, or
correct the violation or noncompliance, or from providing
information to, or testifying before, any public body
conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry, if the
employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information
discloses a violation of state or federal statute, or a
violation of or noncompliance with a local, state, or federal
rule or regulation, regardless of whether disclosing the
information is part of the employee's job duties. Further
prohibits an employer, or any person acting on behalf of the
employer, from retaliating against an employee for having
exercised his or her right to disclose such information, as
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specified. (Labor Code Section (LAB) 1102.5)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS:
Community care facilities: The Community Care Licensing
Division (CCLD) within the Department of Social Services
licenses and regulates a variety of community care facilities,
defined as "any facility, place, or building that is maintained
and operated to provide nonmedical residential care, day
treatment, adult day care, or foster family agency services for
children, adults, or children and adults, including, but not
limited to, the physically handicapped, mentally impaired,
incompetent persons, and abused or neglected children." There
are a number of different types of community care facilities,
which include, among others, group homes, foster family
agencies, social rehabilitation facilities, adult day programs,
adoption agencies, small family homes, transitional shelters,
runaway and homeless youth shelters, and enhanced behavioral
support homes. CCLD also licenses and regulates child care
centers, residential care facilities for the elderly and other
facilities. Approximately 73,500 care facilities are licensed
by CCLD throughout the state, with the capacity to serve 1.4
million Californians. As of June 2016, there were 241 foster
family agencies (FFAs) throughout the state, responsible for
10,916 FFA-certified homes.
Need for this bill: According to the author, "Mandated
reporting of child abuse and neglect is a policy designed to
protect our children and is the primary way we find out about
abused and neglected children. Teachers, county officials, and
certain state employees are required to report any suspected
case of child abuse or neglect offenses, perpetrated by any
person, as defined by the California Penal Code, even if the
mandated reporter's supervisor disagrees. It is unacceptable
that a supervisor compromises the safety and security of
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children who need that protection most in order to safeguard his
own interests. [This bill] will give the Department of Social
Services, which licenses FFAs, more enforcement power to
administer current law and will also provide more protections
for mandated reporters at these FFAs when they report incidents
of child abuse and neglect."
PRIOR LEGISLATION
AB 403 (Stone), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2015, implements
Continuum of Care Reform recommendations to better serve
children and youth in California's child welfare services
system, including accreditation and other requirements for FFAs
and other out-of-home placement options for children in the
child welfare services system.
AB 1978 (Jones-Sawyer), Chapter 768, Statutes of 2014, among
other provisions, requires the Department of Social Services, in
consultation with counties and labor organizations, to establish
a process to receive voluntary disclosures from county social
workers who have reasonable cause to believe that a policy,
procedure, or practice related to the provision of child welfare
services by a county child welfare agency endangers the health
or well-being of a child. The bill also sets forth certain
reporting requirements for the department related to voluntary
disclosures that are consistent with this bill, and authorizes a
county child welfare social worker to comment on a child
fatality once certain documents have been released from the
child's case file. A hotline for social workers was established
on January 4, 2016, to meet the voluntary disclosure process
requirements.
Analysis Prepared by:
Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 FN:
0004877
AB 1001
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