BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1737
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1737 (McCarty) - As Introduced February 1, 2016
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|Policy |Public Safety |Vote:|7 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
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| | Local Governent | | 9 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires counties to establish interagency child death
review teams to assist local agencies in identifying and
reviewing suspicious child deaths and facilitating communication
among persons who perform autopsies and the various persons and
agencies involved in child abuse or neglect cases.
AB 1737
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FISCAL EFFECT:
Significant reimbursable state mandated cost in the $4 million
range (GF). Sacramento County, a midsize county, has identified
annual cost of approximately $75,000 to conduct the activities
required in AB 1737; however, they currently do those activities
for other counties as well. If one assumes an average of
$25,000 for the smallest 20 counties, an average of $70,000 for
the next other 28 counties, and an average of $150,000 for the
10 largest counties, the cost would be $3.96 million. The state
will be required to reimburse even the counties that currently
have a program.
COMMENTS:
1)Background/Puropose. Current law allows, but does not
require, counties to do both:
a) Establish interagency child death review teams to assist
local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious
child deaths and facilitating communication among persons
who perform autopsies and the various persons and agencies
involved in child abuse or neglect cases, but does not
require counties to establish child death review teams. If
a team is created, the death review is required to report,
at least annually, conclusions, recommendations, and
aggregate satistiacal data.
b) Develop a protocol, in consultation with a specified
group, which may be used as a guideline by persons
performing autopsies on children in order to assist
coroners and other persons who perform autopsies in the
identification of child abuse or neglect, in the
determination of whether child abuse or neglect contributed
AB 1737
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to death or whether child abuse or neglect had occurred
prior to but was not the actual cause of death, and in the
proper written reporting procedures for child abuse or
neglect, including the designation of the cause and mode of
death.
This bill would require each county to establish an
interagency child death review team to assist local
agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious child
deaths, and require the county to develop an autopsy
protocol. Because the bill mandates that each county
create a team, the corresponding report by the child death
review team would also be mandatory.
According to the author, an annual child death report is to
provide vital information should children be dying of
similar reasons in one county compared to another. The
annual report will identify how and why children die, to
facilitate the creation and implementation of strategies to
prevent future deaths.
2)Support/Opposition. Sierra Health Foundation, in support,
argues that "requiring each county to have an active child
death review team will create uniformity across the state;
with accurate data this information could be used to create
public awareness campaigns and reduce the number of child
deaths much like our efforts here in Sacramento County."
There is no opposition
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 1737
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