BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2083
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2083 (Chu)
As Introduced February 17, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Public Safety |7-0 |Jones-Sawyer, | |
| | |Melendez, Lackey, | |
| | |Lopez, Low, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Allows agencies, at the request of an interagency
child death review team, to disclose otherwise confidential
information. Specifically, this bill:
1)Allows, but does not require, agencies to disclose, orally or
in writing, otherwise confidential information to an
interagency child death review team, but does not require
those agencies to disclose any requested confidential
information. This information may include the following:
a) Medical information, as provided;
b) Mental health information, as provided;
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c) Information from child abuse reports and investigations,
except the identity of the person making the report which
shall not be disclosed;
d) State summary criminal history information, as defined;
e) Criminal offender record information, as defined;
f) Local summary criminal history information, as defined;
g) Information pertaining to reports by health
practitioners of persons suffering from physical injuries
inflicted by means of a firearm or of persons suffering
physical injury where the injury is a result of assaultive
or abusive conduct; and
h) Records of in-home supportive services, unless
disclosure is prohibited by federal law.
2)States that agencies and individuals receiving these requests
may rely on the request to release the information sought in
the request.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Allows 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, but does
not require counties to establish child death review teams.
2)States that interagency child death teams have been used
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successfully to ensure that incidents of child abuse or
neglect are recognized and other siblings and non-offending
family members receive the appropriate services in cases where
a child has expired.
3)States that each county may develop a protocol that may be
used as a guideline by persons performing autopsies on
children 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 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.
4)States that in developing an interagency child death team and
an autopsy protocol, each county, working in consultation with
local members of the California State Coroner's Association
and county child abuse prevention coordinating councils, may
solicit suggestions and final comments from persons,
including, but not limited to, the following:
a) Experts in the field of forensic pathology;
b) Pediatricians with expertise in child abuse;
c) Coroners and medical examiners;
d) Criminologists;
e) District attorneys;
f) Child protective services staff;
g) Law enforcement personnel;
h) Representatives of local agencies which are involved
with child abuse or neglect reporting;
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i) County health department staff who deals with children's
health issues; and
j) Local professional associations of persons described in
paragraphs 1) to 9) inclusive.
5)Clarifies that records exempt from disclosure to third parties
pursuant to state or federal law shall remain exempt from
disclosure when they are in the possession of a child death
review team.
6)Requires each child death review team to make available to the
public findings, conclusions and recommendations of the team,
including aggregate statistical data on the incidences and
causes of child deaths. The team is required to withhold the
child's last name unless certain exceptions apply.
7)Defines "local summary criminal history information 'as' the
master record of information compiled by any local criminal
justice agency pertaining to the identification and criminal
history of any person, such as name, date of birth, physical
description, dates of arrests, arresting agencies and booking
numbers, charges, dispositions, and similar data about the
person."
8)States that "local summary criminal history information" does
not refer to records and data compiled by criminal justice
agencies other than that local agency, nor does it refer to
records of complaints to or investigations conducted by, or
records of intelligence information or security procedures of,
the local agency.
9)Requires a local criminal justice agency to furnish local
summary criminal history information to any of the following
when needed in the course of their duties: the courts, peace
officers, district attorneys, prosecuting city attorneys,
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probation and parole officers, public defender or attorney of
record in a criminal case or in a case involving a certificate
of rehabilitation, any city or county district office when
needed in fulfilling employment, certification or licensing
duties, the subject of the local summary criminal history
information; managing or supervising correction officers of a
county jail, local child support agencies, county child
welfare agencies, humane officers, and other expressly
authorized by statute, as specified.
10)Permits a local criminal justice agency to furnish local
summary criminal history information to the following, upon a
showing of compelling need, to other specified entities,
including a public utility which operates a nuclear energy
facility, a peace officer from another country, public
officers other than peace officers of the United States, a
public utility when access is needed to assist in employing
person who will be entering private residences.
11)States that it is not a violation to disseminate statistical
or research information obtained from a record, provided that
the identity of the subject of the record is not disclosed.
12)States that an employee of a local criminal justice agency
who knowingly furnishes a record or information obtained from
a record to a person who is not authorized by law to receive
the record or information is guilty of a misdemeanor.
13)Punishes as a misdemeanor any person authorized by law to
receive a record or information obtained from a record who
knowingly furnishes the record or information to a person who
is not authorized by law to receive the record or information.
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14)Requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to furnish state
summary criminal history information to specified entities, if
needed in the course of their duties, provided that when
information is furnished to assist an agency, officer, or
official of state or local government, a public utility, or
any other entity in fulfilling employment, certification, or
licensing duties, specified restrictions listed in the Labor
Code are followed.
15)Allows the DOJ to furnish state summary criminal history
information to specified entities and, when specifically
authorized, federal-level criminal history information, upon a
showing of a compelling need, provided that when information
is furnished to assist an agency, officer, or official of
state or local government, a public utility, or any other
entity in fulfilling employment, certification, or licensing
duties, specified restrictions listed in the Labor Code are
followed.
16)Allows DOJ to charge a fee to reimburse department costs, and
a surcharge to fund system maintenance and improvements,
whenever state summary criminal history information is
furnished as the result of an application and is to be used
for employment, licensing, or certification purposes. Allows,
notwithstanding any other law, any person or entity required
to pay a fee to DOJ for information received under this
provision to charge the applicant a fee sufficient to
reimburse the person or entity for this expense.
17)Authorizes, notwithstanding any other law, a human resource
agency or an employer to request from DOJ records of all
convictions or any arrest pending adjudication involving the
offenses specified of a person who applies for a license,
employment, or volunteer position, in which he or she would
have supervisory or disciplinary power over a minor or any
person under his or her care. Requires DOJ to furnish the
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information to the requesting employer and also send a copy of
the information to the applicant.
18)Prohibits a provider of health care, health care service
plan, or contractor from disclosing medical information
regarding a patient of the provider of health care or an
enrollee or subscriber of a health care service plan without
first obtaining an authorization, except as provided.
19)Requires a provider of health care, health care service plan,
or contractor to disclose medical information regarding a
patient of the provider of health care or an enrollee or
subscriber of a health care service plan if the disclosure is
compelled by any of the following:
a) By a court pursuant to an order of that court;
b) By a board, commission, or administrative agency for
purposes of adjudication pursuant to its lawful authority;
c) By a party to a proceeding before a court or
administrative agency pursuant to a subpoena, subpoena
duces tecum, notice to appear served pursuant to the Code
of Civil Procedure Section 1987, or any provision
authorizing discovery in a proceeding before a court or
administrative agency;
d) By a board, commission, or administrative agency
pursuant to an investigative subpoena issued under Article
2 (commencing with Section 11180) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code;
e) By an arbitrator or arbitration panel, when arbitration
is lawfully requested by either party, pursuant to a
subpoena duces tecum issued under the Code of Civil
Procedure Section 1282.6, or another provision authorizing
discovery in a proceeding before an arbitrator or
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arbitration panel;
f) By a search warrant lawfully issued to a governmental
law enforcement agency;
g) By the patient or the patient's representative;
h) By a coroner, when requested in the course of an
investigation by the coroner's office for the purpose of
identifying the decedent or locating next of kin, or when
investigating deaths that may involve public health
concerns, organ or tissue donation, child abuse, elder
abuse, suicides, poisonings, accidents, sudden infant
deaths, suspicious deaths, unknown deaths, or criminal
deaths, or upon notification of, or investigation of,
imminent deaths that may involve organ or tissue donation
pursuant to the Health and Safety Code Section 7151.15, or
when otherwise authorized by the decedent's representative.
Medical information requested by the coroner under this
paragraph shall be limited to information regarding the
patient who is the decedent and who is the subject of the
investigation or who is the prospective donor and shall be
disclosed to the coroner without delay upon request, or
i) When otherwise specifically required by law.
20)Allows a provider of health care, health care service plan,
or contractor to disclose medical information regarding a
patient of the provider of health care or an enrollee or
subscriber of a health care service plan to authorized
individuals or entities for research, billing, treatment and
other purposes, as specified.
21)Limits the disclosure of mental health information, as
specified.
22)Limits the disclosure of information from child abuse reports
and investigations, as specified.
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23)Limits the disclosure of information pertaining to reports by
health practitioners of persons suffering from physical
injuries inflicted by means of a firearm or of persons
suffering physical injury where the injury is a result of
assaultive or abusive conduct.
24)Limits the disclosure of records of in-home supportive
services, as specified.
25)States that a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 (HIPPA) covered entity may use or disclose health
information as follows:
a) To the individual for treatment, payment or health care
operations;
b) Incident to a use or disclosure otherwise permitted if
it is the minimum necessary to accomplish the purpose of
the use or disclosure;
c) Pursuant to an authorization or agreement by the
individual;
d) Under circumstances set out in the rule for which
neither authorization nor agreement is required.
26)Holds that HIPPA regulations preempt any contrary provision
of state law unless the state law provides greater privacy
protection for an individual whose health information is
protected.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "Interagency child death
review teams have been used successfully to ensure that
incidents of child abuse or neglect are recognized and other
siblings and non-offending family members receive the
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appropriate services in cases involving the death of a child.
Actions by child death review teams may include identification
of emerging trends and safety concerns in other types of child
deaths in order to inform and address needs for prevention
efforts. Disclosures of this information, which in some
instances in prohibited by current law, would help improve the
child death review team's investigation and detection of child
abuse and neglect as well as help identify trends to reduce the
incidents of child death."
Analysis Prepared by:
Matt Dean/ PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0002775