BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 478 (Huff) - Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act: mandated
reporters: pilot program
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|Version: February 26, 2015 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 6 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 28, 2015 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
Bill
Summary: SB 478 would authorize a county welfare agency to
develop a five-year pilot program for internet-based reporting
of child abuse and neglect, to be used by specified mandated
reporters in lieu of or in addition to the initial telephone
report requirement under existing law. This bill would require
the Department of Social Services (DSS) to consult with
specified agencies to determine which counties may be involved
in the pilot program.
Fiscal Impact (as approved May 28,
2015):
Interagency reporting workload impact : potential
SB 478 (Huff) Page 1 of
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increases/decreases in local agency costs, potentially
state-reimbursable (General Fund), across all local agencies
involved in the ICAN reporting process. While the use of an
internet-based reporting tool in a pilot county could
potentially reduce the level of child welfare agency workload
necessary to accept and refer suspected child abuse reports
via telephone, to the extent fewer reports are initiated by
telephone could conversely generate additional workload for
follow-up information required, and/or restrict the ability of
the receiving agency from immediately electronically
transferring a call to another agency, thereby increasing the
number of reports that must be accepted, referred/retained,
and recorded by a receiving agency. The statewide cost
estimate adopted by the Commission on State Mandates for the
Interagency Child Abuse and Neglect Investigation Reports
(00-TC-22) reflects a prospective cost of $2.6 million
annually for ICAN-related activities. The 2015-16 May Revision
proposes to suspend the ICAN mandate, rendering its provisions
optional for local agencies in FY 2015-16, thereby allowing
the deferral of payment of $90.4 million in prior-year claims.
To the extent the ICAN mandate is ultimately not suspended,
however, any increase in local costs could be reimbursable by
the state (General Fund).
Internet-based reporting tool : unknown, potentially
significant one-time and ongoing non-reimbursable county
welfare agency costs to develop, test, and operate an
internet-reporting tool. The May Revision proposes a $4
million General Fund grant program to fund ICAN activities
carried out by county welfare and probation departments in
counties that choose to participate. As a result, these local
costs could potentially be funded with General Fund to the
extent the ICAN mandate is suspended and the grant program is
funded in the final Budget. To the extent other local agencies
(city/county police, sheriff's departments, county probation
departments) within a pilot county that are required to accept
mandated reports incur increased costs (as the bill authorizes
mandated reporters to utilize the reporting tool in the pilot
area, but does not specifically restrict reporting to child
welfare agencies), these costs could potentially be found to
be reimbursable by the state (General Fund) if the ICAN
mandate is not suspended.
DSS consultation : minor one-time costs (General Fund) for the
DSS to consult with specified agencies to determine county
involvement in the pilot program.
SB 478 (Huff) Page 2 of
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Background: Existing law establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting
Act (CANRA), which requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to
make a report to a specified agency 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 the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects
has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. (Penal Code (PC)
§ 11166(a).) Existing law enumerates 44 categories of mandated
reporters of child abuse or neglect. (PC § 11165.7.)
Existing law requires the mandated reporter to make an initial
report by telephone to the agency immediately or as soon as is
practicably possible, and to prepare and send, fax, or
electronically transmit a written follow-up report within 36
hours of receiving the information concerning the incident. (PC
§ 11166(a).)
Existing law specifies that reports of suspected child abuse or
neglect shall be made to a police department or sheriff's
department, not including a school district police or security
department, a county probation department, if designated by the
county to receive mandated reports, or a county welfare
department. These agencies are required to accept a report of
suspected child abuse or neglect whether offered by a mandated
reporter or another person, or referred by another agency, even
if the agency to whom the report is being made lacks subject
matter or geographical jurisdiction to investigate the reported
case, unless the agency can immediately electronically transfer
the call to an agency with proper jurisdiction. (PC §11165.9.)
When an agency takes a report about a case of suspected child
abuse or neglect in which that agency lacks jurisdiction, the
agency is required to immediately refer the case by telephone,
fax, or electronic transmission to an agency with proper
jurisdiction. Agencies that are required to receive reports of
suspected child abuse or neglect may not refuse to accept a
report of suspected child abuse or neglect from a mandated
reporter or another person unless otherwise authorized, and are
required to maintain a record of all reports received. (PC
§11165.9.)
SB 478 (Huff) Page 3 of
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Proposed
Law: This bill would authorize a county welfare agency to
develop a five-year pilot program for internet-based reporting
of child abuse and neglect, as follows:
Requires the DSS to consult with the County Welfare
Directors Association and any interested county welfare
agencies to determine which counties may be involved in the
pilot program.
Specifies the pilot program may operate in a specific
region to receive reports of suspected child abuse or
neglect, subject to all of the following conditions:
o The suspected child abuse or neglect does not
indicate that the child is subject to an immediate
risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation or that the
child is in imminent danger of severe harm or death.
o The agency provides an internet form that
includes qualifying questions in order to obtain
necessary information required to assess the need for
child welfare services and a response.
o The mandated reporter is required to complete
all required fields, including identity and contact
information of the mandated reporter, in order to
submit the report.
o The mandated reporter is required to cooperate
with any requests by the agency for additional
information, if needed, to investigate the report.
o The system can only be used by the following
mandated reporters:
§ A peace officer, as specified.
§ A probation officer.
§ A school teacher, counselor, or
administrator.
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§ A physician and surgeon,
psychiatrist, psychologist, licensed nurse,
marriage and family therapist, or clinical social
worker, as specified.
§ A coroner.
Specifies in an area where the pilot program is active,
the specified mandated reporter may use the internet-based
reporting tool in lieu of or in addition to the required
initial telephone report required under existing law.
Specifies the pilot shall remain in effect only until
January 1, 2021, unless a later enacted statute, as
specified, deletes or extends that date.
Related Legislation: SB 332 (Block) 2015 would authorize school
district police departments to receive mandated reports of
suspected child abuse or neglect. This bill is scheduled to be
heard today by this Committee.
Prior
Legislation: AB 776 (Chu) Chapter 713/2005 authorized the
filing of a one-time alternate faxed or electronic mandated
reporting form on suspected child abuse in lieu of the initial
telephone report, as specified. The DSS was required to submit a
report to the Legislature at the end of the three-year operative
period or January 1, 2009, to provide data about the use of the
alternative method of reporting.
The use of the new reporting form was contingent upon the
completion of necessary modifications to the CWS/CMS system.
Ultimately, DSS determined it was not possible to complete the
CWS/CMS modifications within the timeframes provided, and a
statewide survey was taken of the counties to obtain input on
the issue. In its report, Suspected Child Abuse One-Time
Reporting Form (January 2009), the DSS reported the following
major consensus of survey results among 25 counties that
completed the survey, as follows:
1. That the current system of receiving a phone call for an
initial report of child abuse is preferred over an initial
report via fax or email. This is due to the difficulties in
contacting the mandated reporter and the possible problems
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in not being able to determine details about a situation
over the phone.
2. That mandated reporters need more and better training,
particularly about providing information in reporting
suspected child abuse.
3. That the counties are comfortable with the current
system using the SS 8572 with an initial phone call.
4. That there is concern about putting children at risk
with a reporting system that allows for an initial fax or
email of suspected child abuse without a phone call.
5. That depending on the size of the county and the
population being served, there are times when a mandated
reporter may have difficulty in contacting a particular
county agency.
Staff
Comments: By authorizing county welfare agencies to revise the
process for mandated reporting of suspected child abuse or
neglect, this bill could potentially result in fiscal impacts to
not only the participating child welfare agency, but to other
local agencies involved in the child abuse reporting process
under the ICAN mandate.
The statewide cost estimate adopted by the CSM for the
Interagency Child Abuse and Neglect Investigation Reports
(00-TC-22) reflects total costs of $90.4 million through FY
2012-13, and prospective costs of $2.6 million annually for
ICAN-related activities including distributing forms, accepting
and referring initial child abuse reports, cross-reporting
between local agencies and to the district attorney's office,
reporting to licensing agencies, completing investigations and
forwarding substantiated reports to the DOJ (for county
probation and county welfare departments only), and records
retention.
Staff notes the 2015-16 Governor's Budget proposes to suspend
the ICAN mandate, rendering its provisions optional for local
agencies in FY 2015-16, thereby allowing the deferral of payment
of $90.4 million in prior-year claims. To the extent the ICAN
mandate is ultimately not suspended, however, any increase in
local costs could be reimbursable by the state (General Fund)
under the existing ICAN mandate decision.
As the provisions of this measure allow specified mandated
SB 478 (Huff) Page 6 of
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reporters to utilize the internet-based reporting tool in lieu
of or in addition to the required initial telephone report, it
is unclear if a greater number of suspected child abuse reports
would potentially be accepted, referred, and recorded, resulting
in additional state-reimbursable costs (for example, if a
mandated reporter submitted an electronic report to a child
welfare agency as well as telephoned the local law enforcement
agency).
While the use of an internet-based reporting tool in a pilot
county could potentially reduce the level of child welfare
agency workload necessary to accept and refer suspected child
abuse reports via telephone, to the extent fewer reports are
initiated by telephone could conversely generate additional
workload for a receiving agency for follow-up information
required, and/or restrict the ability of a receiving agency from
immediately electronically transferring a call to another agency
with jurisdiction, thereby increasing the number of reports that
must be accepted, referred/retained, and recorded by a receiving
agency.
A county welfare agency opting into the pilot would potentially
incur significant one-time and ongoing non-reimbursable costs
(Local/Federal) to develop and operate the internet-reporting
tool, as well as provide staff training on the process. However,
as the Governor's Budget proposes a $4 million General Fund
grant program to fund ICAN activities carried out by county
welfare and probation departments in counties that choose to
participate, these local agency costs could potentially be
funded with General Fund to the extent the ICAN mandate is
ultimately suspended and the grant program is funded in the
final Budget.
This bill authorizes specified mandated reporters to use the
internet-based reporting tool "in an area where the pilot
program is active". As the bill does not specifically restrict
the use of the tool to submit initial reports to a county
welfare agency, it is unclear if other receiving agencies in the
area where the pilot program is active could be required to
accept reports through the internet-reporting tool. To the
extent other local agencies required to accept mandated reports
(city and county police and sheriff's departments, county
SB 478 (Huff) Page 7 of
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probation departments) incur increased costs for revising
processes and training associated with the tool, these costs
could potentially be found to be reimbursable by the state
(General Fund). The magnitude of costs would be dependent on the
number of county agencies participating in the pilot, which is
unknown and not limited in number.
Author amendments (as adopted May 28, 2015):
Clarify the pilot is to operate in a county versus a
region or area.
Delete the potential duplication of mandated reporting
via telephone and electronic reporting.
Remove psychiatrists and psychologists as mandated
reporters for the pilot.
Limit the pilot to 10 counties.
Add coauthors.
Make other technical changes.
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