BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 524
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
524 (Lara)
As Amended August 19, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 35-1
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
|Human Services |7-0 |Chu, Mayes, Calderon, | |
| | |Lopez, Maienschein, | |
| | |Mark Stone, Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
|Appropriations |16-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, Bloom, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Nazarian, | |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, Jones, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SB 524
Page 2
SUMMARY: Establishes two new types of community care facilities
- private alternative boarding schools and private alternative
outdoor programs - and provides for their licensure and
regulation. Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes Legislative findings and declarations related to
nontraditional treatment programs for children, including that
such facilities: receive numerous allegations of abuse,
including death; currently operate unlicensed in California;
advertise services for youth who may feel they have no other
options; and have students who may have been previous victims
of trauma, experienced parental rejection based on actual or
perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, and have
mental health and substance use issues. Further, states the
intent of the Legislature that the state license private
alternative boarding schools and private alternative outdoor
programs as community care facilities to ensure the safety of
children admitted to those schools or programs.
2)Defines "private alternative boarding school" to mean a group
home licensed by the Department of Social Services (DSS) to
operate a program to provide youth with 24-hour residential
care and supervision that provides, or holds itself out as
providing, behavioral-based services to youth with social,
emotional, or behavioral issues in addition to educational
services, as specified.
3)Defines "private alternative outdoor program" to mean a group
home licensed by DSS to operate a program to provide youth
with 24-hour residential care and supervision that provides,
or holds itself out as providing, behavioral-based services in
an outdoor living setting to youth with social, emotional, or
behavioral issues, as specified.
4)Defines "youth" to mean a person who is between the ages of 12
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and 17, or a person who is 18 years of age if he/she is
completing high school or its equivalent.
5)Requires DSS to, as of January 1, 2018, license private
alternative boarding schools as group homes, as specified.
6)Requires DSS to, as of January 1, 2019, license private
alternative outdoor programs as groups homes, as specified.
7)Requires licensed private alternative boarding schools and
licensed private alternative outdoor programs to do all of the
following:
a) Be owned or operated on a nonprofit basis, as specified;
b) Prepare and maintain a current, written plan of
operation, as defined by DSS;
c) Offer 24-hour, nonmedical care and supervision to youth
who voluntarily consent to admission and who are
voluntarily admitted by his/her parent or legal guardian;
d) Not admit a child under 12 years of age or a child who
has been assessed by a licensed mental health professional
to be seriously emotionally disturbed, except as specified;
e) Provide each prospective youth and his/her parent or
legal guardian with specified written information regarding
the programs and services offered;
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f) Ensure that all individuals providing behavioral-based
services are licensed or certified, as specified;
g) Not use secure containment or manual or mechanical
restraints; and
h) Ensure that any mental health services offered are
provided by a licensed mental health provider and that any
alcohol or substance abuse treatment advertised are
provided by a licensed or certified alcoholism or drug
abuse recovery or treatment facility.
8)Requires licensed private alternative outdoor programs to have
a ratio of one staff person to every four youths.
9)Requires a private alternative boarding school to submit a
staff training plan to DSS as part of its plan of operation
and requires this plan to include training on specified
topics, such as the physical and psychosocial needs of youth,
in addition to training already required of group home staff.
10)Requires a private alternative outdoor program to submit a
staff training plan to DSS as part of its plan of operation
and requires this plan to include training on specified topics
in addition to training already required of group home staff,
including by not limited to training on low-impact camping,
navigation skills, and related. Further, requires a staff
member of a licensed private alternative outdoor program who
supervises youth to receive an additional number of hours of
initial and annual training hours, as specified.
11)Delineates rights to be accorded a youth, alongside any other
rights adopted by DSS in regulations, admitted to a licensed
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private alternative boarding school or licensed private
alternative outdoor program, as specified and including by not
limited to the right to be able to contact his/her parent(s)
or legal guardian(s) and to be free from acts that seek to
change his/her sexual orientation, as specified.
12)Prohibits licensed private alternative boarding schools and
licensed private alternative outdoor programs from being
eligible child welfare system placements, as specified, and
from receiving group home foster care reimbursement rates.
13)Excludes certain facilities, including but not limited to
those operated, licensed, or certified by the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation and its Division of Juvenile
Justice, the California Conservation Corps, or the Military
Department, from licensure as private alternative boarding
schools or private alternative outdoor programs, as specified.
14)Requires DSS to develop regulations, as specified, for
private alternative boarding schools by January 1, 2018, and
for private alternative outdoor programs by January 1, 2019,
and further permits DSS to adopt emergency regulations, as
specified.
15)Requires a private alternative boarding school operating
prior to January 1, 2018, to comply with licensing
requirements by July 1, 2018, and requires a private
alternative outdoor program operating prior to January 1,
2019, to comply with licensing requirements by July 1, 2019.
16)Requires individuals who are volunteer candidates for
mentoring children in private alternative boarding schools or
in private alternative outdoor programs to be subject to a
criminal background investigation, as specified, prior to
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having unsupervised contact with the children.
17)Requires DSS to charge additional fees it establishes by
regulation as necessary to regulate licenses for private
alternative boarding schools and private alternative outdoor
programs.
18)Exempts private alternative boarding schools and private
alternative outdoor programs from existing requirements
regarding the collection, review, and evaluation of data and
information on the administration of psychotropic medications
in group homes, as specified.
19)Clarifies that a private alternative boarding school or
private alternative outdoor program that uses prayer or
spiritual means as a component of its programming or services
in addition to behavioral based services is subject to
licensure, as specified.
20)Makes conforming technical changes.
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 (HSC) Section 1500 et
seq.)
2)Defines "community care facility" to mean 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
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children and adults, including, but not limited to,
individuals with physical disabilities or mental impairments
and abused or neglected children. Includes within this
definition, among a number of other facilities: group homes,
foster family homes, small family homes, full-service adoption
agencies, noncustodial adoption agencies, and transitional
shelters. (HSC Section 1502)
3)Requires community care facilities operating in California, as
specified, to have a valid license. (HSC Section 1503.5)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
Residential facilities for youth with emotional and behavioral
challenges: In 2008, the United States General Accountability
Office (GAO) released a report entitled, "Residential
Facilities: Improved Data and Enhanced Oversight Would Help
Safeguard the Well-Being of Youth with Behavioral and Emotional
Challenges." This report described the proliferation since the
1990s of residential facilities serving youth with behavioral
and emotional challenges. These facilities include boarding
schools and academies, boot camps, and wilderness camps. Some
such facilities have spawned reports of health and safety risks
for the youth who attend them. According to the GAO report,
"annual investigations by the Civil Rights Division within the
Department of Justice, have detailed incidents of abuse and
neglect, which in some cases have been severe enough to result
in hospitalization or death."
Regarding the licensure and regulation of these types of
facilities, the 2008 GAO report observed that:
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States are primarily responsible for ensuring the
well-being of youth in facilities and other settings, and
states vary in how they license and monitor facilities in
accordance with individual state standards of care. In
addition, in return for receiving funds under various
federal grant programs, state agencies agree to comply
with federal program requirements, including those
related to youth well-being. These programs generally
fall under the purview of three federal agencies: The
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provides
funds to states for child welfare, mental health, and
substance abuse; the Department of Justice (DOJ), for
serving delinquent youth; and the Department of Education
(Education), for educating youth. These agencies have
authority to hold states accountable for state-operated
or private facilities that serve youth under federally
funded state programs. However, the federal government
does not have oversight authority for other private
facilities that serve only youth placed and funded by
parents or other private entities.
Nonetheless, the federal government has taken note of these
types of facilities and the potentially associated problems.
The existence of a GAO report on the issue is a testament to
this, as were bills introduced in Congress. While it ultimately
didn't pass, the "Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for
Teens Act" was introduced in 2013 (H.R. 1981) and 2014 (S.
2054). This Act would have required certain standards and
enforcement provisions for the prevention of child abuse and
neglect in residential programs.
Need for this bill: According to the author:
Tragically, many young people have experienced horrendous
abuse, neglect, and even death at unregulated boot camps,
wilderness camps, and residential institutions.
Survivors report being denied medical care, corporal
punishment, solitary confinement, discrimination due to
sexual orientation. Often parents and guardians have no
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idea that the facility they are sending their child to is
not held to any standards and does not have any
oversight.
The current lack of oversight and regulations over these
private institutions has opened up California's most
vulnerable youth to abuse. While private institutions
should retain the right to offer the unique programs they
specialize in, all children regardless of where they are
should have their essential health and safety needs met.
Analysis Prepared by:
Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 FN:
0004585