BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 794 (Committee on Human Services) - Child welfare services
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|Version: March 3, 2015 |Policy Vote: HUMAN S. 5 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: May 28, 2015 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
Bill
Summary: SB 794 would provide for numerous amendments to state
law intended to seek compliance with the federal Preventing Sex
Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113-183), as
specified.
Fiscal Impact (as approved May 28,
2015):
Federal compliance : Annual costs of $4.2 million ($1.7
million General Fund*) for new workload to child welfare
services and probation departments to comply with several
provisions of federal law including the development of case
plans, documentation related to the reasonable and prudent
parent standards, and notification of relatives. These costs
are budgeted in the 2015-16 May Revision.
CSEC protocols compliance : Annual costs to local agencies in
the millions of dollars (General Fund*/Local Fund/Federal) to
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develop and implement policies and procedures that identify,
document, and determine appropriate services for youth
identified as runaways/missing or commercially sexually
exploited children (CSEC). The 2015-16 May Revision includes
$20.2 million ($14 million General Fund) in 2015-16 to support
both federally required and elective county program activities
for CSEC. It is estimated $3.6 million General Fund will be
utilized for federal compliance activities.
Child abuse reporting : Non-reimbursable local costs for
reporting to law enforcement within 24 hours, as required by
federal law.
CWS/CMS enhancements : Unknown, potentially significant
automation costs (General Fund) to enable CWS/CMS to collect
specified information on youth identified as missing/runaways
or CSEC.
Proposition 30* : Exempts the State from mandate reimbursement
for realigned programs, however, legislation that has an
overall effect of increasing the costs already borne by a
local agency for realigned programs including child welfare
services, apply to local agencies only to the extent that the
State provides annual funding for the cost increase. For
changes in federal law, the state is required to annually
provide at least 50 percent of the nonfederal share of
increased costs to local agencies as determined by the State.
Background: Existing federal law provides for the Preventing Sex
Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113-183, the
Act) which was signed into law on September 29, 2014. The Act
makes numerous changes to the Title IV-E foster care program and
enacts new requirements regarding sex trafficking prevention and
reporting, data collection, reasonable and prudent parent
standards, adoption incentive payments, successor guardianship,
and successful adulthood.
Proposed Law:
This bill makes numerous amendments to state law intended to
seek compliance with the federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and
Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113-183), as specified:
Requires licensed community care facilities that provide care
and supervision to children to designate at least one onsite
staff member to apply the reasonable and prudent parent
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standards, as specified.
Expands the definition of sexual exploitation to include a
person who sexually trafficks a child or commercially sexually
exploits a child, as specified.
Requires county probation or child welfare agencies to
immediately, or in no case later than within 24 hours of
receiving the information, report the incident to the local
law enforcement agency, the agency investigating the
allegation of abuse, and the district attorney.
Requires county probation or child welfare agencies to
immediately notify the appropriate law enforcement authority
when a child or youth who is receiving child welfare services
and is known or suspected to be the victim of sexual
exploitation is missing or has been abducted, so that the
incident can be entered into the National Crime Information
Center database of the FBI and to the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children.
Provides that a successor kinship guardian or co-guardian may
be appointed by the juvenile court only when the reason for
the appointment is the death or incapacity of the kinship
guardian and the successor guardian is named in the kinship
guardianship assistance agreements, as specified. Clarifies
that the foster care education training programs provided to
relative and nonrelative extended family members under current
law are aligned with the training requirements established for
licensed or certified foster parents, and include training on
the reasonable and prudent parent standard, provided for in
the bill.
Provides that for youth 14 years of age or older and nonminor
dependents, the youth's case plan shall be developed in
consultation with the youth. Provides that, at the youth's
option, the consultation may include up to two members of the
case planning team who are chosen by the youth, as specified.
Permits the child welfare agency to reject an individual under
specified circumstances.
Provides that for youth 14 years of age or older, the case
plan shall include the following:
o A document that describes the youth's rights with
respect to education, health, visitation and court
participation, the right to be annually provided with
copies of his or her credit reports at no cost while in
foster care, and the right to stay safe and avoid
exploitation.
o A signed acknowledgement by the youth that he or she
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has been provided a copy of the document and that the
rights described in the documents have been explained to
the youth in an age-appropriate manner.
Requires a case plan for a child or nonminor dependent that
is, or is at risk of becoming, the victim of commercial sexual
exploitation, to document the services provided to address
that issue.
Requires county child welfare agencies to develop and
implement policies and procedures that, at a minimum, require
social workers and probation officers to do the following:
o Identify children receiving child welfare services,
including dependents or wards in foster care, nonminor
dependents, and youth receiving services under the John
H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program.
o Document the individuals identified in the CWS/CMS
and any other agency record as determined by the county.
Determine appropriate services for a child identified.
Requires county child welfare agencies, on or before July 1,
2016, to develop and implement specific protocols to
expeditiously locate any child missing from foster care.
Specifically requires these protocols, at a minimum to do the
following: Determine the primary factors that contributed to
the child or nonminor dependent running away or otherwise
being absent from care.
Requires DSS to ensure the CWS/CMS is capable of collection
all of the following:
o The number of dependent children or wards in foster
care who were victims of commercial sexual exploitation
before entering foster care.
o The number of dependent children or wards in foster
care who became victims of commercial sexual exploitation
while in foster care.
o The numbers of dependent children or wards in foster
care who go missing, run away, or are otherwise absent
from care and were commercially sexually exploited during
the time away from placement.
o The number of dependent children or wards in foster
care who are at risk of becoming victims of commercial
sexual exploitation.
Prior Legislation: SB 855 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal
Review) Chapter 29/2014 provided $5 million initially and $14
million General Fund annually ongoing for county child welfare
agencies to provide services to child victims of commercial
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sexual exploitation
Staff
Comments: See "Fiscal Impact" section.
Staff notes that the federal Act requires the State to
demonstrate that the State has developed policies and procedures
for identifying, documenting, and determining appropriate
services for missing/runaway youth and CSEC, and additionally
requires federal reporting of specified data. Given the
provisions of this bill mandate that county child welfare
agencies each develop these policies/procedures, it is unclear
whether each county will develop its own unique policies and
procedures. To the extent these procedures impact how CSEC youth
are identified, counted, and subsequently reported to the
federal government as required, would appear to potentially
result in inconsistencies in data reporting across counties.
Staff additionally notes the conforming amendments to state law
for the provisions under federal law related to Another Planned
Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA) are currently not included
in this bill.
Committee amendments (as adopted May 28, 2015):
On page 12, in line 18, delete "case, to the agency
responsible for investigating cases" and insert "case."
On page 12, delete line 19. On page 12, in line 20,
delete "to the district attorney's office."
On page 34, in line 35, delete "that, at a minimum," and
insert "that"
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