BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2229
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2229 (Brownley)
As Amended August 17, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(June 2, 2010) |SENATE: |32-0 |(August 20, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY : Revises and recasts provisions of law relating to
multidisciplinary personnel teams (MDPT) engaged in the
investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect.
The Senate amendments :
1)Allow members of a MDPT to disclose and exchange information
related to any incident of child abuse that would otherwise be
confidential for a 30-day period following a report of
suspected child abuse or neglect if good cause exists.
2)Clarify that the sharing of information related to suspected
child abuse shall be governed by protocols developed in each
country that ensure that confidential information is not
disclosed in violation of state or federal law.
3)Double-joints this bill with AB 2322 (Feuer).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes members of a multidisciplinary personnel team
engaged in the prevention, identification, and treatment of
child abuse to disclose and exchange information and writings
to and with one another relating to any incidents of child
abuse that may also be part of a juvenile court record or
otherwise designated as confidential under state law if the
member of the team having that information reasonably believes
it is generally relevant to the prevention, identification or
treatment of child abuse.
2)Defines "multidisciplinary personnel" as any team of three or
more persons who are trained in the prevention,
identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect cases
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and who are qualified to provide a broad range of services
related to child abuse. The team may include but not be
limited to:
a) Psychiatrists, psychologists or other trained counseling
personnel;
b) Police officers or other law enforcement agents;
c) Medical personnel with sufficient training to provide
health services;
d) Social workers with training or experience in child
abuse prevention; and,
e) Any public or private school teacher, administrative
officer, supervisor of child welfare and attendance, or
certificated pupil personnel employee.
3)Provides that any county may establish a computerized data
base system within that county to allow provider agencies, as
defined, to share specified identifying information regarding
families at risk for child abuse and neglect, for the purposes
of forming multidisciplinary personnel teams.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Clarified that MDPT's are created in order to investigate
reports of suspected child abuse or neglect made pursuant to
the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, or for the purpose
of making a child welfare services referral or detention
determination.
2)Reduced the size of a multidisciplinary personnel team from
three or more persons to two or more persons.
3)Authorized members of an MDPT, during the 48-hour period
following a report of suspected child abuse or neglect, to
disclose and exchange information telephonically and
electronically if there is adequate verification of the
identity of the multidisciplinary team members involved in the
disclosure or exchange of information.
4)Prohibited the disclosure and exchange of information to
anyone other than members of the MDPT, except as specified.
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5)Provided that the sharing of information shall be governed by
a memorandum of understanding (MOU) among the participating
service providers or provider agencies. The MOU shall specify
the type of information that may be shared, and the process
used to ensure confidentiality.
6)Stated that every member of the MDPT that receives other wise
confidential information shall be under the same privacy and
confidentiality obligations as the person disclosing the
information, and information and records communicated shall be
protected from discovery by all applicable statutory and
common law protections.
7)Stated that these provisions shall only remain in effect until
January 1, 2014.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Due to budget cuts, and the
lack of staff children who are victims of abuse and taken into
protective custody cannot receive timely treatment for medical
problems unless information is shared among verified members of
the team investigating the abuse.
"Existing law requires at least three team members convene
before confidential information may be shared. Nurses, social
workers and law officers complain that valuable time is lost
while responding to an emergency child abuse problem while
trying to locate a third team member.
"AB 2229 would help by allowing multidisciplinary investigative
teams to be two or more people be allowed to be considered a
multidisciplinary team, which is currently practiced when
investigating elder abuse; which was originally a three person
team as well.
"By doing so we are insuring that no time in responding to an
emergency child abuse problem is lost, and the safety of the
child in danger is put first."
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this
bill.
AB 2229
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Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN:
0006232