BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           774 (Ashburn)
          
          Hearing Date:  05/11/2009           Amended: 04/27/2009
          Consultant:  Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Public Safety  
          7-0
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: SB 774 requires counties to obtain a DOJ criminal  
          history report before hiring a social worker assigned to child  
          welfare services, and prohibits counties from hiring in that  
          position a person convicted of specified crimes.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2009-10      2010-11       2011-12     Fund
           County Social Worker                                    
          criminal background processing       Unknown, potentially  
          substantial costs    General

          Ongoing recordkeeping                Unknown, potentially  
          substantial costs        General
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the  
          Suspense File.

          This bill would impose a state mandate on counties by requiring  
          a DOJ criminal background check on applicants for county child  
          protective service social worker positions. Upon receipt of this  
          information from DOJ, the county would be responsible for  
          retaining the information. The counties must also request from  
          DOJ subsequent arrest notification service. 

          It is unclear the degree to which counties already impose  
          criminal background check requirements on the specified  
          employees, but by enacting a state mandate, the state is  
          responsible for reimbursing the expenses incurred by counties.  
          Counties must add this procedure to their hiring process, and  
          establish systems for managing new information. If even one  
          county required one additional PY to process criminal background  
          and subsequent arrest information, the state would likely have  










          to reimburse more than $50,000.

          Los Angeles County has nearly 8,000 social workers, and reports  
          a 20% turnover rate. It is likely that Los Angeles County would  
          face a significant increased workload to process more than 1,600  
          criminal background checks annually, and keep track of  
          subsequent arrest information transmitted from DOJ. It is likely  
          to have the most significant expenses, but the remaining 57  
          counties are likely to experience a state- reimbursable  
          increased workload.