BILL ANALYSIS �
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1522
Author: Leno (D)
Amended: 8/22/12
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/24/12
AYES: Liu, Emmerson, Berryhill, Hancock, Strickland,
Wright, Yee
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/8/12
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Calderon, Harman, Liu, Price,
Steinberg
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 39-0, 5/29/12 (Consent)
AYES: Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon,
Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De Le�n, DeSaulnier, Dutton,
Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman,
Hernandez, Huff, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu,
Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio,
Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Walters, Wolk,
Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 80-0, 8/27/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Developmental centers: reporting requirements
SOURCE : Disability Rights California
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DIGEST : This bill requires a state developmental center
(DC) to report to local law enforcement all deaths, sexual
assaults, assaults with a deadly weapon or force likely to
produce great bodily injury, and other specified incidents.
Assembly Amendments clarify the types of assaults with a
deadly weapon that must immediately be reported to law
enforcement: those by a non-resident of a DC, specify that
any incident involving a broken bone, when the cause of the
break is undetermined, must also be reported to law
enforcement, and add chaptering-out language.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Establishes jurisdiction of the Department of
Developmental Services (DDS) over state DCs, which
provide residential care to individuals with
developmental disabilities.
2. Requires DCs to immediately report all resident deaths
and serious injuries of unknown origin to the
appropriate local law enforcement agency, which may, at
its discretion, conduct an independent investigation.
3. Establishes a police force within the state DDS to act
as a law enforcement agency for the state DCs. This
police force has been named the Office of Protective
Services (OPS).
4. Requires mandated reporters of elder and dependent
abuse, as defined, to follow up any telephonic report of
known or suspected abuse with a written or internet
report within two working days.
This bill:
1. Requires a DC to report the following incidents to the
local law enforcement agency, regardless of whether the
OPS has investigated the facts and circumstance of the
case:
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A. A death;
B. A sexual assault, as defined in the Elder Abuse
and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, Welfare and
Institutions Code Section 15600 et seq.;
C. An assault with a deadly weapon, as described in
the Penal Code, by a nonresident of the DC;
D. An assault with force likely to produce great
bodily injury, as described in the Penal Code;
E. An injury to the genitals when the cause of the
injury is undetermined; and,
F. A broken bone, when the cause of the break is
undetermined.
2. Requires that if the incident is reported to the law
enforcement agency by telephone, a written report of the
incident shall also be submitted to the agency within
two working days.
3. Provides that this bill's reporting requirements are in
addition to, and do not substitute for, existing
reporting and investigative duties of the DC and the DDS
required by law.
4. Provides that the reporting requirements of this bill
shall not be interpreted to prevent the DC from
reporting to law enforcement any other criminal act
constituting a danger to the health or safety of DC
residents.
5. Double-joints this bill with SB 1051 (Liu and Emmerson)
to address potential chaptering out conflicts regarding
proposed changes to Welfare and Institutions Code
Section 4427.5.
Background
DDS . The DCs are part of a system of care overseen by the
DDS. Currently, about 1,800 individuals live in these
state institutions and about 250,000 live with services and
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supports in their communities. A developmental disability
is defined as a severe and chronic disability that is
attributable to a mental or physical impairment that begins
before age 18, including mental retardation, cerebral
palsy, autism, epilepsy and other similar conditions.
Consumers living in California's DCs typically have the
most significant physical and behavioral needs, and need
extensive services and supports.
OPS . California statute confers peace officer status upon
officers in the OPS, the law enforcement agency for state's
DCs. OPS officers are authorized to enforce hospital
rules, preserve peace and to protect state property. These
officers investigate thefts, trespassing and suspicious
person claims, respond to missing client calls, enforce
restraining orders, patrol the DCs' grounds and investigate
suspicious deaths, sexual assaults and other major crimes.
Evaluations of OPS in DCs over the past 12 years have
considered whether to retain the internal law enforcement
presence or remove police functions to an outside entity.
These evaluators concluded that the environment and
investigative skills needed to work with victims and
witnesses who have developmental disabilities is
significantly different than what a municipal law
enforcement officer would encounter and that, therefore,
OPS should be preserved.
History of investigative concerns . In 2002, the California
Attorney General's office released an 82-page paper,
Policing in the Department of Developmental Services, A
Review of the Organization and Operations 2000-2001. The
authors found: "? the majority of (law enforcement)
personnel lack the training, experience and proper
equipment to completely preserve and collect crime scene
evidence. While there is a critical need to train
personnel, there should also be prearranged agreements with
outside agencies to take over the evidence processing upon
request." (P. 3)
It recommended that the DDS establish Memorandums of
Understanding (MOU) with local law enforcement agencies
that provide authority for those agencies to independently
review investigations completed by OPS, and to create a
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process for local agencies to assist or take over
investigations that are in progress. AB 430 (Cardenas),
Chapter 171, Statutes of 2001, required DDS to report
specified deaths to their local law enforcement agency, and
DDS testified that is has established MOUs with those
agencies. However it is unclear what investigations have
been taken over or aided by local law enforcement agencies.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, costs
associated with this legislation should be minor and
absorbable within existing DDS.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/28/12)
Disability Rights California (source)
Association of Regional Center Agencies
California Association of Psychiatric Technicians
California Association of State Hospital Parent Councils
for the Retarded
Development Disabilities Area Board 3
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
National Association of Social Workers
Parent Hospital Association of Sonoma Developmental Center
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy in California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
Current law (Welfare & Institutions Code Section 4427.5)
requires a developmental center to immediately report
"all resident deaths and serious injuries of unknown
origin to the appropriate local law enforcement agency,
which may, at its discretion, conduct an independent
investigation (emphasis added)." The Department of
Developmental Services has an internal policy - which has
not been adopted as a formal regulation as required by
California law - about which type of "serious injuries of
unknown origin" must be reported to local law
enforcement.
According to testimony at the recent informational
hearing by the Senate Human Services Committee, this
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internal DSS policy calls for virtually all injuries of
unknown origin, even relatively minor ones requiring only
five sutures for treatment, to local law enforcement.
Testimony at the hearing indicated that the number of
reports transmitted to local law enforcement agencies may
dilute the effectiveness of this reporting requirement,
and local law enforcement agencies may be more likely to
respond to and investigate incidents if they received
fewer reports about more serious incidents.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 80-0, 8/27/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell,
Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
CTW:k 8/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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