BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1623
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AB 1623 (Atkins) - As Amended: April 21, 2014
PROPOSED CONSENT
SUBJECT : FAMILY JUSTICE CENTERS
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD STATE LAW DEFINE FAMILY JUSTICE CENTERS AND
SPECIFY REQUIREMENTS FOR THEIR OPERATION?
SYNOPSIS
The Family Justice Center (FJC) model, first developed in
California in 2002 in San Diego, establishes a coordinated,
single-point-of-access center offering comprehensive services
for victims of domestic violence, thereby both reducing the
number of locations a victim must visit in order to receive
critical services and improving access to those services. In
2011 the Legislature passed SB 557 (Kehoe), Chap. 262, which
directed the establishment of four FJCs to assist victims of
domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, cyberstalking,
cyberbullying, human trafficking, and elder or dependent adult
abuse. An evaluation of the FJCs, mandated by that bill, found
that the centers "successfully served a significant number of
survivors and addressed multiple service needs, supporting the
need for co-located multi-agency service models." This bill,
sponsored by the National Family Justice Center Alliance, seeks
to further improve the operation of FJCs across the state by
defining FJCs in state law and defining key aspects of their
operations. It is supported by, among others, the California
Coalition Against Sexual Assault and numerous law enforcement
groups. This bill unanimously passed the Assembly Public Safety
Committee last month. It has no known opposition.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the creation of Family Justice Centers
(FJCs) to assist victims of domestic violence, sexual assault,
elder and dependent adult abuse and human trafficking.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes a city, county, city and county, or community-based
nonprofit organization to establish a FJC to assist victims of
domestic violence, sexual assault, elder and dependent adult
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abuse, and human trafficking to ensure victims of abuse are
able to access all needed services in one location.
2)Defines "family justice centers" as multiagency,
multidisciplinary service centers where public and private
agencies assign staff members to provide services to victims
of domestic violence, sexual assault, elder and dependent
adult abuse, or human trafficking from one location in order
to reduce the number of times victims must tell their story,
reduce the number of places victims must go to for help, and
increase access to services and support for victims and their
children.
3)Provides that staff members at a FJC may be comprised of, but
are not limited to, the following: law enforcement personnel;
medical personnel; victim-witness program personnel; domestic
violence shelter staff; community-based rape crisis, domestic
violence, and human trafficking advocates; social service
agency staff members; child welfare agency social workers;
county health department staff; city or county welfare and
public assistance workers; nonprofit agency counseling
professionals; civil legal service providers; supervised
volunteers from partner agencies; and other professionals
providing services.
4)Provides that nothing in this bill is intended to abrogate
existing laws regarding privacy or information sharing.
Requires FJC staff to comply with the laws governing their
respective professions.
5)Prevents a FJC from denying services to victims based on
criminal history. Prohibits criminal history searches to be
conducted of a victim at a FJC as a condition of receiving
services without the victim's written consent, unless the
criminal history search is pursuant to a criminal
investigation. Provides that crime victims are not required
to participate in the criminal justice system or cooperate
with law enforcement in order to receive services at a FJC.
6)Requires each FJC to consult with specified agencies in
partnership with survivors of violence and abuse and their
advocates in the operations of the FJC and to establish
procedures for the ongoing input and evaluation of the center
by survivors of violence and abuse and community-based crime
victim service providers and advocates.
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7)Requires each FJC to develop policies and procedures, in
collaboration with local community-based crime victim service
providers and local survivors of violence and abuse, to ensure
coordinated services are provided to victims and to enhance
the safety of victims and professionals at the center who
participate in affiliated survivor-centered support or
advocacy groups. Requires each FJC to maintain a formal
client feedback, complaint, and input process to address
client concerns.
8)Requires each FJC to maintain a client consent policy and to
be in compliance with all state and federal laws protecting
confidentiality, as provided. Requires each FJC to have a
designated privacy officer to develop and oversee privacy
policies and procedures, as provided. Provides that at no
time shall a victim be required to sign a client consent form
to share information in order to access services.
9)Requires each FJC to obtain informed, written, reasonably time
limited consent before sharing information obtained from the
victim with any FJC staff member or partner, except:
a) A FJC is not required to obtain consent from the victim
before sharing information obtained from the victim with
any staff member or agency partner if the person is a
mandated reporter, a peace officer, or a member of the
prosecution team and is required to report or disclose
specific information or incidents. These people must
inform the victim that they may share information obtained
from the victim without his or her consent.
b) Each FJC is required to inform the victim that
information shared with staff members or partner agencies
at a FJC may be shared with law enforcement professionals
without his or her consent where there is a mandatory duty
to report, or the client is a danger to themselves or
others. Each FJC must obtain written acknowledgement that
the victim has been informed of this policy.
10)Provides that a victim's authorization for sharing
information within a FJC shall not be construed as a universal
waiver of any existing evidentiary privilege that makes
confidential any communications or documents between the
victim and any service provider. Prohibits the disclosure to
any third party, unless that third-party disclosure is
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authorized by the victim, or required by other law or court
order.
11)Provides that an individual staff member, volunteer, or
agency that has victim information governed by the provisions
of this bill shall not be required to disclose that
information unless the victim has authorized the disclosure or
it is otherwise required by law or by court order.
12)Provides that disclosure of information authorized by the
victim, made for the purposes of clinical assessment, risk
assessment, safety planning, or service delivery, is not a
waiver of specified privilege or confidentiality provisions,
the lawyer-client privilege, the physician-patient privilege,
the psychotherapist-patient privilege, the sexual assault
counselor-victim privilege, or the domestic violence
counselor-victim privilege.
13)Requires each FJC to maintain a formal training program with
mandatory training for all staff members, volunteers, and
agency professionals of at least eight hours per year on
subjects including, but not limited to, privileges and
confidentiality, information sharing, risk assessment, safety
planning, victim advocacy, and high-risk case response.
EXISTING LAW :
1) Declares, under the California Constitution, that the
right to privacy is an inalienable right. (California
Constitution, Article I, Section 1.)
2) Requires, under the federal Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act of 1996, that medical information be
kept confidential unless authorized by the patient. Allows
for disclosure to law enforcement personnel for specified
purposes. (Pub. Law 104-191; 45 CFR 160, 164.)
3) Allowed, until January 1, 2014, the cities of San Diego
and Anaheim, and the counties of Alameda and Sonoma to
establish multi-agency, multi-disciplinary FJCs, as defined,
to assist victims of domestic violence, officer-involved
domestic violence, sexual assault, elder or dependent adult
abuse, stalking, cyberstalking, cyberbullying, or human
trafficking, as defined and depending on the availability of
services, to ensure victims of abuse are able to access all
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needed services in one location in order to enhance victim
safety, increase offender accountability and improve services
to victims. Requires the National Family Justice Center
Alliance, with private funds, to contract with an independent
organization to conduct an evaluation and prepare a report on
the four pilot FJCs. (Penal Code Section 13750 et seq.)
4) Provides for the establishment of community-based
domestic violence victim shelters and services. (Welfare &
Institutions Code Section 18290 et seq.)
5) Provides that a victim has a privilege to refuse to
disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing, a
confidential communication between the victim and a sexual
assault counselor, a domestic violence counselor, or a human
trafficking caseworker. (Evidence Code Section 1035 et seq.)
6) Provides that child protective services agencies, law
enforcement, prosecution, child abuse and domestic violence
experts, and community-based organizations serving abused
children and victims of domestic violence shall develop, in
collaboration with one another, protocols as to how law
enforcement and child welfare agencies will cooperate in their
response to incidents of domestic violence in homes in which a
child resides. (Penal Code Section 13732.)
7) Authorizes a program for interagency domestic violence
death review teams. Allows each organization to share with
other members of the team information in its possession
concerning the victim. States that any information shared by
an organization with other members of a team is confidential,
but permits the disclosure to members of the team of any
information deemed confidential, privileged or prohibited from
disclosure by any other statute, as specified. (Penal Code
Section 11163.3.)
8) Allows the Attorney General to work with various agencies
and groups to develop a protocol for the development and
implementation of interagency domestic violence death review
teams for use by counties, which shall include relevant
procedures for both urban and rural counties. (Penal Code
Section 11163.5.)
9) Authorizes the Department of Justice, with the
cooperation of specified organizations and agencies, to
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coordinate and integrate state and local efforts to address
fatal child abuse and neglect, and to create a body of
information to prevent child abuse. (Penal Code Section
11174.34.)
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed
non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : The FJC model was originally developed in San Diego,
which opened a center in 2002. The idea behind the FJC model is
to create a coordinated, single-point-of-access center offering
comprehensive services for victims of domestic violence, thereby
reducing the number of locations a victim must visit in order to
receive critical services. The United States Department of
Justice, through its Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), has
identified the FJC model as a best practice in the field of
domestic violence. According to the OVW, FJC outcomes include a
reduction in the rate of homicide; increased victim safety;
improved offender prosecution; reduced fear and anxiety for
victims and their children; increased efficiency among service
providers through the provision of collaborative services; and
increased community support for the provision of services to
victims and their children. (Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack, Hope
for Hurting Families: Creating Family Justice Centers Across
America (Volcano Press 2006).) According to the author, there
are currently 17 FJCs in California and another six under
development.
In 2011, the Legislature enacted a pilot project to establish
FJCs in San Diego, Anaheim, and Alameda and Sonoma counties.
(SB 557 (Kehoe), Chap. 262, Stats. 2011.) The two-year pilot
project was in place through January 1, 2014 and required an
evaluation of the four centers to be reported to the
Legislature. This bill, sponsored by the National Family
Justice Center Alliance, sets forth basic operating rules for
FJCs in California. In support of the bill, the author writes:
Family justice centers are one-stop resource centers that
have quickly become a best practice model in California
and are now serving over 14,000 victims each year. This
model works by bringing together specialized resources in
one location to provide better and more convenient
services to victims and their children. Medical help,
advocacy, counseling, law enforcement and other services
are available in one location at Family Justice Centers.
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This approach reduces the number of places a victim must
travel to in order to get help and it also prevents them
from having to tell their story over and over again. For
a person who is already facing a traumatic experience,
this integrated approach can mean the difference between
seeking help and just giving up and accepting the abuse.
Assembly Bill 1623 will implement the recommendations of
the study authorized by SB 557 of 2011, ensure that
victim privacy is protected, and that a bright line is
maintained between services for the victim and the
criminal justice system.
Evaluation of the SB 557 Pilots : As required by SB 557, the
four pilot projects, which were in place through January 1,
2014, had to be evaluated. The evaluation was to include, among
other things, subjective and objective measurements of the
impacts of co-located multiagency services on victims and their
children, barriers to receiving needed services, and any
recommended best practices and model protocols.
The evaluation found that the pilots "successfully served a
significant number of survivors and addressed multiple service
needs, supporting the need for co-located multi-agency service
models." (EMT Associates, Inc., Final Evaluation Results: Phase
II California Family Justice Initiative: Statewide Evaluation 2
(July 2013) (FJC Report).) The FJC Report revealed that
domestic violence victims "benefited from a comprehensive
service approach that considered the context of a safe and
supportive environment, an all-in-one service approach that
included the therapeutic and legal needs of survivors, and
individualized services that emphasized emotional support and
survivors getting the help that they needed. These benefits
combined to form a 'whole system approach' that is greater than
the sum of its parts. The importance of a supportive approach
that integrates both legal and therapeutic needs of survivors in
a multi-level approach that considers context, process, and
individualized services has been identified in the research and
was central in these findings." (Id. at 3.)
The evaluation was required to identify barriers and challenges
to obtaining assistance and services from FJCs. The FJC Report
found that the biggest barrier to obtaining services from a FJC
was the lack of awareness of the FJC itself. In addition, the
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evaluation found that victims had concerns and misinformation
about immigration and child welfare issues before coming to the
FJC, although not after: "Survivors concerns included fear of
deportation, fear of having children removed, and a lack of
awareness of legal services to address immigration and
citizenship" (Id. at 4.)
The FJC Report made a number of recommendations for FJC
operations, mostly regarding improved data collection and
reporting, to enable more robust evaluations of FJCs and to
further improve service delivery at FJCs.
Bill Addresses Confidentiality and Privacy Concerns : California
law provides that confidential communications between victims
and sexual assault counselors, domestic violence counselors, and
human trafficking caseworkers are privileged communications that
may be disclosed upon consent by the victim, or under
circumstances where a court orders disclosure of information as
relevant evidence for a related criminal proceeding if the court
determines that the probative value outweighs the effect on the
victim, the counseling relationship and the counseling services.
(Evidence Code Section 1035 et seq.)
Under the federal Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), medical records and other
personal health information are confidential, subject to
specified exceptions and procedures. (Pub. Law 104-191; 45 CFR
Pts. 160, 164.) Under HIPAA, covered entities may disclose
protected health information to law enforcement officials for
specified law enforcement purposes, such as court orders, to
identify suspects or witnesses, to find missing persons,
information about a crime victim, notice of death and related
matters.
Family Justice Centers, where law enforcement, domestic violence
counselors and even medical personnel are co-located together,
raise both privacy and confidentiality issues. Victims of
domestic violence and other victims of crime serviced by FJCs
will often provide personal health information or undergo
counseling or medical examinations which would fall under
medical privacy laws and privilege laws. To address those
concerns, the bill contains a number of provisions designed to
both safeguard information and ensure that victims using the FJC
understand how their information may be shared between FJC
member staff and other FJC professionals.
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Each FJC must maintain a client consent policy that is in
compliance with all state and federal laws protecting the
victim's confidentiality, including, but not limited to,
confidentiality of medical, legal, and victim counselor records.
A victim must not be required to sign a client consent form to
share information in order to access services from the FJC.
Under the bill, each FJC must have a designated privacy officer
to develop and oversee privacy policies and procedures
consistent with state and federal privacy laws and the Fair
Information Practice Principles. The Fair Information Practice
Principles are privacy principles established by the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security for protecting personal
information.
The bill also specifically requires each FJC to obtain informed,
written, reasonably time limited, consent from a victim before
sharing information obtained from that victim with any FJC staff
member or partner. However, a FJC is not required to obtain
consent from the victim before sharing information from the
victim with a staff member or partner if the person is a
mandated reporter, a peace officer, or a member of the
prosecution team and is required to report or disclose specific
information or incidents. These individuals, however, must
inform the victim that they may share information from the
victim without his or her consent. Additionally, each FJC must
inform the victim that information shared with staff members or
partner agencies at a FJC may be shared with law enforcement
professionals without the victim's consent where there is a
mandatory duty to report, or the victim is a danger to
themselves or others. Each FJC must obtain written
acknowledgement that the victim has been informed of this
policy.
The bill prohibits the disclosure, to any third party, of any
oral or written communication or any document authorized by the
victim to be shared for the purposes of enhancing safety and
providing more effective and efficient services to the victim,
unless that third-party disclosure is authorized by the victim,
or required by other state or federal law or by court order.
Additionally, disclosure of information authorized by the victim
in a FJC, made for the purposes of clinical assessment, risk
assessment, safety planning, or service delivery, is not a
waiver of specified privileges, including lawyer-client
privilege, physician-patient privilege, or domestic violence
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counselor-victim privilege.
Additionally, this bill prohibits searching a victim's criminal
history without the written consent of the victim, unless the
search is pursuant to an active criminal investigation. The
bill clarifies that crime victims are not required to
participate in the criminal justice system or cooperate with law
enforcement in order to receive counseling, medical care, or
other services from the FJC.
Finally, each FJC is required to maintain a formal mandatory
training program for all staff members, volunteers, and agency
professionals on, among other things, privilege, confidentiality
and information sharing.
This Bill Seeks to Encourage Collaboration Between Stakeholders :
The objective of an FJC is to bring all victim services
together under one roof to provide enhanced assistance to
victims. In order for those various public and private groups
to work together optimally, collaboration and coordination is
key. This bill seeks to enhance that collaboration in two ways.
First, each FJC must consult with community-based victims'
organizations, as well as the victims themselves and their
advocates, in the operations process of the FJCs. Second, the
FJCs must establish procedures for ongoing input, feedback and
evaluation of the FJCs by victims, advocates and service
providers, along with a complaint process. These required lines
of communication should help improve not only the collaboration
among the various stakeholders, but also the services delivered
to victims.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
National Family Justice Center Alliance (sponsor)
Alameda County District Attorney's Office
Alameda County Family Justice Center
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
California Coalition Against Sexual Assault
California Law Enforcement Association of Records Supervisors
Chief Probation Officers of California
California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association
County of San Diego
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Los Angeles Probation Officers Union, AFSCME, Local 685
National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
Sacramento County District Attorney's Office
San Diego County District Attorney's Office
San Diego Family Justice Center VOICES Committee
San Diego Police Department
Stanislaus Family Justice Center Foundation
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334