BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2632|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2632
Author: Maienschein (R), et al.
Amended: 8/5/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/24/14
AYES: Beall, DeSaulnier, Liu, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/27/14 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Care facilities
SOURCE : Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of
San Diego
School of Law
DIGEST : This bill prohibits the Department of Social Services
(DSS) from issuing a criminal record clearance prior to
conducting an investigation, to a person who is subject to a
criminal record check as a condition of licensure, employment,
or presence in, a community care facility, foster home,
residential care facility for the elderly (RCFE), or child care
facility or certified family home, and who has violated or has
been arrested for specified serious or violent crimes.
ANALYSIS :
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Existing law:
1.Enacts the Community Care Facilities Act, which provides for
the licensure and oversight of residential facilities for
children and adults.
2.Requires DSS and county agencies with Foster Family Home (FFH)
licensing authority to secure both California and Federal
Bureau of Investigation criminal history information to
determine whether the applicant or other specified non-exempt
persons, including other adults residing in a licensed
community care facility, licensed or certified foster home,
RCFE, or child care facility or home have ever been convicted
of any crime other than a minor traffic violation or arrested
for specified crimes.
3.Requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to maintain state
summary criminal history information and provides for DOJ to
furnish state and federal summary criminal history information
to any authorized agency or organization, as specified, when
the information is used for employment, licensing or
certification purposes. Information provided under this
paragraph is redacted to include only the following:
A. All convictions rendered against the applicant;
B. Any arrest for which the applicant is currently awaiting
trial;
C. All arrests for which DSS is required to determine
whether an applicant has been arrested, except those in
which DSS does not receive information pertaining to
arrests subsequently deemed a detention or arrests that
resulted in successful diversion or exoneration.
1.Requires DOJ to act as a repository of reports of suspected
child abuse and severe neglect to be maintained in the Child
Abuse Central Index (CACI) and permits DOJ to make relevant
information available to child welfare agencies that are
conducting a child abuse investigation and to make information
available to county licensing agencies regarding applicants
for licensure, approval, residence, or employment in a
children's community care facility.
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2.Requires DSS to check the CACI prior to granting a license to,
or otherwise approving, any individual to care for or reside
with children, and to investigate any reports received from
the CACI.
3.Prohibits DSS from using arrest records to deny, revoke, or
terminate any application, license, employment or residence
unless DSS investigates the incident and secures evidence that
is admissible in an administrative hearing to establish
conduct by the person that may pose a risk to the health and
safety of any person who is or may become a client.
4.Provides that if an FFH or a Certified Family Home (CFH)
applicant, or other specified persons, have convictions that
would make the applicant's home unfit as an FFH or aCFH, the
license, special permit, or certificate of approval shall be
denied.
5.Provides that if an FFH or a CFH applicant, or other specified
persons, are awaiting trial for a crime other than a minor
traffic violation, DSS or a county may cease processing the
application until the conclusion of the trial.
This bill:
1.Prohibits DSS from issuing a criminal record clearance, prior
to completing an investigation, to a person who is subject to
a criminal record check as a condition of licensure,
employment, or presence in, a community care facility, foster
home, RCFE, or child care facility or certified family home,
who has been arrested for the following crimes:
A. Crimes that require registration pursuant to the Sex
Offender Registry Act;
B. Assault with a deadly weapon or firearm;
C. Felony/misdemeanor domestic violence;
D. Felony/misdemeanor child abuse under conditions not
likely to produce great bodily harm or death.
1.Makes technical clarifying changes to the criminal record
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clearance process for community care facilities, RCFEs,
certified family homes, and child care facilities.
Comments
According to the author's office, in 2011, DSS began issuing
clearances to individuals arrested of serious and violent crimes
pending completion of its investigation into the individual's
arrest record, thereby allowing the individuals to find
employment in any of the care facilities licensed by DSS.
Prior to 2011, DSS completed a full review of applicable arrests
prior to issuing clearances, but DSS changed its procedure in
response to threat of legal action that the investigations were
taking too long. Rather than expedite the process for
performing background investigations, the author's office states
that DSS adopted a policy of issuing clearances before
conducting an investigation, reserving the option of revoking
the clearance once the investigation was complete, and the
individual was already working in a DSS-licensed care facility.
The author's office states that this bill clarifies that DSS is
prohibited from issuing a criminal record clearance to a person
who has been arrested for a specific list of serious and/or
violent crimes prior to DSS' completion of a background
investigation, for individuals applying for employment in a
DSS-licensed care facility.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Per Senate Human Services Committee analysis of
6/24/14--Unable to reverify at time of writing)
Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of the San Diego
School of Law (source)
Association of Regional Center Agencies
California Assisted Living Association
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy California Collaboration
The Legislative & Public Policy Clinic University of the
Pacific, McGeorge
School of Law
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OPPOSITION : (Per Senate Human Services Committee analysis of
6/24/14--Unable to reverify at time of writing)
American Civil Liberties Union
East Bay Community Law Center
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Children's Advocacy Institute
writes in support that "recent news reports in Sacramento
prompted by whistleblowers from within the Department of Social
Services alleged that the Department was offering criminal
clearances to applicants for some of the most sensitive jobs in
state government, including working with and caring for
children, even though these applicants have not had their
backgrounds investigated by the Department and even though the
applicants have been arrested for serious and violent felonies,
including rape, arson, attempted murder to name a few.
"This failure of the Department to investigate the backgrounds
of these applicants before sending criminal background
clearances to their possible employers is not only dangerous, it
frustrates and defeats the whole point of requiring background
checks, and was likely unlawful? This bill clarifies the current
law in such a fashion as to amplify current legislative intent
that a complete investigation of the criminal backgrounds of
those caring for our most vulnerable must precede the
Department's approval of them."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Legal Services for Prisoners with
Children (LSPC) writes in opposition that this bill creates
another layer of difficulty in obtaining stable employment,
which is an effective and important way to reintegrate into the
community. Additionally, LSPC writes that arrest records, as
opposed to conviction records to not indicate that anyone has
done anything wrong, but merely that wrongdoing was suspected
and never substantiated.
East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) writes in opposition that
this bill "runs counter to longstanding procedural protections
built into this statutory scheme to prevent depravation of work
clearance based only on arrest information." EBCLC additionally
states that by refusing permission for individuals with Arrest
Only Records to begin work in community care facilities until
DSS has concluded an investigation of their past arrests, this
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bill will improperly deprive qualified community care workers of
jobs, and will deprive community care employers of their choice
of employees because community care employers generally cannot
hold positions open for the weeks or months it will take for
prospective employees with Arrest-Only records to obtain work
clearance. According to EBCLC, when DSS was following a
practice similar to the standard proposed by AB 2632, clearance
investigations lasted anywhere from four to six months.
Further, the opposition states that even under current DSS
projections for pre-employment arrest investigations, DSS will
require anywhere from several weeks to four months, to complete
an investigation.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/27/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, John A. P�rez, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski,
Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Patterson, Quirk-Silva, Vacancy
JL:e 8/6/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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