Bill Text: CA SB1054 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Public social services: records: confidentiality: multidisciplinary personnel teams.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-09-23 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 506, Statutes of 2022. [SB1054 Detail]
Download: California-2021-SB1054-Chaptered.html
Senate Bill
No. 1054
CHAPTER 506
An act to amend Sections 10850, 15633, 18951, and 18961.7 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social services.
[
Approved by
Governor
September 23, 2022.
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 23, 2022.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1054, Ochoa Bogh.
Public social services: records: confidentiality: multidisciplinary personnel teams.
(1) Existing law establishes various public social services programs to provide for protection, care, and assistance to the people of the state in need of those services. Existing law, in this regard, and with some exceptions, requires all applications and records concerning any individual made or kept by any public officer or agency in connection with the administration of public social services for which grants-in-aid are received by this state from the federal government be kept confidential.
This bill would specifically include within public social services for that confidentiality requirement protective services provided through public social services agencies.
Existing law exempts from the confidentiality requirement described above, among other things, the furnishing of information to other public agencies to the extent required for verifying eligibility or for other purposes directly connected with the administration of public social services, and the furnishing of information to county superintendents of schools or superintendents of school districts only as necessary for the administration of federally assisted programs providing assistance in cash or in-kind or services directly to individuals on the basis of need.
This bill would also exempt from
those confidentiality provisions the disclosure of information between employees of a county’s adult protective services agency and a county’s child welfare agency for the purpose of multidisciplinary teamwork in the prevention, intervention, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect or abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult.
(2) Existing law designates certain persons as mandated reporters and requires a mandated reporter who has observed, has knowledge of, or reasonably suspects abuse, including financial abuse, or neglect, of an elder or dependent adult to report the known or suspected abuse or neglect immediately or as soon as practicable to the local ombudsperson or law enforcement agency, as provided. Existing law also authorizes a person who is not a mandated reporter, who knows, or reasonably suspects,
that an elder or a dependent adult has been the victim of abuse to report that abuse to a long-term care ombudsperson program or local law enforcement agency. Under existing law, the reports are confidential and may be disclosed only to specified persons, including, among others, an investigator from an adult protective services agency and persons who are trained and qualified to serve on multidisciplinary personnel teams who disclose to one another information and records that are relevant to the prevention, identification, or treatment of abuse of elderly or dependent persons.
This bill would also exempt from that confidentiality requirement, employees of a county’s adult protective services agency or a county’s child welfare agency who disclose information with each other for the purpose of multidisciplinary teamwork in the prevention, intervention, management, or treatment of the abuse or neglect of a child or abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult.
(3) Under existing law, the Office of Child Abuse Prevention is established in the State Department of Social Services. The office is authorized to allocate funding for child abuse treatment and prevention projects, including multidisciplinary services. Existing law also authorizes a county to establish a child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team within that county to allow provider agencies to share confidential information in order for provider agencies to investigate reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. Existing law defines “provider agency” for these purposes to mean a governmental or other agency that has as one of its purposes the prevention,
identification, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect, and specifies the provider agencies that may share information, including entities or service agencies that provide social services, children’s services, and mental health services.
Under this bill, “provider agency” would also include a county’s adult protective services agency, and would authorize the adult protective services agency to share information when engaged in multidisciplinary teamwork for the prevention, identification, management, or treatment of the abuse or neglect of a child.
Under existing law, the terms “multidisciplinary personnel” and “child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team” mean a team of a specified number of persons trained in the prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect cases and who are qualified to provide a broad range of services related to child abuse. Under existing law, those multidisciplinary personnel teams may include, among other persons, psychiatrists, psychologists, police officers, and social workers.
This bill would add adult protective services personnel to the list of persons who may be included in those multidisciplinary personnel teams.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 10850 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:10850.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, all applications and records concerning any individual made or kept by a public officer or agency in connection with the administration of this code relating to any form of public social services, including protective services provided through public social services agencies, for which grants-in-aid are received by this state from the United States government shall be confidential, and shall not be open to examination for any purpose not directly connected with the administration of that program, or any investigation, prosecution, or criminal or civil proceeding conducted in connection with the administration of that program. The disclosure of information that identifies, by name or address, an applicant for, or recipient of, these grants-in-aid to any committee or legislative body is prohibited, except as provided in subdivision (b).(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person shall not publish or disclose or permit or cause to be published or disclosed a list of persons receiving public social services. Any county welfare department in this state may release lists of applicants for, or recipients of, public social services, to any other county welfare department or the State Department of Social Services, and these lists or any other records shall be released when requested by any county welfare department or the State Department of Social Services. These lists or other records shall only be used for purposes directly connected with the administration of public social services or to notify a public social service
recipient of their potential eligibility for other benefits and services not administered by the State Department of Social Services, including, but not limited to, education and access to critical public health services and poverty-alleviating benefits, as determined by the State Department of Social Services. Except for those purposes, a person shall not publish, disclose, or use or permit or cause to be published, disclosed, or used any confidential information pertaining to an applicant or recipient.
(c) Any county welfare department and the State Department of Social Services shall provide any governmental entity that is authorized by law to conduct an audit or similar activity in connection with the administration of public social services, including any committee or legislative body so authorized, with access to any public social
service applications and records described in subdivision (a) to the extent of the authorization. Those committees, legislative bodies, and other entities may only request or use these records for the purpose of investigating the administration of public social services, and shall not disclose the identity of any applicant or recipient except in the case of a criminal or civil proceeding conducted in connection with the administration of public social services.
(d) This section does not prohibit the furnishing of this information to other public agencies to the extent required for verifying eligibility or for other purposes directly connected with the administration of public social services, or to county superintendents of schools or superintendents of school districts only as necessary for the administration of federally assisted programs
providing assistance in cash or in-kind or services directly to individuals on the basis of need. Any person knowingly and intentionally violating this subdivision is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(e) This section does not prohibit employees of a county’s adult protective services agency or a county’s child welfare agency from disclosing information with each other for the purpose of multidisciplinary teamwork in the prevention, intervention, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect or abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult.
(f) In the context of a petition for the appointment of a conservator for a person who is receiving, or has received, aid from a public agency, as indicated above, or in the context of a criminal prosecution for a violation of Section 368 of
the Penal Code both of the following shall apply:
(1) An adult protective services employee or ombudsperson may answer truthfully at any proceeding related to the petition or prosecution, when asked if the employee or
ombudsperson is aware of information that they believe is related to the legal mental capacity of that aid recipient or the need for a conservatorship for that aid recipient. If the adult protective services employee or
ombudsperson states that they are aware of such information, the court may order the adult protective services employee or ombudsperson to testify about personal observations and to disclose all relevant agency records.
(2) The court may order the adult protective services employee or ombudsperson to testify about personal observations and to disclose any relevant agency records if the court has other independent reason to believe that the adult
protective services employee or ombudsperson has information that would facilitate the resolution of the matter.
(g) The State Department of Social Services may make rules and regulations governing the custody, use, and preservation of all records, papers, files, and communications pertaining to the administration of the laws relating to public social services under its jurisdiction. The rules and regulations shall be binding on all departments, officials, and employees of the state, or of any political subdivision of the state, and may provide for giving information to, or exchanging information with, agencies, public or political subdivisions of the state,
and may provide for giving information to, or exchanging information with, agencies, public or private, that are engaged in planning, providing, or securing social services for, or on behalf of, recipients or applicants; and for making case records available for research purposes, provided that making these case records available will not result in the disclosure of the identity of applicants for, or recipients of, public social services and will not disclose any personal information in a manner that would link the information disclosed to the individual to whom it pertains, unless the department has complied with subdivision (t) of Section 1798.24 of the Civil Code.
(h) A person, including every public officer and employee, who knowingly secures or possesses, other than in the course of official duty, an official list or a list compiled from
official sources, published or disclosed in violation of this section, of persons who have applied for, or who have been granted, any form of public social services for which state or federal funds are made available to the counties is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(i) This section does not prohibit an employee of a county welfare department from disclosing confidential information concerning a public social services applicant or recipient to a state or local law enforcement agency investigating or gathering information regarding a criminal act committed in a welfare department office, a criminal act against a county or state welfare worker, or a criminal act witnessed by a county or state welfare worker while involved in the administration of public social services at any location. Further, this section does not prohibit an employee of a
county welfare department from disclosing confidential information concerning a public social services applicant or recipient to a state or local law enforcement agency investigating or gathering information regarding a criminal act intentionally committed by the applicant or recipient against an off-duty county or state welfare worker in retaliation for an act performed in the course of the welfare worker’s duty when the person committing the offense knows, or reasonably should know, that the victim is a state or county welfare worker. These criminal acts shall include only those that are in violation of state or local law. Disclosure of confidential information pursuant to this subdivision shall be limited to the applicant’s or recipient’s name, physical description, and address.
(j) The provisions of this section shall be operative only to
the extent permitted by federal law and shall not apply to, but exclude, Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) and Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 14200) of this division, and for which a grant-in-aid is received by this state from the United States government pursuant to Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396 et seq.).
(k) (1) Public social services, as defined in Section 10051, includes publicly funded health care services administered or supervised by the department or the State Department of Health Care Services, except that, as used in this section, it does not include the Medi-Cal program. This subdivision does not affect or alter the exclusions contained in subdivision (j) or the confidentiality provisions contained in Section 14100.2.
(2) This subdivision clarifies existing law.
SEC. 2.
Section 15633 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:15633.
(a) The reports made pursuant to Sections 15630, 15630.1, 15630.2, and 15631 shall be confidential and may be disclosed only as provided in subdivision (b). Any violation of the confidentiality required by this chapter is a misdemeanor punishable by not more than six months in the county jail, by a fine of five hundred dollars ($500), or by both that fine and imprisonment.(b) Reports of suspected abuse of an elder or dependent adult and information contained in the report may be disclosed only to the following:
(1) Persons or agencies to whom disclosure of information or the identity of the reporting party is permitted under Section 15633.5.
(2) (A) Persons who are trained and qualified to serve on multidisciplinary personnel teams may disclose to one another information and records that are relevant to the prevention, identification, or treatment of abuse of elderly or dependent persons.
(B) Except as provided in subparagraph (A), any personnel of the multidisciplinary team or agency who receives information pursuant to this chapter shall be under the same obligations and subject to the same confidentiality penalties as the person disclosing or providing that information. The information obtained shall be maintained in a manner that ensures the maximum protection of privacy and confidentiality rights.
(3) A trusted contact person, as specified in subdivision (h) of Section 15630.2.
(c) This section does not allow disclosure of any reports or records relevant to the reports of abuse of an elder or dependent adult if the disclosure would be prohibited by any other provisions of state or federal law applicable to the reports or records relevant to the reports of the abuse, nor does it prohibit the disclosure by a financial institution, broker-dealer, or investment adviser of any reports or records relevant to the reports of abuse of an elder or dependent adult if the disclosure would be required of a financial institution, broker-dealer, or investment adviser by otherwise applicable state or federal law or court order.
(d) This section does not prohibit employees of a county’s adult
protective services agency or a county’s child welfare agency from disclosing information with each other for the purpose of multidisciplinary teamwork in the prevention, intervention, management, or treatment of the abuse or neglect of a child or abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult.
SEC. 3.
Section 18951 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:18951.
As used in this chapter:(a) “Child” means an individual under 18 years of age.
(b) “Child services” means services for or on behalf of children, and includes the following:
(1) Protective services.
(2) Caretaker services.
(3) Daycare services, including dropoff care.
(4) Homemaker services or family aides.
(5) Counseling services.
(c) “Adult services” means services for or on behalf of a parent of a child, which shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) Access to voluntary placement, long or short term.
(2) Counseling services before and after a crisis.
(3) Homemaker services or family aides.
(d) “Multidisciplinary personnel” means a team of three or more people who are trained in the prevention, identification, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect cases and who are qualified to provide a broad range of services related to child abuse or neglect. The team may include, but need not be limited to, any of
the following:
(1) Psychiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, professional clinical counselors, or other trained counseling personnel.
(2) Police officers or other law enforcement agents.
(3) Medical personnel with sufficient training to provide health services.
(4) Social workers with experience or training in child abuse prevention, identification, management, or treatment.
(5) A public or private school teacher, administrative officer, supervisor of child welfare and attendance, or certificated pupil personnel employee.
(6) A CalWORKs case manager whose primary responsibility is to provide cross program case planning and coordination of CalWORKs and child welfare services for those mutual cases or families that may be eligible for CalWORKs services and that, with the informed written consent of the family, receive cross program case planning and coordination.
(7) A representative of a local child abuse prevention council or family-strengthening organization, including, but not limited to, a family resource center.
(8) Adult protective services personnel.
(e) “Child abuse” as used in this chapter means a situation in which a child suffers from any one or more of the following:
(1) Serious physical injury inflicted upon the child by other than accidental means.
(2) Harm by reason of intentional neglect or malnutrition or sexual abuse.
(3) Going without necessary and basic physical care.
(4) Willful mental injury, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child by a person who is responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances that indicate that the child’s health or welfare is harmed or threatened thereby, as determined in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Director of Social Services.
(5) Any condition that results in a violation of the rights or physical,
mental, or moral welfare of a child or jeopardizes the child’s present or future health, opportunity for normal development, or capacity for independence.
(f) “Parent” means a person who exercises care, custody, and control of the child as established by law.
(g) “Family resource center” means an entity providing family-centered and family-strengthening services that are embedded in communities, culturally sensitive, and include cross-system collaboration to assist in transforming families and communities through reciprocity and asset development based on impact-driven and evidence-informed approaches with the goal of preventing child abuse and neglect and strengthening children and families. A family resource center may be located in, or administered by, different
entities, including, but not limited to, a local educational agency, a community resource center, or a neighborhood resource center.
SEC. 4.
Section 18961.7 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:18961.7.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a county may establish a child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team within that county to allow provider agencies to share confidential information in order for provider agencies to investigate reports of suspected child abuse or neglect made pursuant to Section 11160, 11166, or 11166.05 of the Penal Code, or for the purpose of child welfare agencies making a detention determination.(b) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) (A) “Child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team” means a team of two or more persons who
are trained in the prevention, identification, or treatment of child abuse and neglect cases and who are qualified to provide a broad range of services related to child abuse.
(B) The team may include, but shall not be limited to:
(i) Psychiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, professional clinical counselors, or other trained counseling personnel.
(ii) Police officers or other law enforcement agents.
(iii) Medical personnel with sufficient training to provide health services.
(iv) Social services workers with experience or training in child abuse
prevention.
(v) A public or private school teacher, administrative officer, supervisor of child welfare attendance, or certified pupil personnel employee.
(vi) A representative of a local child abuse prevention council or family-strengthening organization, including, but not limited to, a family resource center.
(vii) In the case of an Indian child, a representative from the child’s tribe, including, but not limited to, a tribal social worker, tribal social services director, or tribal mental health professional.
(viii) Adult protective services personnel.
(C) If a county uses a child advocacy
center to implement the coordinated multidisciplinary response authorized by this section, the team may include the child advocacy center.
(2) (A) “Provider agency” means a governmental or other agency that has as one of its purposes the prevention, identification, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect. The provider agencies serving children and their families that may share information under this section shall include, but not be limited to, the following entities or service agencies:
(i) Social services.
(ii) Children’s services.
(iii) Health services.
(iv) Mental health services.
(v) Probation.
(vi) Law enforcement.
(vii) Schools.
(B) “Provider agency” also includes a county’s adult protective services agency, who may share information under this section when engaged in multidisciplinary teamwork for the prevention, identification, management, or treatment of the abuse or neglect of a child.
(c) (1) Notwithstanding Section 827 or any other law, during a 30-day period, or longer if documented good cause exists, following a report of suspected child abuse or neglect, members of a child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team engaged in the prevention,
identification, and treatment of child abuse may disclose to and exchange with one another information and writings that relate to any incident of child abuse that may also be designated as confidential under state law if the member of the team having that information or writing reasonably believes it is generally relevant to the prevention, identification, or treatment of child abuse. A discussion relative to the disclosure or exchange of the information or writings during a team meeting is confidential and, notwithstanding any other law, testimony concerning that discussion is not admissible in any criminal, civil, or juvenile court
proceeding.
(2) Disclosure and exchange of information pursuant to this section may occur telephonically and electronically if there is adequate verification of the identity of the child abuse multidisciplinary personnel who are involved in that disclosure or exchange of information.
(3) Disclosure and exchange of information pursuant to this section shall not be made to anyone other than members of the child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team, and those qualified to receive information as set forth in subdivision (d).
(d) The child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team may designate persons qualified pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) to be a member of the team for
a particular case. A person designated as a team member pursuant to this subdivision may receive and disclose relevant information and records, subject to the confidentiality provisions of subdivision (f).
(e) The sharing of information permitted under subdivision (c) shall be governed by protocols developed in each county describing how and what information may be shared by the child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team to ensure that confidential information gathered by the team is not disclosed in violation of state or federal law. A copy of the protocols shall be distributed to each participating agency and to persons in those agencies who participate in the child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team.
(f) Every member of the child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team
who receives information or records regarding children and families in the member’s capacity as a member of the team shall be under the same privacy and confidentiality obligations and subject to the same confidentiality penalties as the person disclosing or providing the information or records. The information or records obtained shall be maintained in a manner that ensures the maximum protection of privacy and confidentiality rights.
(g) This section shall not be construed to restrict guarantees of confidentiality provided under state or federal law.
(h) Information and records communicated or provided to the team members by all providers and agencies, as well as information and records created in the course of a child abuse or neglect investigation, shall be deemed private and
confidential and shall be protected from discovery and disclosure by all applicable statutory and common law protections. Existing civil and criminal penalties shall apply to the inappropriate disclosure of information held by the team members.
