Bill Text: CA AB253 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 253

Bill Title: Child death investigations: review teams.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB253 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB253-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly February 22, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 253

Introduced by Assembly Member Maienschein

January 19, 2023

An act to amend Sections 11174.32, 11174.33, and 11174.34 of, and to add Section 11174.31 to, the Penal Code, relating to child death investigations.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 253, as amended, Maienschein. Child death investigations: review teams.

Existing law authorizes each county to establish an interagency child death review team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious child deaths and facilitating communication among persons who perform autopsies and the various persons and agencies involved in child abuse or neglect cases. Existing law requires each child death review team to, no less than once each year, make available to the public findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the team, including aggregate statistical data on the incidences and causes of child deaths.

This bill would instead require each child death review team to meet these requirements no later than July 1 of each year and to post this report on the internet website of the county.

Existing law requires the Attorney General, subject to available funding, to develop a protocol for the development and implementation of interagency child death teams that could be used by counties.

This bill would require the Attorney General to complete and publish the protocol on their internet website and to update it every 4 years no later than January 1, regardless of the available funding.

Existing law requires multiple state departments to share data and other information necessary to establish accurate information on the nature and extent of child abuse- or neglect-related fatalities in California as those documents relate to child fatality cases. Existing law also requires the California State Child Death Review Council, among other things, to oversee the statewide coordination and integration of state and local efforts.

This bill would require the Department of Justice and other agencies and organizations involved to collaborate on allocating statewide responsibilities for these provisions between, at a minimum, the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Social Services, and the Department of Justice. The bill would require the Attorney General to submit a budget to the Governor and the Legislature that is sufficient to fund the council, among other things.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 11174.31 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

11174.31.

The Legislature finds and declares as follows:

(a) California lawmaking and expenditures should prioritize preventing California’s children from dying.

(b) A state with an annual budget of over two hundred billion dollars ($200,000,000,000) can and should spend the modest sums needed to implement current federal and state laws and best practices to track, evaluate, and report upon child deaths to permit the possibility of enacting or reforming policies and practices that will prevent children from dying in the future, if possible.

SEC. 2.

Section 11174.32 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

11174.32.

(a) Each county may establish an interagency child death review team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious child deaths and facilitating communication among persons who perform autopsies and the various persons and agencies involved in child abuse or neglect cases. Interagency child death review teams have been used successfully to ensure that incidents of child abuse or neglect are recognized and other siblings and nonoffending family members receive the appropriate services in cases where a child has expired.

(b) Each county may develop a protocol that may be used as a guideline by persons performing autopsies on children to assist coroners and other persons who perform autopsies in the identification of child abuse or neglect, in the determination of whether child abuse or neglect contributed to death or whether child abuse or neglect had occurred prior to but was not the actual cause of death, and in the proper written reporting procedures for child abuse or neglect, including the designation of the cause and mode of death.

(c) In developing an interagency child death review team and an autopsy protocol, each county, working in consultation with local members of the California State Coroners Association and county child abuse prevention coordinating councils, may solicit suggestions and final comments from persons, including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) Experts in the field of forensic pathology.

(2) Pediatricians with expertise in child abuse.

(3) Coroners and medical examiners.

(4) Criminologists.

(5) District attorneys.

(6) Child protective services staff.

(7) Law enforcement personnel.

(8) Representatives of local agencies which are involved with child abuse or neglect reporting.

(9) County health department staff who deals with children’s health issues.

(10) Local professional associations of persons described in paragraphs (1) to (9), inclusive.

(d) Records exempt from disclosure to third parties pursuant to state or federal law shall remain exempt from disclosure when they are in the possession of a child death review team.

(e) Written and oral information pertaining to the child’s death as requested by a child death review team may be disclosed to a child death review team established pursuant to this section. The team may make a request, in writing, for the information sought and any person with information of the kind described in paragraph (2) may rely on the request in determining whether information may be disclosed to the team.

(1) An individual or agency that has information governed by this subdivision shall not be required to disclose information. The intent of this subdivision is to allow the voluntary disclosure of information by the individual or agency that has the information.

(2) The following information may be disclosed pursuant to this subdivision:

(A) Notwithstanding Section 56.10 of the Civil Code, medical information, unless disclosure is prohibited by federal law.

(B) Notwithstanding Section 5328 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, mental health information.

(C) Notwithstanding Section 11167.5, information from child abuse reports and investigations, except the identity of the person making the report, which shall not be disclosed.

(D) State summary criminal history information, criminal offender record information, and local summary criminal history information, as defined in Sections 11105, 11075, and 13300, respectively.

(E) Notwithstanding Section 11163.2, information pertaining to reports by health practitioners of persons suffering from physical injuries inflicted by means of a firearm or of persons suffering physical injury where the injury is a result of assaultive or abusive conduct.

(F) Notwithstanding Section 10850 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, records of in-home supportive services, unless disclosure is prohibited by federal law.

(3) Written or oral information disclosed to a child death review team pursuant to this subdivision shall remain confidential, and shall not be subject to disclosure or discovery by a third party unless otherwise required by law.

(f) (1) No later than July 1 of each year, each child death review team shall make available to the public findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the team, including aggregate statistical data on the incidences and causes of child deaths. This report shall be posted on the internet website of each county with a link that states it is the “Child Death Review Team Annual Report.”

(2) In its report, the child death review team shall withhold the last name of the child that is subject to a review or the name of the deceased child’s siblings unless the name has been publicly disclosed or is required to be disclosed by state law, federal law, or court order.

(g) This section shall not be construed as prohibiting a county from entering into agreements or arrangements with other counties or the State Department of Social Services to share their resources in implementing this section, including establishing multicounty or regional review teams. Counties that establish multicounty or regional review teams shall, when recording, reporting, and publicizing data collected pursuant to this section, ensure that the data is sorted and published by county.

SEC. 3.

Section 11174.33 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

11174.33.

The Attorney General, working with the California Consortium of Child Abuse Councils, shall develop a protocol for the development and implementation of interagency child death teams for use by counties, which shall include relevant procedures for both urban and rural counties. The protocol shall be designed to facilitate communication among persons who perform autopsies and the various persons and agencies involved in child abuse or neglect cases so that incidents of child abuse or neglect are recognized and other siblings and nonoffending family members receive the appropriate services in cases where a child has expired. The protocol shall be completed and published on the Attorney General’s internet website with a link that states “Child Death Review Protocol,” and shall be updated every four years no later than January 1.

SEC. 4.

Section 11174.34 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

11174.34.

(a) (1) The purpose of this section shall be to coordinate and integrate state and local efforts to address fatal child abuse or neglect, and to create a body of information to prevent child deaths.

(2) It is the intent of the Legislature that the California State Child Death Review Council, the Department of Justice, the State Department of Social Services, the State Department of Public Health, and state and local child death review teams shall share data and other information necessary from the Department of Justice Child Abuse Central Index and Supplemental Homicide File, the State Department of Health Services Vital Statistics and the Department of Social Services statewide child welfare information system files to establish accurate information on the nature and extent of child abuse- or neglect-related fatalities in California as those documents relate to child fatality cases. Further, it is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that records of child abuse- or neglect-related fatalities are entered into the State Department of Social Services, statewide child welfare information system. It is also the intent that training and technical assistance be provided to child death review teams and professionals in the child protection system regarding multiagency case review.

(b) (1) It shall be the duty of the California State Child Death Review Council to oversee the statewide coordination and integration of state and local efforts to address fatal child abuse or neglect and to create a body of information to prevent child deaths. The Department of Justice, the State Department of Social Services, the State Department of Public Health, the California Coroner’s Association, the County Welfare Directors Association, Prevent Child Abuse California, the California Homicide Investigators Association, the Office of Emergency Services, the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect/National Center on Child Fatality Review, the California Conference of Local Health Officers, the California Conference of Local Directors of Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health, the California Conference of Local Health Department Nursing Directors, the California District Attorneys Association, and at least three regional representatives, chosen by the other members of the council, working collaboratively for the purposes of this section, shall be known as the California State Child Death Review Council. The council shall select a chairperson or cochairpersons from the members.

(2) The Department of Justice is hereby authorized to carry out the purposes of this section by coordinating council activities and working collaboratively with the agencies and organizations in paragraph (1), and may consult with other representatives of other agencies and private organizations, to help accomplish the purpose of this section.

(c) Meetings of the agencies and organizations involved shall be convened by a representative of the Department of Justice. All meetings convened between the Department of Justice and any organizations required to carry out the purpose of this section shall take place in this state. There shall be a minimum of four meetings per calendar year.

(d) To accomplish the purpose of this section, the Department of Justice and agencies and organizations involved shall engage in the following activities:

(1) Analyze and interpret state and local data on child death in an annual report to be submitted to local child death review teams with copies to the Governor and the Legislature, no later than July 1 each year. Copies of the report shall also be distributed to public officials in the state who deal with child abuse issues and to those agencies responsible for child death investigation in each county. The report shall contain, but not be limited to, information provided by state agencies and the county child death review teams for the preceding year.

The state data shall include the Department of Justice Child Abuse Central Index and Supplemental Homicide File, the State Department of Health Services Vital Statistics, and the State Department of Social Services statewide child welfare information system.

(2) In conjunction with the Office of Emergency Services, coordinate statewide and local training for county death review teams and the members of the teams, including, but not limited to, training in the application of the interagency child death investigation protocols and procedures established under Sections 11174.32 and 11174.33 to identify child deaths associated with abuse or neglect.

(3) Collaborate on allocating statewide responsibilities between, at a minimum, the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Social Services, and the Department of Justice.

(e) The State Department of Public Health, in collaboration with the California State Child Death Review Council, shall design, test and implement a statewide child abuse or neglect fatality tracking system incorporating information collected by local child death review teams. The department shall:

(1) Establish a minimum case selection criteria and review protocols of local child death review teams.

(2) Develop a standard child death review form with a minimum core set of data elements to be used by local child death review teams, and collect and analyze that data.

(3) Establish procedural safeguards in order to maintain appropriate confidentiality and integrity of the data.

(4) Conduct annual reviews to reconcile data reported to the State Department of Health Services Vital Statistics, Department of Justice Homicide Files and Child Abuse Central Index, and the State Department of Social Services statewide child welfare information system data systems, with data provided from local child death review teams.

(5) Provide technical assistance to local child death review teams in implementing and maintaining the tracking system.

(6) This subdivision shall become operative on July 1, 2000, and shall be implemented only to the extent that funds are appropriated for its purposes in the Budget Act.

(f) Local child death review teams shall participate in a statewide child abuse or neglect fatalities monitoring system by:

(1) Meeting the minimum standard protocols set forth by the State Department of Public Health in collaboration with the California State Child Death Review Council.

(2) Using the standard data form to submit information on child abuse or neglect fatalities in a timely manner established by the State Department of Public Health.

(g) The California State Child Death Review Council shall monitor the implementation of the monitoring system and incorporate the results and findings of the system and review into an annual report.

(h) The Department of Justice shall direct the creation, maintenance, updating, and distribution electronically and by paper, of a statewide child death review team directory, which shall contain the names of the members of the agencies and private organizations participating under this section, and the members of local child death review teams and local liaisons to those teams. The department shall work in collaboration with members of the California State Child Death Review Council to develop a directory of professional experts, resources, and information from relevant agencies and organizations and local child death review teams, and to facilitate regional working relationships among teams. The Department of Justice shall maintain and update these directories annually.

(i) The agencies or private organizations participating under this section shall participate without reimbursement from the state. Costs incurred by participants for travel or per diem shall be borne by the participant agency or organization. The participants shall be responsible for collecting and compiling information to be included in the annual report. The Department of Justice shall be responsible for printing and distributing the annual report using available funds and existing resources.

(j) The Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with the State Department of Social Services, the Department of Justice, and the California State Child Death Review Council shall contract with state or nationally recognized organizations in the area of child death review to conduct statewide training and technical assistance for local child death review teams and relevant organizations, develop standardized definitions for fatal child abuse or neglect, develop protocols for the investigation of fatal child abuse or neglect, and address relevant issues such as grief and mourning, data collection, training for medical personnel in the identification of child abuse or neglect fatalities, domestic violence fatality review, and other related topics and programs. The provisions of this subdivision shall only be implemented to the extent that the agency can absorb the costs of implementation within its current funding, or to the extent that funds are appropriated for its purposes in the Budget Act.

(k) Law enforcement and child welfare agencies shall cross-report all cases of child death suspected to be related to child abuse or neglect whether or not the deceased child has any known surviving siblings.

(l) County child welfare agencies shall create a record in the statewide child welfare information system on all cases of child death suspected to be related to child abuse or neglect, whether or not the deceased child has any known surviving siblings. Upon notification that the death was determined not to be related to child abuse or neglect, the child welfare agency shall enter that information into the statewide child welfare information system.

(m) The Attorney General shall annually, and in time to be included in the Governor’s January Budget, submit to the Governor ~~and the Legislature~~ a budget that is sufficient to fund the council, the requirements of Section 11174.32, ~~including funding needed to ensure death reviews are conducted in every county,~~ and Section 11174.33. The Attorney General shall annually report to the Legislature the amount of funding needed to ensure death reviews are conducted in every county. A report submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.