Bill Text: CA SB346 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Public social services: records.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 658, Statutes of 2013. [SB346 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB346-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 346	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 30, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 2, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Beall

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2013

   An act to amend Section 10850 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to public social services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 346, as amended, Beall. Public social services: records.
   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, by providing appropriate aid and
services to the needy and distressed. Counties are responsible for
administrating some of these programs, such as CalWORKs, CalFresh,
and the Medically Indigent Services Program or the County Medical
Services Program. 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, and authorizes a county welfare department in
the state to release lists of applicants for, or recipients of,
public social services to any other county welfare department or the
State Department of Social Services, as specified.
   This bill would provide that if a county administers public social
services through more than one county department or agency, each
county department or agency that administers a public social service
in that county shall be deemed a county welfare department for the
purposes of these provisions. The bill would make other technical,
nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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
any public officer or agency in connection with the administration of
any provision of this code relating to any form of public social
services 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 any information
that identifies by name or address any 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, no person shall
publish or disclose or permit or cause to be published or disclosed
any 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. Except for those purposes, no person shall 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 shall 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) 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   adult
protective services  employee or  Ombudsman 
 ombudsman  may answer truthfully at any proceeding related
to the petition or prosecution, when asked if he or she is aware of
information that he or she believes 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
  adult protective services  employee or 
Ombudsman   ombudsman  states that he or she is
aware of such information, the court may order the  Adult
Protective Services   adult protective services 
employee or  Ombudsman   ombudsman  to
testify about his or her observations and to disclose all relevant
agency records.
   (2) The court may order the  Adult Protective Services
  adult protective services  employee or 
Ombudsman   ombudsman  to testify about his or her
observations and to disclose any relevant agency records if the court
has other independent reason to believe that the  Adult
Protective Services   adult protective services 
employee or  Ombudsman   ombudsman  has
information that would facilitate the resolution of the matter.
   (f) 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
their 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  in   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.
   (g) Any 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.
   (h) This section shall not be construed to 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 any county or state welfare
worker, or any criminal act witnessed by any county or state welfare
worker while involved in the administration of public social
services at any location. Further, this section shall not be
construed to 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 any
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.
   (i) 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) of this division, entitled
"Basic Health Care," and for which a grant-in-aid is received by the
state under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
Sec. 1396 et seq.).
   (j) For the purposes of this section, if a county administers
public social services through more than one county department or
agency, each county department or agency that administers a public
social service in that county shall be deemed a county welfare
department for the purposes of administering that public social
service.
   (k)  Except as provided in subdivision (i), public
  Public  social services, as defined in Section
10051, includes publicly funded health care services established
under this division.