Bill Text: NY S05809 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Establishes standards for caseloads for child protective services workers; requires the state to pay for one hundred percent of the costs associated with compliance of such caseload standard; makes related provisions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-10 - PRINT NUMBER 5809A [S05809 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S05809-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5809--A 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE May 15, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sens. MONTGOMERY, GOUNARDES, KRUEGER, METZGER, SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Social Services -- recommitted to the Committee on Social Services in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged and said bill committed to the Committee on Children and Families -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to caseload stand- ards for child protective services workers The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 20-a of the social services law, as added by chap- 2 ter 107 of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 20-a. Local personnel; limitations on department's power. Notwith- 4 standing any inconsistent provision of this chapter, the board, the 5 commissioner or the department, acting singly or in unison, shall not 6 have the power, directly or indirectly to prescribe the number of 7 persons to be employed in any social services district providing the 8 district complies with the minimum federal standards relating thereto; 9 provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply 10 to the regulations of the office of children and family services estab- 11 lishing caseload standards for child protective services workers promul- 12 gated pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision nine of section four 13 hundred twenty-one of this chapter. 14 § 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 153-k of the social 15 services law, as added by section 15 of part C of chapter 83 of the laws 16 of 2002, is amended to read as follows: 17 (a) Expenditures made by social services districts for child protec- 18 tive services, preventive services provided, as applicable, to eligible 19 children and families of children who are in and out of foster care 20 placement, independent living services, aftercare services, and adoption EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11190-03-0S. 5809--A 2 1 administration and services other than adoption subsidies provided 2 pursuant to article six of this chapter and the regulations of the 3 department of family assistance shall, if approved by the office of 4 children and family services, be subject to sixty-five percent state 5 reimbursement exclusive of any federal funds made available for such 6 purposes, in accordance with the directives of the department of family 7 assistance and subject to the approval of the director of the budget. 8 Provided however, for requirements prescribed in subdivision nine of 9 section four hundred twenty-one of this chapter, such expenditures shall 10 be subject to one hundred percent state reimbursement, provided that 11 local social services districts continue to maintain current expendi- 12 tures related to child protective services at a level equal to or great- 13 er than expenditures for such activities during the fiscal year prior to 14 the effective date of a chapter of the laws of two thousand twenty which 15 amended this paragraph. 16 § 3. Section 421 of the social services law is amended by adding a new 17 subdivision 9 to read as follows: 18 9. promulgate regulations in consultation with local social services 19 districts, relating to caseload standards for child protective services 20 workers. Such standards shall include, but not be limited to: (a) limi- 21 tations on the number of investigations which can be assigned to child 22 protective services workers, provided however, to the extent possible 23 and within amounts appropriated therefore, no more than two initial 24 investigations per week may be assigned per full time equivalent child 25 protective services worker; and (b) guidance as it relates to how such 26 investigations are assigned, taking into consideration the child protec- 27 tive services worker current caseload, as well as the complexity of the 28 particular investigation, if known. Nothing in this subdivision shall be 29 construed to prohibit the office from prescribing local social services 30 districts from establishing caseload standards that are less than what 31 is required in this subdivision. 32 § 4. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 423 of the social 33 services law, as amended by chapter 83 of the laws of 1995, is amended 34 to read as follows: 35 (c) The child protective service shall have a sufficient staff, in 36 accordance with the provisions of subdivision nine of section four 37 hundred twenty-one of this title, of sufficient qualifications to 38 fulfill the purposes of this title and be organized in such a way as to 39 maximize the continuity of responsibility, care and service of individ- 40 ual workers toward individual children and families. A social services 41 district shall have flexibility in assigning staff to the child protec- 42 tive service provided that each staff assigned to such service has the 43 staff qualifications and has received the training required by the 44 department regulations promulgated pursuant to subdivisions four and 45 five of section four hundred twenty-one of this title. 46 § 5. Section 426 of the social services law, as amended by section 47 11-a of part D of chapter 501 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as 48 follows: 49 § 426. Annual reports. The commissioner shall prepare for inclusion in 50 the annual report required by subdivision (d) of section seventeen of 51 this chapter to be filed with the governor and the legislature prior to 52 December fifteenth of each year, a report on the operations of the state 53 central register of child abuse and maltreatment and the various local 54 child protective services. The report shall include a full statistical 55 analysis of the reports made to the central register together with a 56 report on the implementation of this title, his or her evaluation ofS. 5809--A 3 1 services offered under this chapter and his or her recommendations for 2 additional legislation to fulfill the purposes of this title. Such 3 report shall indicate the number of child abuse and maltreatment reports 4 and cases received by the statewide central register of child abuse and 5 maltreatment by each district in the preceding year, the number of such 6 cases determined to have been indicated and the number of such cases 7 determined to be unfounded by each district in the preceding year, the 8 number of such cases which have not been indicated or unfounded within 9 the time period required by subdivision seven of section four hundred 10 twenty-four of this [article] title by each district in the preceding 11 year [and]. Such report shall also include a monthly accounting by local 12 social services districts, of the total number of child protective 13 services workers [assigned to the child protective service in each14district in] with an indication of how many hold a supervisory position, 15 as well as the average number of active cases per child protective 16 services worker, with an indication of how many were in the initial 17 investigation stage at the time the information was collected for the 18 preceding year. Such report shall include, among other information, 19 available demographic information and available information concerning 20 the racial and ethnic characteristics of the family members and persons 21 served by the differential response program pursuant to section four 22 hundred twenty-seven-a of [the social services law] this title, as well 23 as available information concerning the racial and ethnic character- 24 istics of the family members and persons serviced under the traditional 25 child protective services program, in each local social services 26 district in the state. 27 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided however sections 28 one, two, three and four of this act shall take effect on the seven 29 hundred thirtieth day after it shall have become a law; provided, 30 further, however that the amendments to section 153-k of the social 31 services law made by section two of this act shall not affect the repeal 32 of such section and shall be deemed repealed therewith.