Bill Text: OR SB601 | 2013 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to relative caregiver authority; and declaring an emergency.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2013-05-31 - Effective date, May 23, 2013. [SB601 Detail]
Download: Oregon-2013-SB601-Enrolled.html
77th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2013 Regular Session
Enrolled
Senate Bill 601
Sponsored by Senator MONNES ANDERSON, Representative TOMEI
CHAPTER ................
AN ACT
Relating to relative caregiver authority; and declaring an
emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. { + The Legislative Assembly finds that:
(1) Current economic and cultural circumstances are such that
relatives of minor children are playing an increasing role in
ensuring the health, safety and education of minor children who,
for many reasons, cannot live with and are not being cared for by
their parents or guardians, and for whom legal proceedings have
not been initiated or undertaken to establish legal guardianships
or placements under the laws of this state.
(2) Relatives of minor children are frequently asked, with
minimal notice, to provide housing and health care, and to make
educational decisions, for minor children who are left in their
care.
(3) Relative caregivers frequently face barriers to obtaining
necessary and appropriate medical treatment and educational
services for minor children left in their care.
(4) These barriers pose a significant challenge to relative
caregivers in dealing with health care providers and schools, and
pose a substantial threat to the health, safety and welfare of
minor children in this state.
(5) It is necessary to provide legal authority for relative
caregivers to access necessary and appropriate medical treatment
and educational services for minor children who are left in the
relative caregivers' care and who are without legal parents or
guardians who can otherwise provide for them. + }
SECTION 2. { + As used in sections 1 to 4 of this 2013 Act:
(1) 'Educational services' means enrollment of a minor child in
a school to which the minor child has been or will be accepted
for attendance and participation in any school activities,
including extracurricular activities.
(2) 'Health care facility' means any facility that provides
medical treatment.
(3) 'Health care provider' means a person who is licensed,
certified, registered or otherwise authorized by law in this
state to administer medical treatment in the practice of a health
care profession or at a health care facility, and includes a
health care facility.
(4) 'Medical treatment' means developmental screening, mental
health screening and treatment, ordinary and necessary medical,
dental and optical examination and treatment and preventive care
Enrolled Senate Bill 601 (SB 601-A) Page 1
including ordinary immunizations, tuberculin testing and
well-child care, and includes the examination for and treatment
of any injury, symptom, disease or pathology that is, in the
judgment of the treating health care provider, reasonably
necessary.
(5) 'Legal parent or guardian' means the parent or guardian of
a minor child, a person with rights established under ORS 109.119
or a person to whom powers have been delegated under ORS 109.056.
(6) 'Relative caregiver' means a competent adult who is 18
years of age or older, who is related to a minor child by blood,
marriage or adoption, who is not the legal parent or guardian and
who represents in the affidavit described in section 4 of this
2013 Act that the minor child lives with the adult and that the
adult is responsible for the care of the minor child. + }
SECTION 3. { + (1) A relative caregiver acting pursuant to an
affidavit under section 4 of this 2013 Act may consent to medical
treatment and educational services for a minor child that a minor
child cannot otherwise legally consent to if, after reasonable
efforts have been made to obtain the consent of the legal parent
or guardian to the treatment or services, the consent of the
legal parent or guardian cannot be obtained.
(2) A relative caregiver providing consent under this section
is liable to the health care provider or school for payment for
any medical treatment or educational services provided to a minor
child pursuant to the consent.
(3) The consent of a relative caregiver under this section
shall be superseded by any contravening decision of the legal
parent or guardian, provided the decision does not threaten the
life, health or safety of the minor child.
(4) If the minor child stops living with the relative
caregiver, the relative caregiver shall immediately notify any
health care provider or school that has been given an affidavit
under section 4 of this 2013 Act. The affidavit is invalid
immediately upon receipt by the health care provider or school of
the notice under this subsection.
(5) An affidavit under section 4 of this 2013 Act expires one
year after the date it is given to a health care provider or
school by a relative caregiver. If the date the affidavit is
given to a health care provider or school is unknown or
uncertain, it shall expire one year after the date the relative
caregiver signs the affidavit.
(6)(a) A health care provider or school may, but is not
required to, rely on the representations or affidavit of a person
claiming to be a relative caregiver if the health care provider
or school does not have actual notice of the falsity of any of
the statements or documentation made or provided by the person
claiming to be a relative caregiver.
(b) Upon receipt of a valid affidavit as described in section 4
of this 2013 Act, a health care provider or school may, but is
not required to, request documentation of a person's claimed
status as a relative caregiver and of attempts made to obtain the
consent of the legal parent or guardian.
(7) A relative caregiver acting in good faith with reasonable
grounds to provide consent for medical treatment or educational
services pursuant to an affidavit under section 4 of this 2013
Act is not subject to criminal or civil liability that might
otherwise be incurred or imposed for giving consent to the
medical treatment or educational services.
(8) Nothing in this section relieves a legal parent or guardian
of liability for payment for medical treatment or educational
Enrolled Senate Bill 601 (SB 601-A) Page 2
services provided to a minor child pursuant to the valid consent
of a relative caregiver under this section. + }
SECTION 4. { + A relative caregiver affidavit given to a
health care provider or school is invalid unless it is signed and
contains, at a minimum, the following information:
(1) The name of the minor child;
(2) The minor child's date of birth;
(3) The relative caregiver's name and date of birth and the
address at which the relative caregiver lives with the minor
child;
(4) The relationship of the relative caregiver to the minor
child;
(5) The Oregon driver license or identification card number of
the relative caregiver;
(6) The contact information of the legal parent or guardian;
(7) A description of any attempts that the relative caregiver
has made to advise the legal parent or guardian of the relative
caregiver's intent to consent to medical treatment or educational
services for the minor child, and of any response to the relative
caregiver provided by the legal parent or guardian;
(8) If applicable, the reason why the relative caregiver is
unable to contact the legal parent or guardian to advise the
legal parent or guardian of the relative caregiver's intent to
consent to medical treatment or educational services for the
minor child;
(9) The date the relative caregiver signed the affidavit; and
(10) A declaration under penalty of perjury that the named
minor child lives with the relative caregiver, that the relative
caregiver is a competent adult and 18 years of age or older and
that the information provided in the affidavit is true and
correct. + }
SECTION 5. { + This 2013 Act being necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency
is declared to exist, and this 2013 Act takes effect on its
passage. + }
----------
Passed by Senate April 1, 2013
Repassed by Senate May 16, 2013
.............................................................
Robert Taylor, Secretary of Senate
.............................................................
Peter Courtney, President of Senate
Passed by House May 14, 2013
.............................................................
Tina Kotek, Speaker of House
Enrolled Senate Bill 601 (SB 601-A) Page 3
Received by Governor:
......M.,............., 2013
Approved:
......M.,............., 2013
.............................................................
John Kitzhaber, Governor
Filed in Office of Secretary of State:
......M.,............., 2013
.............................................................
Kate Brown, Secretary of State
Enrolled Senate Bill 601 (SB 601-A) Page 4
