Spydra's Web: Digest of Bills - 2013 HUMAN SERVICES

Digest of Bills - 2013

HUMAN SERVICES - SOCIAL SERVICES

S.B. 13-47 Youth in foster care - identity theft protections - appropriation. The act amends the statute for protection of youth in foster care against identity theft by:

Removing the exclusion of youth who are in the custody of the division of youth corrections or a state mental hospital;
Expanding the ages of the youth covered to any youth who is at least 16 years of age or older and in foster care; and
Requiring the department of human services or a county department of human or social services to obtain annual credit reports rather than a single report.

The act appropriates the sum of $24,334 out of the general fund to the department of human services for the implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor May 28, 2013

EFFECTIVE May 28, 2013

S.B. 13-111 Wrongs to at-risk adults - mandatory reports of abuse and exploitation of at-risk elders - penalties - appropriation.Current law states that specified professionals who have reasonable cause to believe that a person 18 years of age or older who is susceptible to mistreatment, self-neglect, or exploitation because the individual is unable to perform or obtain services necessary for his or her health, safety, or welfare or lacks sufficient understanding or capacity to make or communicate responsible decisions concerning his or her person or affairs (at-risk adult) should report that fact to a county department of social services (county department) or a local law enforcement agency.

Under the act, on and after July 1, 2014, certain professionals (mandatory reporters) who observe the abuse or exploitation of a person who is 70 years of age or older (at-risk elder) or who have reasonable cause to believe that an at-risk elder has been abused or has been exploited and is at imminent risk of abuse or exploitation are required to report such fact to a law enforcement agency within 24 hours after making the observation or discovery. A mandatory reporter who willfully fails to report and a person who submits a false report commit a class 3 misdemeanor.

The act specifies the duties of law enforcement agencies upon receipt of a report. The act establishes certain civil immunity and does not establish a duty or standard of care.

The act adds physical therapists, emergency medical service providers, chiropractors, and clergy to the list of professionals who are currently urged to report the mistreatment, self-neglect, or exploitation of an at-risk adult. These professions are also included within the new list of mandatory reporters.

A person who exercises undue influence to convert or take possession of an at-risk elder's money, assets, or other property commits statutory theft.

The act requires the peace officers standards and training board to establish a training curriculum on at-risk elders and requires law enforcement agencies to employ at least one peace officer who has completed the training.

On or before December 31, 2016, the state department shall prepare and deliver to the joint budget committee and to the health and human services committee of the senate; the health, insurance, and environment committee of the house of representatives; and the public health care and human services committee of the house of representatives, or to any successor committee, a report concerning the implementation of mandatory reports of abuse and exploitation of at-risk elders.

The act directs the department of human services to implement a program to generate awareness of mistreatment of at-risk adults and statutory provisions

Under current law, for the purposes of enhanced penalties for offenses committed against at-risk adults, an at-risk adult is defined as any person 60 years of age or older or any person 18 years of age or older who is a person with a disability. The act changes this definition to raise the minimum age of 60 years of age to 70 years of age.

The act repeals provisions concerning protection against financial exploitation of at-risk adults and the elder abuse task force.

The act appropriates $3,171,208 to the department of human services.

APPROVED by Governor May 16, 2013

EFFECTIVE May 16, 2013

S.B. 13-231 Title IV-E waiver demonstration project - cash fund - rule-making authority.The act creates the Title IV-E waiver demonstration project (project) in the department of human services (department). The department is authorized to enter into performance agreements with individual counties or groups of counties for the purpose of the project. The act creates the Title IV-E waiver demonstration project cash fund to defray costs associated with complying with performance agreements. The state board of human services is authorized to promulgate rules for the implementation of the project and is required to submit a report on the outcomes of the project.

APPROVED by Governor May 14, 2013

EFFECTIVE May 14, 2013

S.B. 13-255 Child fatality review teams - duties - appropriation. The act requires county or district public health agencies to establish or arrange to be established local or regional child fatality prevention review teams operating under the purview of the department of public health and environment (local or regional review team). County or district public health agencies may collaborate to form a regional child fatality prevention review team.

It details the responsibility of local or regional review teams. The local or regional review teams are required to report case review findings to public and private agencies that have responsibilities for children and make prevention recommendations. The local and regional review teams shall also enter data into the web-based data-collection system utilized by CDPHE.

The act revises and updates language in the legislative declaration for the Colorado department of public health and environment (CDPHE) child fatality review teams and adds a definition of a "local or regional review team".

It amends the membership of CDPHE's state-level child fatality prevention review team (CDPHE state review team) to include a member from the office of Colorado's child protection ombudsman and to make numerous currently nonvoting positions into voting positions. The act tasks the CDPHE state review team with the following duties:

To conduct an individual case-specific review of every child abuse or neglect fatality in Colorado, if a local or regional review team has not conducted such a review;
To conduct a review of systemic child welfare issues;
To utilize a child fatalities data-collection system;
To collaborate with the Colorado department of human services child fatality review team (CDHS review team) to make joint recommendations for the prevention of child abuse and neglect fatalities;
To work directly with professionals who have information regarding the cause or circumstances leading to a child's fatality;
Subject to available appropriations, to administer moneys to county and district public health agencies to support local and regional review teams;
To provide training and technical assistance to local and regional review teams regarding the facilitation of a child fatality review process, data collection, evidence-based prevention strategies, and the development of prevention recommendations, as well as strategies for convening a local or regional review team, establishing methods of notification after a child fatality, and strategies to address conflicts of interest; and
To provide an annual data report to local and regional review teams.

Prior to the act, the CDHS review team is required to conduct an in-depth case review after an incident of egregious abuse or neglect against a child, a near fatality, or a child fatality that involves a suspicion of abuse or neglect (incident) when the child or family has had previous involvement with the state or county within the previous 2 years. The act changes that time frame to 3 years.

The CDHS review team is given the additional duty to make annual policy recommendations that address systems involved with children and to follow up on specific system recommendations. The CDHS review team is required to make annual reports to both the public and the legislature concerning such recommendations.

Prior to the act, the CDHS review team was required to complete a draft, confidential, case-specific review report and submit the draft to any county department of social services with previous involvement with the child or family related to the incident within 30 days. That 30-day period is extended to 55 days.

Language is added to ensure that any information released to the public by the CDHS review team is not contrary to the best interests of the child who is the subject of the report, or his or her siblings, is in the public's interest, and is consistent with the federal "Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Reauthorization Act of 2010".

The act appropriates $456,966 and 4.0 FTE to the department of public health and environment and $63,755 and 1.0 FTE to the department of human services from the general fund for costs related to the implementation of the child fatality review teams in each department.

APPROVED by Governor May 14, 2013

EFFECTIVE May 14, 2013

H.B. 13-1055 Works program - redetermination of eligibility. The act removes the requirement that annual redetermination of eligibility for the Colorado works program be done in person and allows the department to use other methods to determine continued eligibility for the program.

APPROVED by Governor March 8, 2013

EFFECTIVE August 7, 2013

NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 13-1084 Child care licensing - issuance of a new FEIN to a licensee - treatment as a renewal. When a child care center or similar entity previously licensed under the "Child Care Licensing Act" is issued a new federal employee identification number (FEIN), the state department of human services is required to treat the licensee's status as a renewal instead of requiring submission of an original application when:

The reason for the new FEIN is solely due to a change in the corporate structure;
Either the management or governing body of the entity remains the same as originally licensed; and
The facility or facilities are the same as those originally licensed.

In that circumstance, only newly hired employees shall be required to undergo criminal background checks.

APPROVED by Governor March 15, 2013

EFFECTIVE August 7, 2013

NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 13-1087 Child welfare allocation committee - works allocation committee - membership. The act increases the membership of the child welfare allocation committee and the works allocation committee to 11 members each and allocates the appointment of members between a statewide association of counties and the state department of human services.

APPROVED by Governor March 15, 2013

EFFECTIVE March 15, 2013

H.B. 13-1117 Child development programs - alignment - early childhood leadership council - transfer of programs to department of human services - appropriation. The act states the general assembly's finding that it is in the state's best interest for a specific office within the department of human services (department) to administer early childhood programs. The department has the responsibility to administer early childhood programs and to assist the state board of human services in awarding grants. Participation in any early childhood program is voluntary and is not intended to interfere with parental rights.

The act moves the early childhood leadership council (ECLC) from the governor's office to the department. The overall ECLC membership is reduced from 35 to 20 members by removing representatives of the office of information technology, the office of economic development, the state workforce development council, and the legislature. The reconstituted ECLC includes representatives from the local public health community. The ECLC's duties are changed to include more advising and monitoring of efforts around early childhood programs. The ECLC was scheduled to repeal July 1, 2013; this date is extended to September 1, 2018.

The act relocates several boards and programs from the department of public health and environment to the department of human services without substantive change:

The nurse home visitation program;
The Tony Grampsas youth services program, the Colorado youth mentoring services program, the Colorado student dropout prevention and intervention program, and the Colorado student before-and-after-school project;
The Colorado Children's Trust Fund and its board; and
The family resource center program.

The act adjusts the general appropriations act for the 2013-14 budget year by moving appropriations from the department of public health and environment to the department of human services based on the transfer of the programs.

APPROVED by Governor May 7, 2013

EFFECTIVE July 1, 2013

H.B. 13-1271 Child welfare - child abuse reporting hotline system - steering committee - implementation - rules on consistent screening, assessment, and decision-making in response to reports of child abuse and neglect and to inquiries made to county departments and to the hotline system - appropriations. The act authorizes the creation of a child abuse reporting hotline system (hotline system) that provides a uniform method of contact that directly, immediately, and efficiently routes the person to the applicable entity responsible for accepting a report about possible child abuse or neglect and that is advertised to the public as a place for reporting known or suspected child abuse or neglect (report) or for making a request for information or services (an inquiry). The hotline system will be developed through a statewide child abuse hotline steering committee (steering committee) that includes state, county, and comprehensive and appropriate stakeholder representation. The state department of human services (state department) is required to appoint a person to the steering committee who is a primary provider of emergency services and is familiar with the emergency telephone system that uses the single 3-digit number 9-1-1 for reporting police, fire, medical, or other emergency situations.

The act declares that the purpose of the hotline system is to enhance the current child welfare system and to provide an additional option for the public to make an initial report or inquiry. A county department of social services (county department) will retain screening responsibilities, unless the board of county commissioners of that county has approved the use of the hotline system on behalf of the county and such arrangement has been approved by the state department.

The steering committee will develop an implementation plan for the hotline system to be advertised to the public and make recommendations for rules relating to the hotline system and providing consistent practices in response to reports and inquiries. The steering committee shall submit a report no later than July 1, 2014, containing its recommendations to the executive director of the state department, who shall provide the report to the state board of human services (state board).

The hotline system will provide some method of contact to the public that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The hotline system shall be operational and publicized to the public statewide no later than January 1, 2015.

With the express written consent of the board of county commissioners, a county department may request that the state department assist that county department with taking reports of possible child abuse and neglect and inquiries from the public. The executive director must approve of this arrangement in writing.

The state board is given rule-making authority to adopt rules, based upon the recommendations of the steering committee, governing the following:

The type of technology that may be used by the hotline system for directly routing initial contacts from the hotline system to the applicable entity responsible for taking a report or responding to an inquiry, including but not limited to a single statewide toll-free telephone number, and including technologies for language translation and for communicating with people who are deaf or have hearing impairments, with flexibility to adapt the methods to changing and emerging technologies as appropriate;
The operation of the hotline system, including the central record-keeping and tracking of reports and inquiries statewide, and a requirement that record-keeping and tracking of reports and inquiries be accessible to all counties;
Standards and steps for information and referral (instances where there is no report of abuse or neglect but the person contacting the county department or the hotline system is making an inquiry);
How an initial contact to the hotline system is directly routed to the applicable entity responsible for taking a report or responding to an inquiry;
A formal process for a county department to opt to have the state department receive reports or inquiries on behalf of the county department after hours, subject to a requirement that the board of county commissioners must officially approve the use of the hotline system on behalf of the county and that the arrangement must be approved by the executive director;
A process for a county department to opt to have another county department receive reports or inquiries on behalf of the county department after hours or on a short-term basis with notification of such arrangement to the executive director;
Standardized training and certification standards for all staff prior to receiving reports and inquiries;
A consistent screening process with criteria and steps for the county department to respond to a report or inquiry;
A consistent decision-making process with criteria and steps for a county department to follow when deciding how to act on a report or inquiry and when to take no action on a report or inquiry.

The state department will make periodic reports about the hotline system and the adoption of rules to the appropriate legislative committee of the general assembly.

The act appropriates $200,000 to the department of human services for fiscal year 2012-13 to implement the act. The act appropriates $529,800 to the department of human services for fiscal year 2013-14 to obtain computer center services to implement the act.

APPROVED by Governor May 14, 2013

EFFECTIVE May 14, 2013