ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Fifty-sixth Legislature

First Regular Session

Senate: GOV DP 5-3-0-0 | 3rd Read 18-12-0-0

SB 1252: maltreatment oversight committee; establishment

Sponsor: Senator Shamp, LD 29

Committee on Regulatory Affairs

Overview

Establishes the Independent Maltreatment Fatality and Near Fatality Oversight Committee (Oversight Committee) to conduct reviews of each child maltreatment fatality or near fatality. Describes the Oversight Committee's membership, duties, powers and confidentiality requirements.

History

Laws 1993, Chapter 245 established the Child Fatality Review Team (Team) within the Department of Health Services (DHS). The Team is required to: 1) develop a child fatalities collection system and provide system training; 2) conduct an annual report on the incidence and causes of child fatalities during the past fiscal year; 3) encourage and assist in the development of local child fatality review teams; 4) develop standards and protocols for local child fatality review teams and child fatality investigations; 5) determine and take steps to implement changes that are needed to decrease the incidence of preventable child fatalities; 6) provide case consultation to local teams and educate the public on child fatalities; 7) develop and distribute an informational brochure describing the Team; and 8) evaluate maternal fatalities and unexplained infant deaths (A.R.S. § 36-3501).

The Department of Child Safety (DCS) must maintain DCS information as required by federal law and provide the information, when necessary, to specified bodies for their duties. DCS information includes all information DCS gathers during an investigation, with outlined exclusions. Furthermore, DCS must promptly provide the public with information regarding a case of child abuse, abandonment or neglect that has resulted in a fatality or near fatality. A near fatality is an act that, as certified by the child's treating physician, places a child in serious or critical condition (A.R.S. §§ 8-807, 8-807.01). A health care provider must also disclose medical or payment records or the information contained in such records without the patient's written authorization as required by law or when ordered by specified bodies (A.R.S. § 12-2294).

Additionally, a qualified young adult is a former dependent child who is between 18 to 21 years old, meets the criteria for an extended foster care program and signs a voluntary agreement to participate (A.R.S. § 8-201).

Provisions

Oversight Committee Membership

1.   Creates the Oversight Committee in the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) that consists of five advisory members or their designees and nine members appointed by the Director of ADOA. (Sec. 5)

2.   Stipulates that the outlined advisory members are nonvoting members and do not count toward a quorum. (Sec. 5)

3.   Outlines criteria for the members appointed by the Director of ADOA, including that they:

a)   may not be current or former DCS employees;

b)   must select a chairperson; and

c)   serve staggered three-year terms, with specified exceptions. (Sec. 5)

4.   Specifies the Oversight Committee members:

a)   may not receive compensation or reimbursement for expenses; and

b)   may employ an executive director with experience in DCS. (Sec. 5)

5.   Provides the term lengths for the members appointed by the Director of ADOA. (Sec. 6)

Oversight Committee Requirements

6.   Requires the Oversight Committee to:

a)   conduct a thorough review of each child maltreatment fatality or near fatality as prescribed;

b)   inform the child's parents, guardian or caregiver that a review has commenced and of their ability to present information to the Oversight Committee;

c)   develop an understanding of the circumstances surrounding a child maltreatment fatality or near fatality;

d)   critically analyze the child safety system's interactions with the child and their family to identify specified improvements;

e)   identify best practices and services that may have prevented the fatality or near fatality;

f) maintain a publicly accessible website that includes biographies of members, annual reports, data and trends and reports of recommendations and responses;

g)   analyze and publish annual data and trends on observations made during fatality and near fatality reviews for a 10-year period as outlined;

h)   produce, publish and distribute, on or before June 30th annually, the prescribed annual child maltreatment fatality or near fatality report;

i)   post the annual child maltreatment fatality or near fatality report, omitting any personal identifying information, in an easily accessible format on its website; and

j)   submit a copy of the annual child maltreatment fatality or near fatality report to the specified entities. (Sec. 5)

Oversight Committee Records Access and Confidentiality

7.   Instructs DCS to provide the Oversight Committee access to necessary DCS information to perform its duties. (Sec. 2)

8.   Authorizes a health care provider to disclose medical or payment records and a clinical laboratory to disclose laboratory results to the Oversight Committee without the written authorization of the patient or their health care decision maker. (Sec. 3)

9.   Directs the Team, upon finding that a child's fatality resulted from maltreatment, to submit to the Oversight Committee:

a)   the child's death certificate;

b)   a notice of finding that abuse or neglect contributed to the child's death; and

c)   the status of the case with DCS at the time of the child's death. (Sec. 4)

10.  Allows the Oversight Committee to have ongoing access to complete and unredacted records from DCS and direct remote access to any case management system used by DCS. (Sec. 5)

11.  Enables the Oversight Committee to have access to relevant records and information from any state agency, educational institution or medical provider of the child and their immediate family and household members. (Sec. 5)

12.  Entitles an Oversight Committee chairperson or their designee to be provided access to relevant records and information as outlined within five days of their request. (Sec. 5)

13.  Permits a law enforcement agency, with approval from a prosecuting attorney, to withhold records that interfere with a pending criminal investigation or prosecution, including information requested by a subpoena. (Sec. 5)

14.  Grants the Oversight Committee chairperson or their designee the authority to apply to the superior court for a subpoena to compel the production of evidence, in the manner provided by the law. (Sec. 5)

15.  States all information and records used by the Oversight Committee are confidential from civil or criminal proceedings or subpoena, excluding any information that is otherwise available from other sources. (Sec. 5)

16.  Extends the confidentiality requirement to Oversight Committee members, attendees and presenters, though a person may testify to independently obtained or publicly available information. (Sec. 5)

17.  Exempts Oversight Committee meetings when the facts and circumstances of a child maltreatment fatality or near fatality are reviewed from the statutory requirement that they be open to the public. (Sec. 5)

18.  Designates a violation of the established confidentiality requirements as a class 2 misdemeanor. (Sec. 5)

19.  Adds that DCS must notify the Oversight Committee of a confirmed child maltreatment fatality or near fatality within 48 hours and provide ongoing and unredacted access to any material about the case. (Sec. 5)

Miscellaneous

20.  Defines child, committee, department, near fatality and qualified young adult. (Sec. 5)

21.  Contains a purpose statement. (Sec. 6)

22.  ☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal NoteMakes technical and conforming changes. (Sec. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)

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26.                    SB 1252

27.  Initials DC/SJ        Page 0 Regulatory Affairs

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