NY State Senate Bill 2019-S1542

Senate Bill S1542

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Establishes civil penalties for knowingly making a false report of suspected child abuse or mistreatment and creates procedures for determining whether such a violation has occurred

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Children And Families Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2020	referred to children and families
Jan 15, 2019	referred to children and families

2019-S1542 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Children And Families
Law Section:: Social Services Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §422, Soc Serv L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2013-2014: S7128
2015-2016: S2121
2017-2018: S2987

2019-S1542 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Establishes civil penalties for knowingly making a false report of suspected child abuse or mistreatment and creates procedures for determining whether such a violation has occurred.

2019-S1542 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S1542

SPONSOR: KENNEDY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the social services law, in relation to false allega-
tions of suspected child abuse and maltreatment

 
PURPOSE:

This bill establishes a civil penalty against a person who intentionally
makes a false report of an alleged occurrence of child abuse or
maltreatment.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: amends section 422 of the Social Services Law by adding a new
subdivision 15 to allow the Office of Children and Family Services or a
local child protective services to seek, and for a hearing officer to
impose, a fine, not to exceed $5,000 for a first violation and up to
$10,000 for a second and subsequent violations upon a person who know-

ingly and willfully makes a false report of abuse or maltreatment of a
child, or a person who counsels another to make a false report. In addi-
tion, this section creates a process for that fine to be imposed.

Section 2: Effective Date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

A significant portion of reports to the Statewide Central Register are
determined to be "unfounded." A major contributing factor to this is
intentional false reports to the state central registry. These false
reports are thought to often be from persons:

*Who make false reports maliciously and with intent to harass, embar-
rass, or harm another person;

*Who seek a personal benefit, including in some instances a financial
benefits the result of a false report;

*Who seek an advantage in a legal proceeding such as a custody, divorce
or child abuse or neglect proceeding.

In addition a number of false reports are believed to come from the same
person who makes repeated false reports. These events cause resources to
needlessly be spent investigating these allegations, reduces the time
workers can spend on legitimate reports and unnecessarily harms people
who are named in a report including the child, children or vulnerable
person who must be interviewed as part of an investigation.

The current level of penalties is not sufficient to create deterrence
from false reporting of incidents of abuse and neglect of a child or
vulnerable person. The potential imposition of a civil penalty that may
be commenced by the office of children and families or by a local child
protective service that can be enforced through administrative processes
will create a greater deterrent and more effective enforcement method
than is now available in the Section 240.50 of the penal law.


This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of
the Erie County Executive upon the recommendation of the county's
Commissioner of Social Services to improve the provision of child
protective services to New York's children and families.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2013-14: S.7128/A.9436 REFERRED TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
2015-16 S.2121/A.3025 REFERRED TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
2017-18:  S.2987/A.2355 REFERRED TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2019-S1542 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1542
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 15, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. KENNEDY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families
 
 AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation  to  false  allega-
   tions of suspected child abuse and maltreatment
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 422 of the social services law is amended by adding
 a new subdivision 15 to read as follows:
   15. (A) IN ADDITION TO CRIMINAL PENALTIES AUTHORIZED  BY  ARTICLE  TWO
 HUNDRED  FORTY  OF  THE  PENAL  LAW,  THE  OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY
 SERVICES, OR LOCAL CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ACTING THROUGH ITS  COMMIS-
 SIONER,  MAY  SEEK  A  CIVIL  PENALTY  AGAINST ANY PERSON WHO BY WORD OR
 ACTION KNOWINGLY OR WILLFULLY MAKES A REPORT TO  THE  STATEWIDE  CENTRAL
 REGISTER OF CHILD ABUSE AND MALTREATMENT OR MAKES A REPORT TO ANY PERSON
 REQUIRED  TO  REPORT  SUSPECTED  CHILD ABUSE OR MALTREATMENT PURSUANT TO
 SECTION FOUR HUNDRED THIRTEEN OF THIS TITLE KNOWING THAT THE  PERSON  IS
 REQUIRED TO REPORT SUCH CASE, OF AN ALLEGED OCCURRENCE OF CHILD ABUSE OR
 MALTREATMENT WHICH SAID PERSON KNEW DID NOT IN FACT OCCUR OR EXIST.
   (B)  THE  MAXIMUM CIVIL PENALTY SHALL BE FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR THE
 FIRST OCCURRENCE AND TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS  FOR  EACH  SUBSEQUENT  OCCUR-
 RENCE. EACH FALSE REPORT CONSTITUTES A SEPARATE VIOLATION.
   (C)  IF  THE  OFFICE  OF  CHILDREN  AND FAMILY SERVICES OR LOCAL CHILD
 PROTECTIVE SERVICES ALLEGES THAT A PERSON HAS MADE A FALSE  REPORT  WITH
 THE  STATEWIDE  CENTRAL  REGISTER  OF  CHILD ABUSE AND MALTREATMENT, THE
 OFFICE OR SERVICE MUST NOTIFY SUCH PERSON THAT A HEARING WILL BE HELD TO
 DETERMINE IF A VIOLATION  OF  PARAGRAPH  (A)  OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION  HAS
 OCCURRED.  THE PERSON SHALL BE GIVEN A FULL STATEMENT OF THE ALLEGATIONS
 AGAINST HIM OR HER, A NOTICE THAT A HEARING WILL BE HELD IN FRONT  OF  A
 NEUTRAL FACT FINDER WHO SHALL BE APPOINTED BY THE OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND
 FAMILY SERVICES OR THE LOCAL CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, THAT THEY HAVE A
 RIGHT TO BE REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL, TO PRESENT EVIDENCE AND TO CROSS-EX-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD02772-01-9

 S. 1542                             2
 
 AMINE  ANY  WITNESSES  AGAINST THEM AND THE RIGHT TO APPEAL ANY DECISION
 THROUGH A FAIR HEARING. A FULL RECORD OF ANY PROCEEDING SHALL  BE  MADE.
 NOTICE  OF  SUCH ALLEGATIONS AND OF THE HEARING SHALL BE SERVED UPON ANY
 SUCH PERSON BY PERSONAL SERVICE, BY PROMINENTLY PLACING SUCH NOTICE UPON
 THE PERSON'S DOOR AND MAILING THE NOTICE BY FIRST CLASS MAIL, OR THROUGH
 CERTIFIED  MAIL,  RETURN  RECEIPT  REQUESTED  TO THE PERSON'S LAST KNOWN
 ADDRESS. THE OFFICE OR DISTRICT MUST ESTABLISH BY A PREPONDERANCE OF THE
 EVIDENCE THAT A VIOLATION OF PARAGRAPH (A) OF THIS SUBDIVISION OCCURRED.
   (D) IN DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF FINE  TO  BE  IMPOSED,  IF  ANY,  THE
 FOLLOWING FACTORS SHALL BE CONSIDERED:
   (I) THE GRAVITY OF THE VIOLATION, INCLUDING THE PROBABILITY THAT SERI-
 OUS  PHYSICAL  OR  EMOTIONAL  HARM  TO  ANY  PERSON  WILL  RESULT OR HAS
 RESULTED, THE SEVERITY OF THE ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL HARM, AND  THE  NATURE
 OF THE FALSE ALLEGATION.
   (II)  ACTIONS  TAKEN BY THE FALSE REPORTER TO RETRACT THE FALSE REPORT
 AS AN ELEMENT OF MITIGATION, OR, IN CONTRAST, TO ENCOURAGE  AN  INVESTI-
 GATION ON THE BASIS OF FALSE INFORMATION.
   (III) ANY PREVIOUS FALSE REPORTS FILED BY THE SAME INDIVIDUAL.
   (E)  A  PERSON WHO IS DETERMINED TO HAVE FILED A FALSE REPORT OF ABUSE
 OR MALTREATMENT IS NOT ENTITLED TO  CONFIDENTIALITY  OTHERWISE  REQUIRED
 FOR ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE CENTRAL REGISTER. SUBSEQUENT TO THE
 CONCLUSION OF ALL PROCEEDINGS WHERE IT IS DETERMINED THAT A FALSE REPORT
 WAS  FILED,  THE NAME OF THE FALSE REPORTER AND THE NATURE OF  THE FALSE
 REPORT MAY BE MADE PUBLIC IN WHOLE OR IN PART. SUCH INFORMATION SHALL BE
 ADMISSIBLE IN ANY CIVIL OR CRIMINAL PROCEEDING.
   (F) ANY PERSON MAKING A REPORT WHO IS ACTING IN GOOD FAITH  IS  IMMUNE
 FROM  ANY LIABILITY UNDER THIS SECTION AND SHALL CONTINUE TO BE ENTITLED
 TO HAVE THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF THEIR IDENTITY MAINTAINED.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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