Senate Bill S4077

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4077
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 2, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. BRISPORT, GOUNARDES, MANNION, SALAZAR -- 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 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:
 
   Section 1. Section 20-a of the social services law, as added by  chap-
 ter 107 of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows:
   § 20-a.  Local personnel; limitations on department's power.  Notwith-
 standing  any  inconsistent  provision  of  this chapter, the board, the
 commissioner or the department, acting singly or in  unison,  shall  not
 have  the  power,  directly  or  indirectly  to  prescribe the number of
 persons to be employed in any social  services  district  providing  the
 district  complies  with the minimum federal standards relating thereto;
 PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL  NOT  APPLY
 TO  THE REGULATIONS OF THE OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES ESTAB-
 LISHING CASELOAD STANDARDS FOR CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES WORKERS PROMUL-
 GATED PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (A) OF  SUBDIVISION  NINE  OF  SECTION  FOUR
 HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE OF THIS CHAPTER.
   §  2.  Paragraph  (a)  of subdivision 1 of section 153-k of the social
 services law, as added by section 15 of part C of chapter 83 of the laws
 of 2002, is amended to read as follows:
   (a) Expenditures made by social services districts for  child  protec-
 tive  services, preventive services provided, as applicable, to eligible
 children and families of children who are in  and  out  of  foster  care
 placement, independent living services, aftercare services, and adoption
 administration  and  services  other  than  adoption  subsidies provided
 pursuant to article six of this  chapter  and  the  regulations  of  the
 department  of  family  assistance  shall,  if approved by the office of
 children and family services, be subject  to  sixty-five  percent  state
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD05040-02-3
              

 S. 4077                             2
 
 reimbursement  exclusive  of  any  federal funds made available for such
 purposes, in accordance with the directives of the department of  family
 assistance  and  subject  to the approval of the director of the budget.
 PROVIDED  HOWEVER,  FOR  REQUIREMENTS  PRESCRIBED IN SUBDIVISION NINE OF
 SECTION FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE OF THIS CHAPTER, SUCH EXPENDITURES SHALL
 BE SUBJECT TO ONE HUNDRED PERCENT  STATE  REIMBURSEMENT,  PROVIDED  THAT
 LOCAL  SOCIAL  SERVICES  DISTRICTS CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN CURRENT EXPENDI-
 TURES RELATED TO CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES AT A LEVEL EQUAL TO OR GREAT-
 ER THAN EXPENDITURES FOR SUCH ACTIVITIES DURING THE FISCAL YEAR PRIOR TO
 THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF A CHAPTER OF THE LAWS OF TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE
 WHICH AMENDED THIS PARAGRAPH.
   § 3. Section 421 of the social services law is amended by adding a new
 subdivision 9 to read as follows:
   9. PROMULGATE REGULATIONS IN CONSULTATION WITH LOCAL  SOCIAL  SERVICES
 DISTRICTS,  RELATING TO CASELOAD STANDARDS FOR CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
 WORKERS. SUCH STANDARDS SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:
   (A) LIMITATIONS ON THE NUMBER OF INVESTIGATIONS WHICH CAN BE  ASSIGNED
 TO  CHILD  PROTECTIVE  SERVICES WORKERS, PROVIDED HOWEVER, TO THE EXTENT
 POSSIBLE AND WITHIN AMOUNTS APPROPRIATED  THEREFOR,  NO  MORE  THAN  TWO
 INITIAL INVESTIGATIONS PER WEEK MAY BE ASSIGNED PER FULL TIME EQUIVALENT
 CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES WORKER; AND
   (B)  GUIDANCE  AS  IT RELATES TO HOW SUCH INVESTIGATIONS ARE ASSIGNED,
 TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES  WORKER  CURRENT
 CASELOAD,  AS WELL AS THE COMPLEXITY OF THE PARTICULAR INVESTIGATION, IF
 KNOWN. NOTHING IN THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL BE CONSTRUED  TO  PROHIBIT  THE
 OFFICE  FROM PRESCRIBING LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICTS FROM ESTABLISH-
 ING CASELOAD STANDARDS THAT ARE LESS  THAN  WHAT  IS  REQUIRED  IN  THIS
 SUBDIVISION.
   §  4.  Paragraph  (c)  of  subdivision  1 of section 423 of the social
 services law, as amended by chapter 83 of the laws of 1995,  is  amended
 to read as follows:
   (c)  The  child  protective  service shall have a sufficient staff, IN
 ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS  OF  SUBDIVISION  NINE  OF  SECTION  FOUR
 HUNDRED  TWENTY-ONE  OF  THIS  TITLE,  of  sufficient  qualifications to
 fulfill the purposes of this title and be organized in such a way as  to
 maximize  the continuity of responsibility, care and service of individ-
 ual workers toward individual children and families. A  social  services
 district  shall have flexibility in assigning staff to the child protec-
 tive service provided that each staff assigned to such service  has  the
 staff  qualifications  and  has  received  the  training required by the
 department regulations promulgated pursuant  to  subdivisions  four  and
 five of section four hundred twenty-one of this title.
   §  5.  Section  426  of the social services law, as amended by section
 11-a of part D of chapter 501 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as
 follows:
   § 426. Annual reports. The commissioner shall prepare for inclusion in
 the annual report required by subdivision (d) of  section  seventeen  of
 this  chapter to be filed with the governor and the legislature prior to
 December fifteenth of each year, a report on the operations of the state
 central register of child abuse and maltreatment and the  various  local
 child  protective  services. The report shall include a full statistical
 analysis of the reports made to the central  register  together  with  a
 report  on  the  implementation  of this title, his or her evaluation of
 services offered under this chapter and his or her  recommendations  for
 additional  legislation  to  fulfill  the  purposes  of this title. Such
 report shall indicate the number of child abuse and maltreatment reports
 S. 4077                             3
 
 and cases received by the statewide central register of child abuse  and
 maltreatment  by each district in the preceding year, the number of such
 cases determined to have been indicated and the  number  of  such  cases
 determined  to  be unfounded by each district in the preceding year, the
 number of such cases which have not been indicated or  unfounded  within
 the  time  period  required by subdivision seven of section four hundred
 twenty-four of this [article] TITLE by each district  in  the  preceding
 year [and]. SUCH REPORT SHALL ALSO INCLUDE A MONTHLY ACCOUNTING BY LOCAL
 SOCIAL  SERVICES  DISTRICTS,  OF  the  TOTAL  number of CHILD PROTECTIVE
 SERVICES workers [assigned to  the  child  protective  service  in  each
 district in] WITH AN INDICATION OF HOW MANY HOLD A SUPERVISORY POSITION,
 AS  WELL  AS  THE  AVERAGE  NUMBER  OF ACTIVE CASES PER CHILD PROTECTIVE
 SERVICES WORKER, WITH AN INDICATION OF HOW  MANY  WERE  IN  THE  INITIAL
 INVESTIGATION  STAGE  AT  THE TIME THE INFORMATION WAS COLLECTED FOR the
 preceding year. Such report  shall  include,  among  other  information,
 available  demographic  information and available information concerning
 the racial and ethnic characteristics of the family members and  persons
 served  by  the  differential  response program pursuant to section four
 hundred twenty-seven-a of [the social services law] THIS TITLE, as  well
 as  available  information  concerning  the racial and ethnic character-
 istics of the family members and persons serviced under the  traditional
 child  protective  services  program,  in  each  local  social  services
 district in the state.
   § 6. This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately;  provided,  however,
 sections  one,  two, three and four of this act shall take effect on the
 seven hundred thirtieth day after it shall have become a law;  provided,
 further,  however  that  the  amendments  to section 153-k of the social
 services law made by section two of this act shall not affect the repeal
 of such section and shall be deemed repealed therewith.