Senate Bill S2396

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2396
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 17, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. PERSAUD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Social Services
 
 AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to  creating  case-
   load standards for adult 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 ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES WORKERS PROMUL-
 GATED PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (A) OF  SUBDIVISION  NINE  OF  SECTION  FOUR
 HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE OF THIS CHAPTER.
   § 2. 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 ADULT PROTECTIVE  SERVICES
 WORKERS. SUCH STANDARDS SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:
   (A)  LIMITATIONS ON THE NUMBER OF INVESTIGATIONS WHICH CAN BE ASSIGNED
 TO ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES WORKERS, PROVIDED HOWEVER,  TO  THE  EXTENT
 POSSIBLE  AND  WITHIN  AMOUNTS APPROPRIATED THEREFOR, A FULL TIME EQUIV-
 ALENT ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES WORKER SHALL NOT BE ASSIGNED:
   (I) A CASELOAD OF MORE THAN TWENTY INITIAL INVESTIGATIONS AT ANY GIVEN
 TIME; OR
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD06240-01-5
 S. 2396                             2
              

 
   (II) A CASELOAD OF MORE THAN THIRTY ONGOING CASES AT ANY  GIVEN  TIME;
 OR
   (III) A TOTAL CASELOAD OF MORE THAN THIRTY CASES.
   (B)  GUIDANCE  AS  IT RELATES TO HOW SUCH INVESTIGATIONS ARE ASSIGNED,
 TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES WORKER'S CURRENT
 CASELOAD, AS WELL AS THE COMPLEXITY OF THE PARTICULAR  INVESTIGATION  OR
 CASE,  IF  KNOWN.  NOTHING  IN  THIS  SUBDIVISION  SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO
 PROHIBIT THE OFFICE FROM PRESCRIBING  LOCAL  SOCIAL  SERVICES  DISTRICTS
 FROM ESTABLISHING CASELOAD STANDARDS THAT ARE LESS THAN WHAT IS REQUIRED
 IN THIS SUBDIVISION.
   §  3. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 473-f
 to read as follows:
   § 473-F. 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 ADULT PROTECTIVE  SERVICES.
 THE  REPORT  SHALL,  AT  MINIMUM,  INCLUDE A MONTHLY ACCOUNTING BY LOCAL
 SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICTS  OF  THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  ADULT  PROTECTIVE
 SERVICES WORKERS WITH AN INDICATION OF HOW MANY HOLD A SUPERVISORY POSI-
 TION, AS WELL AS THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF ACTIVE CASES PER ADULT PROTECTIVE
 SERVICES WORKER IN THE PRECEDING YEAR.
   §  4.  Subdivision  (d)  of  section 17 of the social services law, as
 amended by chapter 749 of the laws  of  1989,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   (d)  submit an annual report to the governor and the legislature prior
 to the fifteenth day of December of each year. Such annual report  shall
 include  the  following: the affairs of the department and the status of
 welfare programs in the state with recommendations for  the  improvement
 and  development  of welfare programs; a report on the department's fair
 hearing system, as required by section twenty-two  of  this  article;  a
 written  evaluation  report on the delivery of child welfare services in
 the state, as required by subdivision five of section four hundred seven
 of this chapter; a report of the operations of the state central  regis-
 ter  of child abuse and maltreatment and the various local child protec-
 tive services, as required by section four hundred  twenty-six  of  this
 chapter;  a report on the number and status and the findings of investi-
 gations of deaths of children pursuant to subdivision  five  of  section
 twenty  of this chapter; a report on the progress of the development and
 operation of the child care review system, as  required  by  subdivision
 nine  of  section  four  hundred  forty-two  of this chapter; commencing
 before December fifteenth, nineteen hundred eighty-four and  terminating
 on  December  fifteenth, nineteen hundred eighty-nine, a progress report
 on the planning and  implementation  of  the  teenage  services  act  as
 required  by  the  provisions  of  section  four hundred nine-m of title
 four-B of this chapter; an analysis of the information contained in  the
 registry of community facilities, as required by paragraph (b) of subdi-
 vision  two of section four hundred sixty-three-a of this chapter; [and]
 a report on the operation of the child support enforcement  program,  as
 required  by  chapter  six  hundred  eighty-five of the laws of nineteen
 hundred seventy-five; AND A  REPORT  ON  ADULT  PROTECTIVE  SERVICES  AS
 REQUIRED BY SECTION FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY-THREE-F OF THIS CHAPTER;
   §  5.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately; provided, however,
 sections one and two of this act shall take effect two  years  after  it
 shall have become a law.