1796.29.
The department shall do all of the following in the administration of the home care aide registry:(a) Establish and maintain on the department’s Internet Web site the registry of registered home care aides and home care aide applicants.
(1) To expedite the ability of a consumer to determine if a registered home care aide or home care aide applicant has passed a background examination, pursuant to Section 1796.23, the Internet Web site shall enable consumers to look up the registration status by providing the registered home care aide’s or home care aide applicant’s name and registration number. The Internet Web site shall also provide the
registration status, the status of the background examination, the registration expiration date, and, if applicable, the home care organization with which the affiliated home care aide is associated.
(2) The Internet Web site shall not provide any additional, individually identifiable information about a registered home care aide or home care aide applicant. The department may request and may maintain additional information for registered home care aides or home care aide applicants, as necessary for the administration of this chapter, that shall not be publicly available on the home care aide registry.
(b) Update the home care registry upon receiving notification from a home care organization that an affiliated home care aide is no longer employed by the home care organization.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, information regarding a registered home care aide is not subject to public disclosure pursuant to this chapter, except as provided in subdivision (d).
(d) Beginning September 1, 2018, an electronic copy of a registered home care aide’s name, telephone number, and cellular telephone number, if available, on file with the department
shall be made available, upon request, to a labor organization in which a provider of in-home supportive services, as described in Article 7 (commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or a registered home care aide, already participates and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers of home care aides concerning access to training, grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. The labor organization shall not use this information for any purpose other than employee organizing, representation, and assistance activities. The labor organization shall not disclose this information to any other party.
(e) The
department shall establish a simple opt-out procedure by which a registered home care aide may request that his or her contact information on file with the department not be disclosed in response to a request described in subdivision (d).
(f) (1) On or before July 1, 2018, the department shall provide written notice to all registered home care aides that registered before July 1, 2018, that their information may be shared with a labor organization, as described in subdivision (d). The written notice shall provide a registered home care aide the option to change his or her mailing address on file with the department. The written notice shall also
include instructions on how to utilize the opt-out procedure described in subdivision (e).
(2) Commencing July 1, 2018, the department shall provide the written notice described in paragraph (1) as part of the application process to become a registered home care aide.
(g) This section applies solely to an individual who provides services as a home care aide under this chapter.