CHAPTER
8.5. California Drug Endangered Child Protection Act
13875.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine and other controlled substances has created a public health and safety crisis for children in California.
An increasing number of children in this state are being abused, neglected, and placed at highest risk of harm or death as a result of their presence in homes or dwellings involved in clandestine drug production and distribution. In 1999, more than 1,200 children were found in 2,400 clandestine laboratories seized by California law enforcement agencies. That same year, the number of drug-related toxic “cleanups” in California reached an all-time high. The actual number of drug endangered children is unknown, since
many clandestine home labs are abandoned due to fire or explosion before they become known to authorities.
(b) The response to children discovered in clandestine drug labs varies greatly from county to county. In many cases, the response has been inadequate. Services may be fragmented, and untrained staff can fail to recognize the danger to the child. Without coordinated assessment and intervention, children may be left in or returned to these deadly environments. The Legislature further finds and declares that the Counties of Butte, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Shasta have implemented multiagency response teams consisting of law enforcement, prosecution and health or children’s services, that can respond most effectively to clandestine laboratories in which children are present.
(c) Clandestine laboratories are increasingly operated in single and
multifamily homes, garages, apartments, motels, and mobilehomes in urban and suburban neighborhoods. The dangers to children, those in the lab and nearby, are significantly higher in those counties where most clandestine labs are located in residential neighborhoods. The Legislature recognizes the need to provide financial assistance for those counties that have the highest number of clandestine laboratory seizures with children present, and that have implemented multiagency response teams for drug endangered children.
(d) The Legislature intends to support the efforts of counties that have implemented a multiagency response to drug endangered children that includes, at a minimum, all of the following:
(1) Staffing a multiagency team consisting of law enforcement, prosecution, and health or children’s services personnel or both health and children’s services personnel, to respond
to drug endangered child cases.
(2) Coordinating immediate and ongoing medical treatment and family services for drug endangered children under the direction of a child services worker.
(3) Vertically prosecuting drug manufacturers and sellers who endanger children.
13876.(a) There is hereby established in the agency or agencies designated by the Director of Finance pursuant to Section 13820, a program of technical and financial assistance for counties, designated the California Drug Endangered Child Protection Act. All funds appropriated to the agency or agencies designated by the Director of Finance pursuant to Section 13820 for the purposes
13876.
The California Drug Endangered Child Protection Act is hereby established for the purpose of creating a program of technical and financial assistance to counties for the treatment of drug endangered children. The Office of Emergency Services, in consultation with the California Health and Human Services Agency, shall administer this program. All funds appropriated to the Office of Emergency Services for the purposes of this chapter shall be administered and disbursed by the executive director and shall to the greatest extent feasible be coordinated or consolidated with federal funds that may be made available for these purposes. The agency or agencies designated by the Director of Finance pursuant to Section 13820
Office of Emergency Services may retain up to 5 percent of the amount appropriated for purposes of this chapter to cover costs associated with administering this program.(b) The executive director is authorized to allocate and award funds to counties in which the California Drug Endangered Child Protection Act is implemented in substantial compliance with the policies and criteria set forth in this chapter.
(c) The allocation and award of funds shall be made upon application executed by the county’s district attorney, or county sheriff, if the sheriff is currently the lead agency in the county’s existing drug endangered children program, and approved by its board of supervisors. Funds disbursed under this chapter shall not supplant local funds that would, in the absence of the California Drug Endangered Child Protection Act, be made available to support the functions of this program. The district attorney or county sheriff
shall consult with each agency receiving funding as part of the county’s drug endangered children program to develop the budget submitted to the agency or agencies designated by the Director of Finance pursuant to Section 13820 Office of Emergency Services, in consultation with the California Health and Human Services Agency for the purposes of implementing this chapter.
(d) Law enforcement, prosecution, health, and children’s services personnel working on multiagency teams established pursuant to this chapter shall be considered “multidisciplinary personnel” as defined in Section 18951 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and may share information necessary for the protection of the minor.
13877.
District attorneys, or county sheriffs, if the sheriff is currently the lead agency in the county’s existing drug endangered children program, receiving funds under this chapter shall coordinate multiagency drug endangered child response teams in cooperation with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, and the county departments of health and children’s services. Under the direction of the lead agency in the county’s existing drug endangered children program, a multiagency team’s services shall include, but not be limited to:(a) Prompt, multiagency response to cases involving drug endangered children. Teams shall have the ability to respond quickly at any time, day or night, and to reduce the amount of time children must wait for medical screening,
treatment, and other necessary services.
(b) Develop, adopt, and regularly review local protocols for the multiagency response to cases involving drug endangered children.
(c) Convene a countywide drug endangered child protection task force, that shall include, but not be limited to, representatives from law enforcement, children’s services, a county juvenile court, hospitals and health services, fire and paramedics, education, probation, prosecution, and the Victim-Witness Assistance Program. Each countywide task force shall meet no less than twice yearly to review local protocols and recommend local policies and procedures for the protection, treatment, and continuing care of drug endangered children.
(d) Maintain complete records of each case for documentation and
evaluation.
13877.5.
The district attorney or county sheriff, if the sheriff is currently the lead agency in the county’s existing drug endangered children program, of a county may utilize program funds made available under this section to subcontract for specialized services with local law enforcement or the county departments of health or children’s services, if local resources are not sufficient to staff multiagency drug endangered child response teams at the level required in subdivision (a) of Section 13877. Those subcontracts shall be in an amount sufficient to obtain federal matching funds for the services of at least two full-time children’s services workers, and shall compensate participating agencies for the reasonable cost of overtime or equipment, or both overtime and equipment, to respond as a multiagency
team.13878.
District attorneys receiving funds under this chapter shall concentrate enhanced prosecution efforts and resources upon individuals who endanger children through exposure to the clandestine manufacture of controlled substances, their precursors, and analogs under Sections 11379.6 and 11383 of the Health and Safety Code. Where appropriate, felony child endangerment charges shall be filed in every case under subdivision (a) of Section 273a or special allegations under Section 11379.7 of the Health and Safety Code. Enhanced prosecution efforts and resources under the Drug Endangered Child Protection Act shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:(a) “Vertical prosecutorial representation,” whereby the prosecutor who makes the initial filing or
appearance in a drug endangered child case will perform all subsequent court appearances on that particular case through its conclusion, including the sentencing phase.
(b) Assignment of highly qualified investigators and prosecutors to drug endangered child cases.
(c) Significant reduction of caseloads for investigators and prosecutors assigned to drug endangered child cases.
13879.
Commencing one year after the effective date of this chapter, the agency or agencies designated by the Director of Finance pursuant to Section 13820 Office of Emergency Services shall make an annual report to the Legislature on the fiscal and operational status of the program. This report shall include, at a minimum, an evaluation of the number of clandestine laboratories seized, the number of children located and removed from clandestine laboratories, and the number of prosecutions of individuals involved in the manufacturing and distribution of methamphetamine or other controlled substances manufactured at clandestine laboratories where
children are present.13879.5.(a)Available funds may be used by the agency or agencies designated by the Director of Finance pursuant to Section 13820 to fund countywide drug endangered children programs in the Counties of Butte, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Shasta, for the purpose of implementing this chapter.
(b)(1)The funds available in subdivision (a) that remain after funding the countywide programs specified in subdivision (a) may be distributed to up to five additional counties to fund drug endangered children programs. These funds shall be distributed to counties on a competitive grant basis.
13879.5.
(a) Available funds may be used by the Office of Emergency Services, in consultation with the California Health and Human Services Agency, to fund countywide drug endangered children programs in up to 10 counties for the purpose of implementing this chapter. These funds shall be distributed on a competitive grant basis.
(2)
(b) The following
factors shall be considered in awarding these grants:
(A)
(1) Size of the county.
(B)
(2) Number of clandestine laboratories seized in the county.
(C)
(3) Number of prosecutions brought against clandestine laboratories at which children were found.
(D)
(4) Number of children found at seized or prosecuted clandestine laboratories.
(E)
(5) The demonstrated ability of the county to utilize multiagency emergency response teams to meet the immediate health and safety needs of children found at clandestine drug laboratories, as well as a demonstrated
ability to prosecute the individuals operating those laboratories.
(3)
(c) One representative of each local agency involved in implementing a county’s drug endangered children program shall form an executive committee, the function of which is to distribute the grant funds awarded the county under subdivision (a) in a fair and equitable manner and for the purposes of implementing this chapter.
(4)
(d) The county
health and welfare agencies shall be responsible for coordinating health-related services for children living in clandestine laboratories seized by a county drug endangered children response team pursuant to this program. The county health and welfare agencies shall consult with the district attorney when developing the health services protocols in order to ensure that the health services protocols do not interfere with the law enforcement functions of the drug endangered children response teams.
13879.6.
This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2012, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2012, deletes or extends that date.