S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 1398--A

                       2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 9, 2013
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  MONTGOMERY,  HASSELL-THOMPSON  --  read twice and
  ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
  Social  Services -- recommitted to the Committee on Social Services in
  accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 --  committee  discharged,  bill
  amended,  ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
  tee

AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation  to  standards  for
  workloads for child protective services caseworkers

  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:
  S 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 OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES SHALL
HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO PROMULGATE REGULATIONS THAT SET WORKLOAD STANDARDS
FOR CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES,  FOSTER  CARE,  PREVENTIVE  SERVICES  AND
ADOPTION SERVICES, WHICH STANDARDS ARE BASED ON THE NEW YORK STATE WORK-
LOAD STUDY. THE OFFICE SHALL SET WORKLOAD STANDARDS FOR CHILD PROTECTIVE
SERVICES  BY  OCTOBER FIRST, TWO THOUSAND SEVENTEEN.  NO COUNTY SHALL BE
REQUIRED TO INCREASE ITS CHILD PROTECTIVE WORKFORCE BY MORE  THAN  TWEN-
TY-FIVE  PERCENT  IN  ANY  GIVEN  STATE FISCAL YEAR, PROVIDED THAT EVERY
SOCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT SHALL COME INTO COMPLIANCE WITH THE ESTABLISHED
WORKLOAD STANDARDS BY JANUARY FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-ONE.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD02730-02-4

              

S. 1398--A                          2

  S 2. 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, AS
REQUIRED BY CASELOAD STANDARDS ESTABLISHED BY THE OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND
FAMILY SERVICES, 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 individual workers toward indi-
vidual children and families. A  social  services  district  shall  have
flexibility  in assigning staff to the child protective service provided
that each staff assigned to such service has  the  staff  qualifications
and  has  received the training required by the [department] regulations
promulgated BY THE OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY  SERVICES  pursuant  to
subdivisions  four  and  five of section four hundred twenty-one of this
title.
  S 3. This act shall take effect immediately;  provided  however,  that
the  amendments  to paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 423 of the
social services law made by section two of this act  shall  take  effect
October 1, 2017.