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

                                 7148--A

                       2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                             April 13, 2011
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of A. SCARBOROUGH, McENENY, CLARK, N. RIVERA, ROSEN-
  THAL, JAFFEE, MILLMAN, PAULIN, COOK -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of  A.
  BOYLAND,  CAMARA, MAISEL, SCHIMEL, TITONE -- read once and referred to
  the Committee on Children and Families -- recommitted to the Committee
  on Children and Families in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
  committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and
  recommitted to said committee

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 FOURTEEN.   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 EIGHTEEN.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD03578-03-1

A. 7148--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, 2014.