Committee hears sweeping child‑welfare package; panel adopts targeted amendments and schedules further drafting

The Senate Judiciary Committee spent extended time on Senate Bill 42, an omnibus child‑welfare package that would implement the Children’s Addiction Recovery Act (CARA), move some programs to the Department of Health, seek Families First Prevention Act approval from the federal government, require strategic planning for foster-care services, and strengthen confidentiality and worker-protection provisions.

Sponsor statements and multiple agency officials described the bill as an attempt to use a public-health approach for substance-exposed newborns, expand prevention services and improve coordination across state agencies. Gina de Blasio, cabinet secretary-designate for the Department of Health, told the committee the department would use a public‑health model and CARA navigators to provide intensive case management and coordinate with hospitals and managed-care organizations.

“...we will be taking a public health approach to the issue with our CARA navigators who will provide intensive case management, work very closely with the families,” de Blasio said.

The bill also contains criminal-code language to elevate certain assault or battery crimes against child-welfare workers analogous to protections already in statute for school personnel and health-care workers. Committee members debated language that would raise penalties for assault and aggravated assault in workplace contexts; sponsors said the draft copied language used to protect school personnel.

Members flagged several drafting and policy issues. Senators requested clearer definitions and placement of guardian and parental power‑of‑attorney language (to be limited to the CARA context rather than across the entire Children’s Code), asked that the plan-of-safe-care provisions be streamlined and moved where rules belong, and pressed for clarity on who must sign the plan and who is responsible for follow-up. Committee members insisted family assessments and follow-up visits be timely; sponsors said rulemaking would set the operational details and that navigators and MCO care coordinators would follow cases and connect families with services.

Committee action included adopting a series of technical and substantive amendments: replacements of terms (for example, changing 'considering' to 'treating' in the insurer language), moving language about parental powers of attorney so it applies to CARA only, striking a subsection of enhanced aggravated-battery language the committee found redundant, and adding certified-mail language for certain notices regarding returned fees in other bill sections rolled into SB 42.

Multiple agency officials — including Teresa Gonzales of the Children, Youth and Families Department and Gina de Blasio for the Department of Health — participated in committee discussion, describing operational and confidentiality changes and pointing to a pending Families First plan application the state has submitted to the federal government. Sponsors and secretaries said the plan should be approved by federal authorities by April and that rules will be developed to implement several operational details. Committee members directed sponsors and staff to tidy drafting; sponsors agreed to prepare a revised committee substitute for future consideration.

Committee members did not finalize the bill on the record in this hearing; sponsors agreed to return with updated statutory text and staff support for further drafting.

Votes/amendments: committee adopted multiple sponsor-friendly amendments and a number of member-proposed clarifications and struck a subsection of the assault/battery enhancement language; committee scheduled follow-up drafting before final action.