PCA-CA’s 1st Bill Signed by Governor Schwarzenegger: SB 1668 Becomes Law!

The new law will require each Child Death Review Team to provide the public with its findings, conclusions, and recommendations, including aggregate statistical data on the incidences and causes of child deaths, on an annual basis. There are no requirements for the format in which the information is made public.

The new law will also protect the confidentiality of certain information known to Child Death Review Teams. Specifically, the last names of deceased children, and the full names of their siblings, shall be withheld from the team’s reports unless those names have already been publicly disclosed or are required to be disclosed by state law, federal law, or court order.  In addition, records already protected by state or federal law (such as by HIPAA) will remain protected when in the hands of a Child Death Review Team.

While the privacy protections in this bill are weaker than PCA CA originally proposed, we believe that SB 1668 continues to be a positive step for Child Death Review Teams, primarily because it will raise the profile of these teams and the issue of child death.  SB 1668 is the first bill which PCA CA has ever sponsored and seen signed into law, making this a historic moment.  We thank all who have supported SB 1668 and look forward to many more successful bills in the future!

To view the Chaptered SB 1668, click here.