SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) recently introduced AB 602, legislation requiring state hospitals and developmental centers to report abuse, neglect, sexual assault and other serious incidents directly to outside law enforcement agencies.

“The current internal process to report and investigate these violations is inadequate,” Assemblymember Yamada said. “These matters should be investigated by local law enforcement agencies to ensure that state hospital and developmental center residents have access to the same protections as those who do not reside in state institutions.”

Incidents at the state’s developmental centers, which provide care for persons with serious developmental disabilities, and at State Hospitals, for persons suffering from mental illness, are initially reported to the Office of Protective Services (OPS), a state-funded law enforcement agency housed at each facility.

OPS’s ability to ensure resident safety, however, has been under scrutiny over the past decade.

In 2002, a report commissioned by the State Attorney General’s Office found a number of problems with the agency, known then as the Law Enforcement Division, including inadequate officer training and a lack of experience dealing with crime scenes.

In 2012, after the investigative media organization California Watch found that OPS had left a large number of abuse and sexual assault incidents uninvestigated, a joint hearing of the Senate Human Services Committee and a Budget subcommittee was convened to question agency officials.

Yamada, whose district includes the Sonoma Developmental Center, where many of the incidents are said to have occurred, and the Napa State Hospital, where a patient murdered  a psychiatric technician in 2010, was recently appointed by Speaker John A. Perez to Chair the Assembly Select Committee on State Hospital and Developmental Center Safety to address ongoing concerns at these institutions statewide.

Joining Yamada on the Select Committee are Assemblymembers Katcho Achadjian (R-San Luis Obispo), Ian Calderon (D-Whittier), Wes Chesbro (D-North Coast), Marc Levine (D-San Rafael), Alan Mansoor (R-Costa Mesa) and Norma Torres (D-Pomona).