SACRAMENTO – The Assembly passed legislation last week aimed at addressing ongoing problems with resident and employee safety at California developmental centers and state hospitals.

The bill was passed to the Senate on a unanimous, bipartisan vote.

AB 602, by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Davis), would require employees at state hospitals and developmental centers to report serious assault and abuse incidents directly to outside law enforcement agencies within two hours. Currently, those reports are made internally within 48 hours.

“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 any other citizen.”

To facilitate investigations at the state’s developmental centers and state hospitals, which provide care for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents, AB 602 will also require local law enforcement to participate in specialized training.

In 2012, after the investigative media organization California Watch found that the Office of Protective Services, the state's internal security body housed at state hospitals and developmental centers, had left a large number of abuse and sexual assault incidents uninvestigated, legislative leaders proposed several bills to increase transparency and expedite reports of abuse.

Yamada's district includes the Sonoma Developmental Center and the Napa State Hospital where many of the most serious incidents have occurred.

She also chairs the Assembly Select Committee on State Hospital and Developmental Center Safety, which will convene an oversight hearing in late June to coincide with the release of a state audit of the Office of Protective Services.

Yamada also is seeking to participate in Task Force on the Future of State Developmental Centers convened by the California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Diana S. Dooley.