SACRAMENTO – Bills authored by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) and Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) that address ongoing problems with resident and employee safety at California developmental centers and state hospitals are now headed to the governor’s desk. 

Assembly Bill (AB) 602 and Senate Bill (SB) 651 received unanimous bipartisan support in both houses of the Legislature.

AB 602 requires employees at these state facilities to report serious assault and abuse incidents directly to outside law enforcement agencies within two hours.

Currently, those reports are only made internally within two days and reporting to outside law enforcement is not mandatory.

“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.”

To facilitate investigations at the state’s developmental centers and state hospitals, which provide care for the state’s most seriously disabled residents, the bill will also require local law-enforcement to participate in specialized training for interacting with these resident populations.

SB 651 by Sen. Pavley would require victims of suspected abuse in state centers for the developmentally disabled and state hospitals to receive forensic exams from trained investigators at independent facilities. Independent exams could be performed at state facilities if it is safer for the patient.

“This bill will protect vulnerable Californians from abuse and hold both perpetrators and state caretakers accountable,” Pavley said.

In 2012, the investigative media organization California Watch found that the Office of Protective Services (OPS), the state's internal security service housed at state hospitals and developmental centers, had left a large number of abuse and sexual assault incidents uninvestigated. 

Earlier this year, the state auditor confirmed that OPS investigatory practices were substandard and noted that the agency had failed to implement recommendations from a 2002 attorney general report addressing many longstanding security issues.

Yamada, whose district includes the Sonoma Developmental Center and the Napa State Hospital where many of the most serious incidents have occurred, chairs the Assembly Select Committee on State Hospital and Developmental Center Safety.