H.F. 191 Section 1. Section 232.71B, subsection 4, paragraph e, Code 1 2011, is amended to read as follows: 2 e. (1) An interview of the person alleged to have committed 3 the child abuse, if the person’s identity and location are 4 known. The offer of an interview shall be made to the person 5 prior to any consideration or determination being made that 6 the person committed the alleged abuse. The person shall be 7 informed of the complaint or allegation made regarding the 8 person. The person shall be informed in a manner that protects 9 the confidentiality rights of the individual who reported the 10 child abuse or provided information as part of the assessment 11 process. The purpose of the interview shall be to provide the 12 person with the opportunity to explain or rebut the allegations 13 of the child abuse report or other allegations made during 14 the assessment. The court may waive the requirement to offer 15 the interview only for good cause. The person offered an 16 interview, or the person’s attorney on the person’s behalf, may 17 decline the offer of an interview of the person or terminate an 18 interview at any time . 19 (2) Prior to conducting the interview, the child protection 20 worker shall provide written notification to the person that 21 the person is being interviewed for having been alleged to 22 have committed child abuse including notification of the 23 nature of the child abuse being assessed, the possible civil 24 administrative consequences of founded abuse, the requirement 25 that the department forward a report to law enforcement if the 26 department’s assessment reveals a potential criminal offense, 27 and that the person has the right to retain legal counsel at 28 the person’s expense. If the alleged child abuse is related 29 to the person’s employment, the person may choose to have 30 legal counsel, union representation, or any other desired 31 representative of the person or the person’s employer present 32 during the interview. The person alleged to have committed the 33 child abuse shall inform the child protection worker of the 34 representatives desired to be present during the interview and 35 -1- LSB 1759HH (2) 84 jp/nh 1/ 7

H.F. 191 not delay the interview by more than five working days to make 1 arrangements for the person’s representatives to be present at 2 the interview. Any employer representative shall be informed 3 of the requirement to maintain strict confidentiality and of 4 the prohibition against redissemination of such information 5 pursuant to chapter 235A. 6 (3) At the interview, the child protection worker shall 7 request and the person alleged to have committed the child 8 abuse shall provide the person’s most current contact 9 information to facilitate provision of the results of the 10 assessment to the person. 11 Sec. 2. Section 232.71B, subsection 6, Code 2011, is amended 12 to read as follows: 13 6. Facility , or school , or program visit. 14 a. The assessment may include a visit to a facility or 15 program providing care to the child named in the report or to 16 any public or private school subject to the authority of the 17 department of education where the child named in the report 18 is located. The administrator of a facility or program , or 19 a public or private school shall cooperate with the child 20 protection worker by providing confidential access to the child 21 named in the report for the purpose of interviewing the child, 22 and shall allow the child protection worker confidential access 23 to other children for the purpose of conducting interviews in 24 order to obtain relevant information. The child protection 25 worker may observe a child named in a report in accordance with 26 the provisions of section 232.68, subsection 3 , paragraph “b” . 27 A witness shall be present during an observation of a child. 28 Any child aged ten years of age or older can terminate contact 29 with the child protection worker by stating or indicating 30 the child’s wish to discontinue the contact. The immunity 31 granted by section 232.73 applies to acts or omissions in good 32 faith of administrators and their facilities , programs, or 33 school districts for cooperating in an assessment and allowing 34 confidential access to a child. 35 -2- LSB 1759HH (2) 84 jp/nh 2/ 7

H.F. 191 b. If the person alleged to have committed the child 1 abuse is employed by a facility, program, or school and the 2 child protection worker believes the situation involves an 3 immediate danger to the public health, safety, or welfare 4 requiring immediate agency action to seek emergency placement 5 on the central registry, the department may utilize emergency 6 adjudicative proceedings pursuant to section 17A.18A. 7 c. A child protection worker may enter any facility, 8 program, or school without a warrant and may examine all 9 records pertaining to children who attend, employees, former 10 employees, and the person alleged to have committed the child 11 abuse. 12 d. Independent of the department’s assessment, the facility, 13 program, or school employing the person alleged to have 14 committed the child abuse shall conduct an investigation of 15 the alleged child abuse and determine what, if any, employment 16 action should be taken including but not limited to placing the 17 person on administrative leave or reassigning or terminating 18 the person as a result of the investigation by the facility, 19 program, or school. If the facility, program, or school 20 terminates the person as a result of the investigation by 21 the facility, program, or school or the person resigns, the 22 person shall disclose such termination or investigation to any 23 prospective facility, program, or school employer. Such a 24 person who fails to disclose such termination or investigation 25 commits a simple misdemeanor. 26 Sec. 3. Section 232.71B, subsection 12, paragraph g, Code 27 2011, is amended to read as follows: 28 g. (1) The department shall notify each subject of 29 the child abuse report, as identified in section 235A.15, 30 subsection 2 , paragraph “a” , of the results of the assessment, 31 of the subject’s right, pursuant to section 235A.19 , to 32 correct the report data or disposition data which refers to the 33 subject, and of the procedures to correct the data. The notice 34 shall also detail the consequences of placement of the person’s 35 -3- LSB 1759HH (2) 84 jp/nh 3/ 7

H.F. 191 name on the central child abuse registry. 1 (2) If the alleged child abuse is employment-related, the 2 department shall also notify the employer of the results of the 3 assessment. 4 Sec. 4. Section 235A.19, subsection 2, paragraph a, Code 5 2011, is amended to read as follows: 6 a. (1) A subject of a child abuse report may file with the 7 department within six months of the date of the notice of the 8 results of an assessment performed in accordance with section 9 232.71B , a written statement to the effect that report data and 10 disposition data referring to the subject is in whole or in 11 part erroneous, and may request a correction of that data or of 12 the findings of the assessment report. The department shall 13 provide the subject with an opportunity for an evidentiary a 14 contested case hearing pursuant to chapter 17A to correct the 15 data or the findings, unless the department corrects the data 16 or findings as requested. The department may defer the hearing 17 until the conclusion of a pending juvenile or district court 18 case relating to the data or findings. 19 (2) In lieu of filing under subparagraph (1), if the subject 20 of a child abuse report files such a request for correction 21 of report data and disposition data or of the findings of the 22 assessment report within fifteen days of the date of the notice 23 of the results of an assessment, the department shall not place 24 child abuse information referring to the subject on the central 25 abuse registry until final agency action is taken. A contested 26 case hearing on the request shall be held within sixty days of 27 the request. The subject may extend the hearing timeframe by 28 thirty days one time. Additional requests for an extension 29 must be agreed upon by all parties or necessitated by good 30 cause. The administrative law judge’s proposed decision shall 31 be issued within thirty days of the contested case hearing. 32 If further review of the decision is not requested before the 33 proposed decision becomes final, the proposed decision shall be 34 deemed final agency action. If further review is requested, 35 -4- LSB 1759HH (2) 84 jp/nh 4/ 7

H.F. 191 the department’s final agency action shall occur within thirty 1 days of the issuance of the administrative law judge’s proposed 2 decision. Upon final agency action, further appeal rights 3 shall be governed by subsection 3. 4 Sec. 5. Section 235A.19, subsection 3, Code 2011, is amended 5 to read as follows: 6 3. The subject of a child abuse report may appeal the 7 final agency decision resulting from a hearing held pursuant 8 to subsection 2 to the district court of Polk county or to the 9 district court of the district in which the subject of the 10 child abuse report resides. Immediately upon appeal the court 11 shall order the department to file with the court a certified 12 copy of the report data or disposition data. Appeal shall be 13 taken in accordance with chapter 17A . 14 EXPLANATION 15 This bill relates to due process requirements associated 16 with child abuse assessments performed by the department of 17 human services. 18 Code section 232.71B, relating to assessments performed 19 by the department in response to a report of child abuse, 20 is amended in several ways. Existing requirements for an 21 interview of a person alleged to have committed the child 22 abuse are expanded to allow the subject to terminate an 23 interview at any time, to require written notification of the 24 person providing information about the process, procedural 25 protections, potential effects of a child abuse finding, and to 26 allow representatives of the person or the person’s employer 27 to be present at the interview. The child protection worker 28 is required to request and the person to provide contact 29 information. 30 Existing requirements for a child protection worker’s visit 31 to a facility providing care to the child named in the report 32 are expanded to include a program providing the care. If the 33 person alleged to have committed the child abuse is employed by 34 a facility, program, or school and the child protection worker 35 -5- LSB 1759HH (2) 84 jp/nh 5/ 7

H.F. 191 believes the situation involves an immediate danger to the 1 public health, safety, or welfare requiring immediate placement 2 on the child abuse registry, the department may utilize an 3 emergency adjudicative proceeding pursuant to section 17A.18A. 4 A child protection worker may enter any facility, program, 5 or school without a warrant and examine all records pertaining 6 to children who attend, employees, former employees, and the 7 person alleged to have committed the child abuse. 8 Independent of the department’s assessment, the facility, 9 program, or school employing the person alleged to have 10 committed the child abuse is required to conduct an 11 investigation of the alleged child abuse and determine what, 12 if any, employment action should be taken including but not 13 limited to placing the person on administrative leave or 14 reassigning or terminating the person as a result of the 15 investigation. If the facility, program, or school terminates 16 the person or the person resigns, the person is required to 17 disclose such termination or investigation to any prospective 18 facility, program, or school employer. A person who fails to 19 disclose such termination or investigation commits a simple 20 misdemeanor. A simple misdemeanor is punishable by confinement 21 for no more than 30 days or a fine of at least $65 but not more 22 than $625 or by both. 23 The requirements of the department to notify subjects of 24 a child abuse report (these persons or their attorneys: the 25 child, the child’s parent, guardian, or legal custodian, and 26 the person named in a report as having abused a child) in Code 27 section 232.71B are expanded to also include the employer if 28 the abuse is employment-related. 29 Code section 235A.19, relating to requests for correction 30 or expungement and appeals of child abuse findings or data, is 31 amended to allow the subject of a child abuse report to file 32 an expedited request. The procedure in current law requires 33 the request to be filed within six months of the issuance date 34 of the notice of assessment results. The expedited process in 35 -6- LSB 1759HH (2) 84 jp/nh 6/ 7

H.F. 191 the bill can be used in lieu of the procedure under current law 1 and the request must be filed within 15 days of the notice. 2 The request is considered in a contested case hearing which 3 must be held within 60 days and the department is prohibited 4 from placing the child abuse information on the registry until 5 the final agency action concerning the hearing decision. The 6 hearing timeframe can be extended 30 days by the subject 7 one time. Other extensions must be by mutual agreement or 8 necessitated by good cause. The administrative law judge’s 9 proposed decision is required within 30 days of the hearing and 10 if further review of that decision is requested, the agency 11 decision is required within 30 days of the proposed decision. 12 Current law in section 235A.19, subsection 3, authorizes an 13 appeal of the decision from a hearing to the district court. 14 This provision is amended to also reference the bill’s new 15 expedited process. 16 -7- LSB 1759HH (2) 84 jp/nh 7/ 7