Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE and LOCAL

FISCAL IMPACT

TITLE:            CONCERNING MANDATORY REPORTING OF ABUSE OF AT-RISK ADULTS.

Summary of Legislation

            The bill changes the responsibility for reporting mistreatment or self-abuse of at-risk adults by health care professionals and other professionals from a permissive admonition to a mandatory requirement to report. Additionally, the bill creates a class 3 misdemeanor for making a false report of abuse or neglect or failing to make a report of abuse or neglect to the county department of social services or the local law enforcement agency.

State Revenues

            The bill makes it a class 3 misdemeanor for making a false report of abuse or neglect or failing to make a report of abuse or neglect to the county department of social services or the local law enforcement agency. This provision could potentially impact General Fund revenues since all fine revenues are deposited into the state General Fund. The impact to the General Fund is expected to be minimal; however, such impact cannot be quantified at this time. The penalty for a class 3 misdemeanor is identified below:

State Expenditures

             The bill requires professions (listed in Section 26-3.1-102 (1) (b), C.R.S.) to make or initiate an oral report within 24 hours of an observation of mistreatment or self-neglect of an at-risk adult. Oral reports are to be followed by written reports within 48 hours. Reports are to be made to a county department of social services, or during nonbusiness hours, to a local law enforcement agency.

            Current Practice. County departments of social services are mandated by Section 26-3-1-103, C.R.S., to investigate all reports of abuse, exploitation or neglect of at-risk adults ages 18 and over. Reports are investigated by county departments through a face-to-face interview with the victim within 24 to 72 hours, followed by appropriate services as needed. Under current law, professions are urged to report. This fiscal note assumes that with the requirement to report, the number of reports will increase as will the number of investigations conducted by county departments of social services. An increase in investigations will result in an increased number of open cases.

NOTE:     DHS contacted a number of states to assess their experience with mandatory reporting. For those states with mandatory reporting, DHS was unable to get any reliable data to compare caseloads "before and after" mandatory reporting. However, the State of Illinois recently adopted mandatory reporting and the program was implemented January 1, 1999. Illinois indicates, that based on one month of operation, its caseloads have increased 25 percent.

            In January of this year, the Department of Human Services (DHS) conducted a survey with county departments of social services on the anticipated impact of mandatory reporting — 49 counties responded to the survey (78%). Table 1 on page 3 provides a sampling of the survey results and includes the responses of the ten largest counties. The table is not a comprehensive listing of all counties that participated in the survey, but it does reflect those counties with the highest caseloads and illustrates the degree to which each county expects mandatory reporting to impact their caseloads.

            Anticipated caseload increases for this fiscal note are based exclusively on the survey responses. More cases will require additional county staff. It is anticipated that additional reports due to mandatory reporting will start reaching counties in October 1999 — 9 months for FY 1999-00. The average length of current adult protection cases is 24 months, and the fiscal note assumes the same length will apply to mandatory reporting cases. Although the monthly caseload standard for Adult Protective Services is 17, the fiscal note is based on the current statewide average caseload per caseworker of 27. County FTE are appropriated according to formula and based on the average monthly caseload; for each additional caseworker, both supervisory and support staff are allocated.

            For FY 1999-00, an average of 105 new cases per month will cumulatively create an average monthly caseload of 350 (allowing for ongoing cases plus new investigations), requiring 21.5 FTE (13.0 caseworkers, 3.9 clerical support, 1.6 paraprofessionals, 0.5 administrative support staff, 0.6 administrators and 1.9 supervisors). Personal services and operating expenses are identified at $972,626. In addition to county staff, DHS will require $5,588 in FY 1999-00 to train new staff.

            For FY 2000-01, an average of 134 new cases per month will cumulatively create an average monthly caseload of 1,264, requiring 77.4 FTE. Personal services and operating expenses are identified at $3,426,061 and training costs are identified at $20,100.

Local Government Impact

            The counties' 20 percent share for Adult Protective Services will be $194,525 in FY 1999-00 and $685,212 in FY 2000-01.

            Creation of Misdemeanor Penalty. Courts have the discretion of imposing a fine or a sentence to the county jail in misdemeanor cases, thus, it is difficult to determine the impact of the bill’s provisions since no data is available to indicate whether judges are more likely to impose a fine or a county jail sentence. According to a 1993 report from the State Auditor’s Office, the average daily cost to house an offender in a county jail is $54. Consequently, the cost to the counties to house an offender convicted of a class 3 misdemeanor would range from $0 to $9,720 per incarceration.

State Appropriations

            The fiscal note indicates that for FY 1999-00, the Department of Human Services should receive an appropriation of $978,213. Of that amount, $783,688 is General Fund and $194,525 is cash funds exempt county/local funds.

Departments Contacted

            Human Services