CHILD FATALITY EXAMINER S.B. 259 (S-1): FLOOR SUMMARY
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Senate Bill 259 (Substitute S-1 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)
Sponsor: Senator Randy Richardville
Committee: Families and Human Services

CONTENT
The bill would create the "Legislative Child Fatality Review Act" to establish the Office of the Legislative Child Fatality Examiner within the Legislative Council.


At the request of both the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Legislative Council would have to contract for the services of a child fatality examiner to carry out the provisions of the Act, or appoint a designee to serve as the child fatality examiner, who would serve at the pleasure of the Legislative Council.


The principal purpose of the examiner would be to identify specific causes and systemic problems that contribute to the mortality of children in foster care.


The office of the examiner would have to request, and the examiner would have to review, the reports published by the Children's Ombudsman, the State advisory committee, information from the public registry, and any other source of information on the death of a child while he or she was under a Michigan court's jurisdiction. Upon completing the review, the examiner would have to report to the standing committees of the Legislature with jurisdiction over matters pertaining to child protection.


The bill is tie-barred to Senate Bill 257, which would amend the Child Protection Law to require the Department of Human Services to establish and maintain a publicly accessible registry of statistical information regarding children's deaths.

Legislative Analyst: Curtis Walker

FISCAL IMPACT
Depending on the number of employees hired, the cost to maintain the proposed Office of the Legislative Child Fatality Examiner could likely run between $500,000 and $1.0 million annually. Most recently the Office of the Legislative Corrections Ombudsman was created within the Legislative Council at a cost of nearly $400,000.


Date Completed: 3-19-09 Fiscal Analyst: Joe Carrasco

Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. sb259/0910