2005 California Penal Code Sections 13875-13879.7 ACT

13875.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares that the clandestine
manufacture of methamphetamine and other controlled substances has
created a public health and safety crisis for children in California.
  An increasing number of children in this state are being abused,
neglected, and placed at highest risk of harm or death as a result of
their presence in homes or dwellings involved in clandestine drug
production and distribution.  In 1999, more than 1,200 children were
found in 2,400 clandestine laboratories seized by California law
enforcement agencies.  That same year, the number of drug-related
toxic "cleanups" in California reached an all-time high.  The actual
number of drug endangered children is unknown, since many clandestine
home labs are abandoned due to fire or explosion before they become
known to authorities.
   (b) The Legislature further finds and declares that the response
to children discovered in clandestine drug labs varies greatly from
county to county.  In many cases, the response has been inadequate.
Services may be fragmented, and untrained staff can fail to recognize
the danger to the child.  Without coordinated assessment and
intervention, children may be left in or returned to these deadly
environments.  The Legislature further finds and declares that the
Counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San
Bernardino, Butte, and Shasta have implemented multiagency response
teams consisting of law enforcement, prosecution and health or
children's service, that can respond most effectively to clandestine
laboratories in which children are present.
   (c) The Legislature further finds and declares that clandestine
laboratories are increasingly operated in single and multifamily
homes, garages, apartments, motels, and mobile homes in urban and
suburban neighborhoods.  The dangers to children, those in the lab
and nearby, are significantly higher in those counties where most
clandestine labs are located in residential neighborhoods.  The
Legislature recognizes the need to provide financial assistance for
those counties that have the highest number of clandestine laboratory
seizures with children present, and that have implemented
multiagency response teams for drug endangered children.
   (d) The Legislature intends to support the efforts of counties
that have implemented a multiagency response to drug endangered
children that includes, at a minimum, all of the following:
   (1) Staffing a multiagency team consisting of law enforcement,
prosecution, and health or children's services personnel or both
health and children's services personnel, to respond to drug
endangered child cases.
   (2) Coordinating immediate and ongoing medical treatment and
family services for drug endangered children under the direction of a
child services worker.
   (3) Vertically prosecuting drug manufacturers and sellers who
endanger children.
13876.  (a) There is hereby established in the agency or agencies
designated by the Director of Finance pursuant to Section 13820 a
pilot program of technical and financial assistance for counties,
designated the California Drug Endangered Child Protection Act.  All
funds appropriated to the agency or agencies designated by the
Director of Finance pursuant to Section 13820 for the purposes of
this chapter shall be administered and disbursed by the executive
director and shall to the greatest extent feasible be coordinated or
consolidated with federal funds that may be made available for these
purposes.  The agency or agencies designated by the Director of
Finance pursuant to Section 13820 may retain up to 5 percent of the
amount appropriated for purposes of this act to cover costs
associated with administering this program.
   (b) The executive director is authorized to allocate and award
funds to counties in which the California Drug Endangered Child
Protection Act is implemented in substantial compliance with the
policies and criteria set forth in this chapter.
   (c) The allocation and award of funds shall be made upon
application executed by the county's district attorney, or county
sheriff, if the sheriff is currently the lead agency in the county's
existing Drug Endangered Children Program, and approved by its board
of supervisors.  Funds disbursed under this chapter shall not
supplant local funds that would, in the absence of the California
Drug Endangered Child Protection Act, be made available to support
the functions of this program.  The district attorney or county
sheriff shall consult with each agency receiving funding as part of
the county's Drug Endangered Children Program to develop the budget
submitted to the agency or agencies designated by the Director of
Finance pursuant to Section 13820 for the purposes of implementing
this chapter.
   (d) Law enforcement, prosecution, health, and children's services
personnel working on multiagency teams established pursuant to this
chapter shall be considered "multidisciplinary personnel" as defined
in Section 18951 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and may share
information necessary for the protection of the minor.
13877.  District attorneys, or county sheriffs, if the sheriff is
currently the lead agency in the county's existing Drug Endangered
Children Program, receiving funds under this chapter shall coordinate
multiagency drug endangered child response teams in cooperation with
local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, and the county
departments of health and children's services.  Under the direction
of a district attorney, or county sheriff, if the sheriff is
currently the lead agency in the county's existing Drug Endangered
Children Program, a multiagency team's services shall include, but
not be limited to:
   (a) Prompt, multiagency response to cases involving drug
endangered children.  Teams shall have the ability to respond quickly
at any time, day or night, and to reduce the amount of time children
must wait for medical screening, treatment, and other necessary
services.
   (b) Develop, adopt, and regularly review local protocols for the
multiagency response to cases involving drug endangered children.
   (c) Convene a countywide drug endangered child protection task
force, that shall include, but not be limited to, representatives
from law enforcement, children's services, a county juvenile court,
hospitals and health services, fire and paramedics, education,
probation, prosecution, and the Victim-Witness Assistance Program.
Each countywide task force shall meet no less than twice yearly to
review local protocols and recommend local policies and procedures
for the protection, treatment, and continuing care of drug endangered
children.
   (d) Maintain complete records of each case for documentation and
evaluation.
13877.5.  The district attorney or county sheriff, if the sheriff is
currently the lead agency in the county's existing Drug Endangered
Children Program, of a county may utilize program funds made
available under this section to subcontract for specialized services
with local law enforcement or the county departments of health or
children's services, if local resources are not sufficient to staff
multiagency drug endangered child response teams at the level
required in subdivision (a) of Section 13877.  Those subcontracts
shall be in an amount sufficient to obtain federal matching funds for
the services of at least two full-time children's services workers,
and shall compensate participating agencies for the reasonable cost
of overtime or equipment, or both overtime and equipment, to respond
as a multiagency team.
13878.  District attorneys receiving funds under this chapter shall
concentrate enhanced prosecution efforts and resources upon
individuals who endanger children through exposure to the clandestine
manufacture of controlled substances, their precursors, and analogs
under Sections 11379.6 and 11383 of the Health and Safety Code.
Where appropriate, felony child endangerment charges shall be filed
in every case under subdivision (a) of Section 273a of the Penal Code
or special allegations under Section 11379.7 of the Health and
Safety Code.  Enhanced prosecution efforts and resources under the
Drug Endangered Child Protection Act shall include, but not be
limited to, all of the following:
   (a) "Vertical prosecutorial representation," whereby the
prosecutor who makes the initial filing or appearance in a drug
endangered child case will perform all subsequent court appearances
on that particular case through its conclusion, including the
sentencing phase.
   (b) Assignment of highly qualified investigators and prosecutors
to drug endangered child cases.
   (c) Significant reduction of caseloads for investigators and
prosecutors assigned to drug endangered child cases.
13879.  Commencing one year after the effective date of this
chapter, the agency or agencies designated by the Director of Finance
pursuant to Section 13820 shall make an annual report to the
Legislature on the fiscal and operational status of the program.
This report shall include, at a minimum, an evaluation of the number
of clandestine laboratories seized, the number of children located
and removed from clandestine laboratories, and the number of
prosecutions of individuals involved in the manufacturing and
distribution of methamphetamine or other controlled substances
manufactured at clandestine laboratories where children are present.
13879.5.  (a) Available funds may be used by the agency or agencies
designated by the Director of Finance pursuant to Section 13820 to
fund countywide Drug Endangered Children Programs in the Counties of
Butte, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and
Shasta, for the purpose of implementing this chapter.
   (b) (1) The funds available in subdivision (a) that remain after
funding the countywide programs specified in subdivision (a) may be
distributed to up to five additional counties to fund Drug Endangered
Children Programs.  These funds shall be distributed to counties on
a competitive grant basis.
   (2) The following factors shall be considered in awarding these
grants:
   (A) Size of the county.
   (B) Number of clandestine laboratories seized in the county.
   (C) Number of prosecutions brought against clandestine
laboratories at which children were found.
   (D) Number of children found at seized or prosecuted clandestine
laboratories.
   (E) Does the county have the demonstrated ability to utilize
multiagency emergency response teams to meet the immediate health and
safety needs of children found at clandestine drug laboratories, as
well as a demonstrated ability to prosecute the individuals operating
those laboratories.
   (3) One representative of each local agency involved in
implementing a county's Drug Endangered Children Program shall form
an executive committee, the function of which is to distribute the
grant funds awarded the county under subdivision (a) in a fair and
equitable manner and for the purposes of implementing this chapter.
   (4) The county health and welfare agencies shall be responsible
for coordinating health-related services for children living in
clandestine laboratories seized by a county drug endangered children
response team pursuant to this program.  The county health and
welfare agencies shall consult with the district attorney when
developing the health services protocols in order to ensure that the
health services protocols do not interfere with the law enforcement
functions of the drug endangered children response teams.
13879.7.  This chapter shall become inoperative on July 1, 2006,
and, as of January 1, 2007, is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2007, deletes
or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is
repealed.