CHILDREN'S OMBUDSMAN; INVESTIGATIONS                              H.B. 5248 (H-2) & 5249:

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                     REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

House Bill 5248 (Substitute H-2 as reported without amendment)

House Bill 5249 (as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Representative Matt Hall (H.B. 5248)

               Representative Andrea K. Schroeder (H.B. 5249)

House Committee:  Families, Children, and Seniors

                             Ways and Means

Senate Committee:  Families, Seniors and Veterans

CONTENT

House Bill 5249 would amend the Children's Ombudsman Act to do the following:

-- Require the Children's Ombudsman to conduct a preliminary investigation, instead of an investigation, for all child fatality cases that occurred or are alleged to have occurred because of child abuse or neglect.

-- After completing a preliminary investigation, require the Ombudsman to determine whether a full investigation was necessary, and if so, require the Ombudsman to open a full investigation.

House Bill 5248 (H-2) would amend the Children's Ombudsman Act to require the Ombudsman, after redacting confidential information, to release his or her findings, recommendations, and the agency responses to the public not more than 30 days after the case closure date of a case investigated by the Office of Children's Ombudsman (OCO).

MCL 722.929 (H.B. 5248)                                          Legislative Analyst:  Tyler VanHuyse

       722.922 & 722.926 (H.B. 5249)             

FISCAL IMPACT

House Bill 5249 could have a negligible fiscal impact on the State. The new provision would require the OCO, in all child fatality cases, to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine if a full investigation were warranted. This could result in fewer full investigations resulting in a slight savings to the OCO; however the costs of the required preliminary investigations could negate those savings.

House Bill 5248 (H-2) likely would have a significant fiscal impact on the OCO in the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget. It would have no fiscal impact on local units of government.

The Office would have to publish the required documents online. The cost of posting and maintaining documents includes fixed as well as variable costs based on the number of times the document is viewed or downloaded. As a result, the magnitude of the impact would be determined by the number of documents published and the number of times each document was retrieved. Initial cost estimates indicate additional annual expenses of between several hundred and several thousand dollars This would represent an increase of 1% or more in office support costs based on current appropriations.

Date Completed:  7-29-20                                                   Fiscal Analyst:  Joe Carrasco

                                                                                                 Elizabeth Raczkowski

This 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.