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10  AN ACT relating to the child death review board; authorizing the estab-
11    lishment of local child death review boards; amending K.S.A. 22a-241,
12    22a-242, 22a-243 and 22a-244 and repealing the existing sections.
13
14  Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
15    Section 1.  K.S.A. 22a-241 is hereby amended to read as follows: 22a-
16  241. As used in K.S.A. 22a-241 through 22a-244, and amendments
17  thereto:
18    (a)  ``Child'' means a person less than 18 years of age.
19    (b)  ``Local review board'' means a local child death review board es-
20  tablished under K.S.A. 22a-243 and amendments thereto.
21    (b) (c)  ``Pathologist'' means a forensic pathologist, if available. Oth-
22  erwise, ``pathologist'' means a physician licensed to practice medicine and
23  surgery and qualified to conduct an autopsy.
24    (c) (d)  ``State review board'' means the state child death review board
25  established by K.S.A. 22a-243 and amendments thereto.
26    (d) (e)  ``Suspicious circumstances'' includes, but is not limited to,
27  abuse or neglect.
28    Sec. 2.  K.S.A. 22a-242 is hereby amended to read as follows: 22a-
29  242. (a) When a child dies, any law enforcement officer, health care pro-
30  vider or other person having knowledge of the death shall immediately
31  notify the coroner of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner
32  and circumstances of the death. If the notice to the coroner identifies any
33  suspicious circumstances or unknown cause, as described in the protocol
34  developed by the state review board under K.S.A. 22a-243 and amend-
35  ments thereto, the coroner shall immediately: (1) Investigate the death
36  to determine whether the child's death included any such suspicious cir-
37  cumstance or unknown cause; and (2) direct a pathologist to perform an
38  autopsy.
39    (b)  If, after investigation and an autopsy, the coroner determines that
40  the death of a child does not include any suspicious circumstances or
41  unknown cause, as described in the protocol developed by the state re-
42  view board under K.S.A. 22a-243 and amendments thereto, the coroner
43  shall complete and sign a nonsuspicious child death form.
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 1    (c)  If, after investigation and an autopsy, the coroner determines that
 2  the death of a child includes any suspicious circumstance or unknown
 3  cause, as described in the protocol developed by the state review board
 4  under K.S.A. 22a-243 and amendments thereto, the coroner shall notify,
 5  within 30 days, the chairperson of the state review board and the chair-
 6  person of the local review board and shall notify, within 24 hours, the
 7  county or district attorney of the county where the death of the child
 8  occurred.
 9    (d)  The coroner shall attempt to notify any parent or legal guardian
10  of the deceased child prior to the performance of an autopsy pursuant to
11  this section and attempt to notify any such parent or legal guardian of the
12  results of the autopsy.
13    (e)  A coroner shall not make a determination that the death of a child
14  less than one year of age was caused by sudden infant death syndrome
15  unless an autopsy is performed.
16    (f)  The fee for an autopsy performed under this section shall be the
17  usual and reasonable fee and travel allowance authorized under K.S.A.
18  22a-233 and amendments thereto and shall be paid from moneys available
19  therefor from appropriations to the department of health and environ-
20  ment. The reasonableness of all claims for payment of a fee for an autopsy
21  under this section shall be determined by the secretary of health and
22  environment.
23    Sec. 3.  K.S.A. 22a-243 is hereby amended to read as follows: 22a-
24  243. (a) There is hereby established a state child death review board,
25  which shall be composed of:
26    (1)  One member appointed by each of the following officers to rep-
27  resent the officer's agency: The attorney general, the director of the Kan-
28  sas bureau of investigation, the secretary of social and rehabilitation serv-
29  ices, the secretary of health and environment and the commissioner of
30  education;
31    (2)  three members appointed by the state board of healing arts, one
32  of whom shall be a district coroner and two of whom shall be physicians
33  licensed to practice medicine and surgery, one specializing in pathology
34  and the other specializing in pediatrics;
35    (3)  one person appointed by the attorney general to represent ad-
36  vocacy groups which focus attention on child abuse awareness and pre-
37  vention; and
38    (4)  one county or district attorney appointed by the Kansas county
39  and district attorneys association.
40    (b)  The chairperson of the state review board shall be the member
41  appointed by the attorney general to represent the office of the attorney
42  general.
43    (c)  The state child death review board shall be within the office of
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 1  the attorney general as a part thereof. All budgeting, purchasing and re-
 2  lated management functions of the board shall be administered under the
 3  direction and supervision of the attorney general. All vouchers for ex-
 4  penditures and all payrolls of the board shall be approved by the chair-
 5  person of the board and by the attorney general. The state review board
 6  shall establish and maintain an office in Topeka.
 7    (d)  The state review board shall meet at least annually to review all
 8  reports submitted to the board. The chairperson of the state review board
 9  may call a special meeting of the board at any time to review any report
10  of a child death.
11    (e)  Within the limits of appropriations therefor, the state review
12  board shall appoint an executive director who shall be in the unclassified
13  service of the Kansas civil service act and shall receive an annual salary
14  fixed by the state review board.
15    (f)  Within the limits of appropriations therefor, the state review board
16  may employ other persons who shall be in the classified service of the
17  Kansas civil service act.
18    (g)  Members of the state review board shall not receive compensa-
19  tion, subsistence allowances, mileage and expenses as provided by K.S.A.
20  75-3223 and amendments thereto for attending meetings or subcommit-
21  tee meetings of the board.
22    (h)  The state review board shall develop a protocol to be used by the
23  state review board and any local review board established pursuant to
24  subsection (j). The protocol shall include written guidelines for coroners
25  to use in identifying any suspicious deaths, procedures to be used by the
26  board in investigating child deaths, methods to ensure coordination and
27  cooperation among all agencies involved in child deaths and procedures
28  for facilitating prosecution of perpetrators when it appears the cause of
29  a child's death was from abuse or neglect. The protocol shall be adopted
30  by the state review board by rules and regulations.
31    (i)  The state review board shall submit an annual report to the gov-
32  ernor and the legislature on or before October 1 of each year, com-
33  mencing October 1993. Such report shall include the findings of the
34  board regarding reports of child deaths, the board's analysis and the
35  board's recommendations for improving child protection, including rec-
36  ommendations for modifying statutes, rules and regulations, policies and
37  procedures.
38    (j)  Recognizing that the prevention of child deaths is a community as
39  well as statewide interest, the state review board may encourage each
40  county to establish a local child death review board to review any child
41  death occurring within the county which includes a suspicious circum-
42  stance or unknown cause. The local review board shall operate pursuant
43  to the protocol developed by the state review board under subsection (h),
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 1  pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the state review board under
 2  subsection (l) and pursuant to guidelines established by the state review
 3  board. The local review board shall report to the state review board
 4  information acquired by the local review board as provided in rules
 5  and regulations adopted by the state review board.
 6    (j) (k)  Information acquired by, and records of, the state review board
 7  and the local review board shall be confidential, shall not be disclosed
 8  and shall not be subject to subpoena, discovery or introduction into evi-
 9  dence in any civil or criminal proceeding, except that:
10    (1)  Such information and records may be disclosed to any member
11  of the legislature or any legislative committee which has legislative re-
12  sponsibility of the enabling or appropriating legislation, carrying out such
13  member's or committee's official functions. The legislative committee, in
14  accordance with K.S.A. 75-4319 and amendments thereto, shall recess
15  for a closed or executive meeting to receive and discuss information re-
16  ceived by the committee pursuant to this subsection.; and
17    (2)  such information and records may be shared between the state
18  review board and the local review board.
19    (k) (l)  The state review board may adopt rules and regulations as
20  necessary to carry out the provisions of K.S.A. 22a-241 through 22a-244
21  and amendments thereto.
22    Sec. 4.  K.S.A. 22a-244 is hereby amended to read as follows: 22a-
23  244. (a) Within 72 hours after receipt of notification from a coroner pur-
24  suant to K.S.A. 22a-242, the chairperson of the state review board and
25  the chairperson of the local review board may activate the board their
26  respective boards to investigate and make a written report regarding the
27  death.
28    (b)  The state review board and the local review board shall have ac-
29  cess to all law enforcement investigative information regarding the death;
30  any autopsy records and coroner's investigative records relating to the
31  death; any medical records of the child; and any records of the depart-
32  ment of social and rehabilitation services or any other social service
33  agency which has provided services to the child or the child's family within
34  three years preceding the child's death.
35    (c)  The state review board and the local review board may apply to
36  the district court for the issuance of, and the district court may issue, a
37  subpoena to compel the production of any books, records or papers rel-
38  evant to the cause of any death being investigated by the state review
39  board or the local review board. Any books, records or papers received
40  by the state review board or the local review board pursuant to the sub-
41  poena shall be regarded as confidential and privileged information and
42  not subject to disclosure, except that such books, records or papers may
43  be shared between the state review board and the local review board.
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 1    (d)  The written reports of the state review board's report board and
 2  the local review board shall contain the circumstances leading up to the
 3  death and cause of death; any social service agency involvement prior to
 4  death, including the kinds of services delivered to the dead child or the
 5  child's parents, siblings or any other children in the home; the reasons
 6  for initial social service agency activity and the reasons for any termination
 7  of agency activities if involvement was terminated; whether court inter-
 8  vention had ever been sought and, if so, any action taken by the court;
 9  and recommendations for prevention of future death under similar cir-
10  cumstances.
11    (e)  Within 15 days of its activation pursuant to this section, the state
12  review board and the local review board shall complete and transmit a
13  copy of its written report to the county or district attorney of the county
14  in which the child's death occurred. If the death of the child occurred in
15  a different county than where the child resided, a copy of the report shall
16  be sent to the county or district attorney of the county where the child
17  resided or, if the child resided in another state, to the child protective
18  services agency of that state.
19    (f)  The state review board and the local review board shall maintain
20  permanent records of all written reports concerning child deaths.
21    (g)  The state review board or the local review board, or both, may
22  disclose its conclusions regarding a report of a child death but shall not
23  disclose any information received by the state review board or the local
24  review board which is not subject to public disclosure by the agency that
25  provided the information to the board.
26    (h)  Information, documents and records otherwise available from
27  other sources are not immune from discovery or use in a civil or criminal
28  action solely because they were presented during proceedings of the state
29  review board or the local review board. A person who presented infor-
30  mation before the state review board or the local review board or who is
31  a member of the state review board or the local review board shall not
32  be prevented from testifying about matters within the person's knowl-
33  edge.
34    Sec. 5.  K.S.A. 22a-241, 22a-242, 22a-243 and 22a-244 are hereby re-
35  pealed.
36    Sec. 6.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
37  publication in the statute book.