BILL NUMBER: S7452A
SPONSOR: PERSAUD
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to the establish-
ment and powers and duties of the council on children and families
 
PURPOSE OF THE BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to update the Council on Children and Fami-
lies (CCF) statute to clarify its established role as a neutral agency,
as a coordinator of member child-serving state agencies to provide more
efficient and effective services to promote the well-being of children
and families.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sections 1 and 2 amend Social Services Law (SSL) § 483 and § 483-a,
respectively. These sections add a "legislative purpose" to articulate
CCF's role as a neutral, coordinating agency and make clarifying and
technical corrections to the establishment and functioning of the agen-
cy.
Section 3 amends SSL § 483-b to update CCF's powers to be consistent
with current practice. Section 4 sets forth an immediate effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The law establishing CCF was last updated in 2003. During the interven-
ing decades, much has changed. This proposal therefore updates the laws
governing CCF's establishment and operations to reflect current times.
CCF is a small state agency that serves a unique role in state govern-
ment. As a neutral agency, CCF facilitates collaboration and alignment
among the state's health, education, and human services systems to
facilitate the development of systems of care that are coordinated,
strength-based, prevention-oriented, and responsive to the needs of
children and families. This role is articulated in the proposal, with
the addition of a purpose to the CCF statute.
To reflect CCF's neutrality, and to norm CCF with other similar agen-
cies, this proposal amends the law to specify that the agency is part of
the executive department, rather than naming the larger agency that
administratively hosts CCF. This change aligns with other smaller state
agencies that are also administratively hosted but do not identify their
host agency in law.1
This proposal makes other technical corrections to reflect current prac-
tice. For instance, the proposal corrects the reference to the head of
CCF, changing the title of the position from "CEO" to "executive direc-
tor". It also adds a definition section to clarify key terms and
provides section headings to make the law easier to follow.
In addition, this proposal updates the names of CCF member state
agencies2 that have changed since CCF's statute was last updated. Two
CCF member agencies have new names (Office of Addiction Services and
Supports and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities), and
two other agencies were reconfigured. The Justice Center for the
Protection of People with Special Needs was created, replacing the
former "Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with
Disabilities" and the Office for Probation and Correctional Alternatives
became part of the Division of Criminal Justice Services (formerly OPCA
was a separate CCF member agency).
Lastly, this proposal adds the Council on Developmental Disabilities
(CDD) to the group of CCF member state agencies, as the work of CDD
aligns and supports the work of CCF around system change and interagency
capacity-building efforts.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: A. 8322/S. 7452 (Passed Senate in 2023)
Fiscal implications:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
1 Examples of agencies that are hosted that do not name their host agen-
cies in law include the Council of Arts, the Council on Developmental
Disabilities, the Office for the Protection of Domestic Violence, and
the Office of Veteran Affairs.
CCF member agencies include the Office of Children and Family Services
(OCFS), Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), Office of
Mental Health (OMH), Office for People with Developmental Disabilities
(OPWDD), Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS), State Educa-
tion Department (SED), Department of Health (DOH), Division of Criminal
Justice Services (DCJS), Justice Center for the Protection of People
with Special Needs (Justice Center), State Office for the Aging (SOFA),
and Department of Labor (DOL).

Statutes affected:
S7452: 483-a social services law, 483-b social services law
S7452A: 483-a social services law, 483-b social services law