Registered home care aides: disclosure of contact information.

Existing law establishes the Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act, which provides for the licensure and regulation of home care organizations, as defined, by the State Department of Social Services, and for the registration of home care aides. The act requires the department to establish and maintain a registry of registered home care aides and home care aide applicants on the department's Internet Web site, as provided. The act prohibits the registry on the Internet Web site from providing any additional, individually identifiable information about a registered home care aide or home care aide applicant. Existing law authorizes the department to maintain additional information for registered home care aides or home care aide applicants, as necessary for the administration of the act, but prohibits the department from making that information publicly available on the registry. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed 180 days, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would require, beginning September 1, 2018, an electronic copy of a registered home care aide's name, telephone number, and cellular telephone number, if available, on file with the department to be made available, upon request, to a labor organization, as specified. The bill would prohibit a labor organization from using or disclosing this information, as specified. The bill would also require the department to establish a simple opt-out procedure by which a registered home care aide may request that his or her contact information on file with the department not be disclosed in response to a request by a labor organization. The bill would require the department to provide a written notice with information about the opt-out procedure to registered home care aides, as specified. Because a violation of the Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act is punishable as a misdemeanor and this bill would expand requirements under the act, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.