Protection and advocacy agency.

Existing law prescribes, in accordance with federal law, the powers of the protection and advocacy agency, which is a private, nonprofit corporation, charged with protecting and advocating for the rights of persons with developmental disabilities and mental disorders. Under existing law, a protection and advocacy agency's powers include the authority to pursue legal, administrative, and other appropriate remedies to ensure the protection of the rights of persons with developmental disabilities and persons with mental illness, to provide information and referral to programs and services addressing the needs of persons with developmental disabilities and persons with mental illness, and to investigate any incident of abuse or neglect of persons with developmental disabilities or persons with mental illness if the complaints are reported to the protection and advocacy agency or if probable cause exists to believe that abuse or neglect has occurred. This bill would make various changes to the protection and advocacy agency's access to facilities, programs, and records by, among other things, authorizing the protection and advocacy agency to exercise the authority to take certain actions if the agency receives a complaint or report of alleged abuse or neglect or makes a related determination, as described. The authority would include monitoring a facility's, program's, or service provider's compliance with respect to the rights and safety of individuals with disabilities, requiring a facility, program, or service provider to provide immediate access to interview any individual with a disability unless providing immediate access would interfere with treatment or therapy to be provided to the individual, and providing the protection and advocacy agency with additional access to the records of persons with a disability. The bill would also require the protection and advocacy agency to obtain written consent from specified individuals before releasing information concerning them to a person not otherwise authorized to receive it. The bill would permit the sharing of health information and records with a protection and advocacy agency to the extent the sharing is required by law and complies with the requirements of that law.