Art. 612.1.  Institutional abuse; corrective measures

A.  Upon a finding of institutional abuse or neglect, resulting from a single act or occurrence, the department shall require that the owner, operator, or administrator of the facility formulate a plan of remedial action.  Within thirty days of the department's request, the owner, operator, or administrator shall notify the agency in writing of a plan of remedial action.  Within ninety days of the request, the owner, operator, or administrator shall fully implement the plan for remedial action, unless otherwise agreed to by the department.

B.  Upon a finding of institutional abuse or neglect resulting from several incidents that have occurred at the facility, within seven days of the finding, the department shall require that the owner, operator, or administrator of the facility make appropriate administrative, personnel, or structural changes at the facility.  Within thirty days of such request, the owner, operator, or administrator of the facility shall notify the department of the progress in complying with the requirement.  The department and the owner, operator, or administrator shall establish a reasonable period in which the requested changes shall be completed.

C.  If an owner, operator, or administrator of a facility does not formulate or implement a plan for remedial action or make requested changes, the department shall recommend to the entity that licenses, oversees, certifies, or authorizes the operation of the facility, that appropriate sanctions or actions be imposed against the facility.

D.  If there is reasonable cause to believe that a teacher,  employee, volunteer, or other staff person has committed an act of child abuse or neglect, he shall be temporarily removed from his position at the institution or reassigned to other duties in which he will not have contact with the child victim or other children.

E.  In accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, the department shall adopt rules setting forth the procedures for the investigation and reporting of institutional abuse.  Such rules may provide for the investigation to be conducted by an agency that contracts with the state whose staff is trained to conduct such investigations.  The procedures may include the use of review teams to make recommendations to the department concerning the procedures for investigating institutional abuse or neglect.

Acts 2003, No. 567, §1, eff. upon allocation of adequate funding and subject to the approval of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.