SF0079 • 2023

Plan of safe care-newborns.

AN ACT relating to public health and safety; requiring health care providers to develop plans of safe care for infants as specified; requiring hospitals to report to the department of family services as specified; providing definitions; requiring rulemaking; and providing for effective dates.

Children Healthcare Parental Rights

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Senator Baldwin
Last action: 2023-03-02
Official status: enrolled
Effective date: 1/1/2024

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and text do not provide specific information on how families will be supported in implementing safe care plans or how effectiveness of the plans will be measured.

Plan for Safe Care for Newborns

This law requires health care providers to create plans of safe care for infants born or suspected of being affected by substance use issues due to prenatal exposure to drugs or alcohol.

What This Bill Does

Requires health care providers to develop a plan of safe care for infants born with or identified prenatally as being affected by substance abuse or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal drug or alcohol exposure.
Ensures that the plan is made in cooperation with the infant's parents, family members, or guardians and prioritizes keeping the baby at home if it’s safe.
Includes addressing health needs and treatment for both the infant and affected caregivers, as well as making sure appropriate referrals are given after discharge from a hospital.
Requires that each plan of safe care has an end date not exceeding one year but allows for new plans to be made if needed.

Who It Names or Affects

Health care providers who must create these plans.
Infants born with or suspected of being affected by substance use issues from prenatal exposure.
Parents, families, and guardians involved in the planning process.

Terms To Know

Plan of safe care: A plan designed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of an infant with prenatal substance use exposure after leaving hospital care.
Patient care team: A group of health care providers who work together to provide medical services for a patient.

Limits and Unknowns

The law does not specify what happens if parents refuse to cooperate with the plan.
It is unclear how the effectiveness and outcomes of these plans will be measured or reported.
There are no details on how the state will support families in implementing the safe care plans.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

SF0079H2001

2nd reading • Representative Locke

Failed

Plain English: The amendment adds a provision that allows parents to request a second opinion from another hospital's licensed health care provider about whether their infant has been affected by substance abuse or withdrawal symptoms due to prenatal drug or alcohol exposure before agreeing to the plan of safe care.

Adds a requirement for hospitals to allow parents to seek a second opinion on whether their newborn is affected by substance abuse or withdrawal from another hospital's licensed health care provider.

The amendment text does not specify how the process of obtaining a second opinion will be implemented or what happens if there are conflicting opinions between hospitals.

SF0079H2002

2nd reading • Representative Bear

Failed

Plain English: The amendment requires health care providers to inform parents if they will be added to the Wyoming central registry for child abuse and neglect, and it explains how parents can remove themselves from this list.

Adds a requirement that parents must be told if they might go on the Wyoming central registry of abuse and neglect.
Explains that parents should also know about ways to get off the registry.

The amendment does not provide details on how parents can remove themselves from the registry, which may need further clarification or additional rules.

SF0079H2003

2nd reading • Representative Pendergraft

Adopted

Plain English: The amendment adds a requirement that plans of safe care for infants must have an end date within one year and allows for new plans to be created after the first one ends.

Plans of safe care for newborns must now include a termination date not more than one year from when the plan starts.
After the initial plan ends, healthcare providers can create new plans of safe care with the patient's family or guardians.

SF0079H2004

2nd reading • Representative Penn

Adopted

Plain English: The amendment adds language to prioritize keeping infants in their homes when developing plans of safe care and specifies conditions under which a diagnosis of neonatal abstinence syndrome triggers certain actions.

Adds that health care providers must give priority to keeping the infant at home as long as it is safe for the baby's well-being.
Specifies that if a medical team diagnoses neonatal abstinence syndrome, additional reporting or action may be required.

The exact nature of the actions triggered by diagnosing neonatal abstinence syndrome is not detailed in the amendment text.

SF0079H2005

2nd reading • Representative Allemand

Failed

Plain English: The amendment adds a provision for reimbursing parents' legal fees if they are wrongly accused of substance abuse during pregnancy and assigned a plan of safe care or placed on the central registry.

Adds a new section (g) to provide reimbursement for legal fees when a parent is incorrectly accused of alcohol or drug use during pregnancy and faces consequences like being assigned a plan of safe care or added to the abuse and neglect registry.

The amendment does not specify how much in legal fees will be reimbursed, leaving that detail for future determination.
It is unclear what process will be used to determine if an allegation was erroneous.

SF0079H3001

3rd reading • Representative Penn

Adopted

Plain English: The amendment removes specific language from an existing bill about plans of safe care for newborns.

Removes certain provisions previously added to the bill during its second reading.

The exact nature and content of the removed provisions are not provided in the amendment text, making it unclear what specific changes were made or why they were deleted.

SF0079HW001

Committee of the Whole • Representative Zwonitzer, Dn

Adopted

Plain English: The amendment changes the language in a bill to include newborns who were identified as needing special care before they were born.

Adds the phrase ', or identified prenatally,' after 'identified' on page 2, line 23 of the bill.

The amendment does not provide additional context about what specific changes this addition will cause in the overall requirements of the bill.

SF0079SS001

Standing Committee • Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee

Adopted

Plain English: The amendment changes the bill to require health care providers, not just physicians, to develop plans of safe care for infants and specifies that these plans should be made prenatally or when parents and families need them.

Replaces 'physicians' with 'health care providers' in the requirement to develop plans of safe care for infants.
Adds the phrase 'Prenatally or' before the conditions under which plans of safe care should be developed.

The amendment text does not specify what additional types of health care providers will now be required to create these plans, beyond physicians.

Bill History

2023-03-02 LSO
Assigned Chapter Number 143
2023-03-02 Governor
Governor Signed SEA No. 0069
2023-02-27 House
H Speaker Signed SEA No. 0069
2023-02-27 Senate
S President Signed SEA No. 0069
2023-02-27 LSO
Assigned Number SEA No. 0069
2023-02-27 Senate
S Concur:Passed 31-0-0-0-0
2023-02-24 Senate
S Received for Concurrence
2023-02-24 House
H 3rd Reading:Passed 47-15-0-0-0
2023-02-23 House
H 2nd Reading:Passed
2023-02-22 House
H COW:Passed
2023-02-13 House
H Placed on General File
2023-02-13 House
H10 - Labor:Recommend Do Pass 6-3-0-0-0
2023-02-10 House
H Introduced and Referred to H10 - Labor
2023-01-24 House
H Received for Introduction
2023-01-20 Senate
S 3rd Reading:Passed 31-0-0-0-0
2023-01-19 Senate
S 2nd Reading:Passed
2023-01-18 Senate
S COW:Passed
2023-01-18 Senate
S Placed on General File
2023-01-18 Senate
S10 - Labor:Recommend Amend and Do Pass 5-0-0-0-0
2023-01-11 Senate
S Introduced and Referred to S10 - Labor
2023-01-10 Senate
S Received for Introduction
2023-01-05 LSO
Bill Number Assigned

Official Summary Text

Bill Summary - 23LSO-0471
Bill No.:

SF0079

Effective:

Multiple Dates

LSO No.:

23LSO-0471

Enrolled Act No.:

SEA No. 0069

Chapter No.:

143

Prime Sponsor:

Baldwin

Catch Title:

Plan of safe care-newborns.

Subject:

Requiring plans of safe care for infants born addicted to alcohol or substances.

Summary/Major Elements:

This act requires health care providers to develop plans of safe care for infants born or suspected to be born affected by substance use or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal drug or alcohol exposure.

A plan of safe care is to be developed in cooperation with the infant's parents, family or guardians and with a priority of keeping the infant in the home as the safety and wellbeing of the infant allows. A plan of safe care is meant to address the health and substance use treatment needs of the infant and affected family members or caregivers, as well as ensuring that appropriate referrals are made for the infant to address those needs.

This act requires that the plan of safe care have a termination date not to exceed one year after it is put into place. Subsequent plans of safe care may be initiated if necessary.

Comments:

Has a Delayed Effective Date of January 1, 2024.

The above summary is not an official publication of the Wyoming Legislature and is not an official statement of legislative intent.

While the Legislative Service Office endeavored to provide accurate information in this summary, it should not be relied upon as a comprehensive abstract of the bill.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

23LSO-0471

ORIGINAL Senate

ENGROSSED
File No
.
SF0079

ENROLLED ACT NO. 69,

SENATE

SIXTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2023 General Session

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S. 35
‑
2
‑
1401 is created to read:

ARTICLE 14
PLANS OF SAFE CARE FOR INFANTS

35
‑
2
‑
1401.

Definitions; plans of safe care; requirements.

(a)

As used in this article:

(i)

"Early intervention and education program" means a program that provides services for infants and children with developmental delays and disabilities;

(ii)

"Patient care team" means a team of health care providers, including one (1) or more licensed health care providers, who provide medical care services to a patient;

(iii)

"Plan of safe care" means a plan designed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of an infant with prenatal substance use exposure following the infant's release from the care of a health care provider by addressing the health and substance use treatment needs of the infant and the affected family or caregiver.

(b)

When an infant is born with and identified, or identified prenatally, as being affected by substance abuse or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal drug or alcohol exposure, a member of a patient care team shall develop a plan of safe care, in cooperation with the infant's parents, families or guardians and with a priority of keeping the infant in the home as the safety and wellbeing of the infant allows in order to:

(i)

Ensure the safety and wellbeing of the infant;

(ii)

Address the health and substance use treatment needs of the infant and affected family members or caregivers; and

(iii)

Ensure that appropriate referrals are made for the infant and affected family members or caregivers upon discharge from the hospital or other health care provider, including a referral to a local early intervention and education program.

(c)

The plan of safe care shall take into account whether the infant's prenatal drug exposure occurred as a result of medication assisted treatment or medication prescribed for the mother by a healthcare provider, and whether the infant's mother is or will be actively engaged in ongoing substance use disorder treatment that would mitigate the future risk of harm to the infant following discharge.

(d)

If applicable, a copy of the plan of safe care shall be provided to the appropriate community partners involved in the infant's future care and included in the instructions for the infant upon discharge from the hospital or other health care provider.

(e)

The patient care team shall report the total number of infants and families for whom a plan of safe care has been developed to the department of family services pursuant to the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016, P.L. No. 114
‑
198.

(f)

A plan of safe care shall contain a termination date not to exceed one (1) year after the plan of safe care is initiated. The patient care team and the parents, families or guardians may initiate subsequent plans of safe care after the termination of the initial plan of safe care under this subsection.

Section 2.

The department of family services, in consultation with the department of health, shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement this act.

Section 3.

(a)

Except as provided by subsection (b) of this section, this act is effective January 1, 2024.

(b)

Sections 2 and 3 of this act are effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the Senate.

Chief Clerk