SECTIONS 18100-18110 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 18100-18110

18100. In each county, except where county boards of public welfare
or boards or officials with like powers are otherwise provided under
a charter, the board of supervisors may constitute a county board of
public welfare.

18101. The board of supervisors making the appointments shall
designate one member to serve for one year, two for two years, two
for three years, and two for four years, and upon the resignation or
expiration of the term of each, his successor shall in like manner be
appointed for the term of four years. Appointments to fill vacancies
caused by death, resignation, or removal shall be made for the
residue of such terms in the same manner as the original
appointments.

18102. The members of the county board of public welfare shall
serve without compensation, and no person shall be appointed or shall
serve on such board who is in any manner officially connected with
any charitable or correctional institution within the county and
supported wholly or partly at public expense.

18103. The clerk of the board of supervisors shall notify each
person appointed to the county board of public welfare of his
appointment. Within one week after receiving the notice, the persons
so appointed shall appear before a judge of the superior court and
qualify by taking an oath faithfully to perform to the best of their
ability the duties of members of the county board of public welfare.
Within one month after receiving such notice, they shall meet and
organize by electing a chairman and a secretary from their own
number. The secretary shall file a report of such organization,
signed by himself and by the chairman, with the clerk of the board of
supervisors, for the information of the board, and shall send a copy
of the report to each state department having jurisdiction over any
institution or function subject to supervision, inspection, or other
control by the county board of public welfare.

18104. The board of supervisors shall appropriate and allow a sum,
not exceeding fifty dollars ($50) each year, for the actual expenses
of the county board of public welfare for stationery, blanks, postage
stamps, traveling, and other necessary incidental expenses,
presented and sworn to by its secretary, and approved by the board of
supervisors.

18105. The county board of public welfare shall meet quarterly and
as much oftener as it deems necessary. It may make such rules for the
regulation of its own proceedings as it deems proper.

18106. Whenever the annual report of the board of public welfare to
the board of supervisors shows that any member has been absent from
two consecutive quarterly meetings, such member shall be deemed to
have resigned from the board, and the board of supervisors shall
thereupon fill the vacancy caused by such resignation as provided in
Section 18101.

18107. At least once each quarter and as much oftener as it deems
necessary, the board of public welfare, as a body or by committee,
shall visit and inspect the county hospital, the county infirmary or
relief home for the aged, and the county jail. As often as it deems
proper, or as it is directed by the board of supervisors or by a
judge of the superior court, the board shall visit and inspect, in
like manner, each jail or lockup in the county, and any charitable or
correctional institution in the county, which receives any support
from county funds. It shall examine every department of each
institution visited and shall ascertain its condition as to effective
and economical administration, and the cleanliness, discipline, and
comfort of its inmates. It shall carefully study the rules prescribed
by the board of supervisors for the control of each county
institution, and the suggestions offered by the state departments
having jurisdiction over the respective institutions, and shall
ascertain whether or not such rules are being complied with.

18108. The board of public welfare may make suggestions for
improving the administration to the persons in charge of such county
institutions, and may report to the board of supervisors, or to any
other official having jurisdiction, any facts which the board
believes such officials should know. If the board of public welfare
or one of its committees finds in any institution any condition
contrary to public policy and good order, or which it believes is
injurious to the county or to the inmates of the institution, it
shall report such condition to the board of supervisors or to any
other officials having jurisdiction, stating the facts observed and
suggesting remedies.

18109. On or before the first Monday in March, June, September, and
December of each year, the county board of public welfare shall make
a report in writing to the grand jury of the county, if there is
any, and if there is none, the board shall file the report with the
district attorney who shall present it to the first grand jury
thereafter constituted, as soon as impaneled and sworn. Annually on
or before the first Monday in June of each year, the board shall
present a report to the board of supervisors, which shall be filed as
a public document with its clerk. In such annual report the county
board of public welfare shall include a report of the attendance of
each member of the board at each of its quarterly meetings.

18110. Whenever the county board of public welfare presents any
report to the board of supervisors concerning an institution or
function under the jurisdiction of any state department, it shall at
the same time transmit a copy of such report to the state department
having jurisdiction over the institution or function.