Committee approves forwarding OCME's toxicology grant ordinance to accept state funds for new testing methods

The Government Audit & Oversight Committee considered Item 2, an ordinance described in the packet as retroactively authorizing the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) to accept and expand a grant from the California Department of Public Health Substance and Addiction Prevention Branch and to authorize an additional forensic toxicologist position for work through August 2023.

David Serrano Sewell, OCME chief operating officer, told the committee that OCME's laboratory work and death-certificate turnaround have improved over the past year; he said the office closed 82% of final death certificates within 90 days by August 2021 and that the medical examiner's office and its laboratory divisions have received accreditation. Serrano Sewell said the grant will fund a temporary forensic toxicologist who will develop methods to detect novel opioids and train existing staff so the tests become routine in the lab.

SFMTA supervisors asked whether the position is intended to be permanent; OCME said the grant position is temporary for the grant term and that the department will only accept state funds if the ordinance is approved. The office emphasized improved turnaround time and additional budgeted staffing in the adopted budget to meet statutory responsibilities for certifying cause and manner of death.

No members of the public commented on the item. The committee voted to forward the ordinance to the full Board with a positive recommendation; the roll call recorded three ayes and the motion passed.