BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1738
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 16, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mike Feuer, Chair
AB 1738 (Tran) - As Amended: March 2, 2010
PROPOSED CONSENT (As Proposed to Be Amended)
SUBJECT : DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: INCIDENT REPORTS
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES OF LIVING DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE VICTIMS BE PERMITTED TO OBTAIN COPIES OF THEIR DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE INCIDENT REPORTS?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
Law enforcement is required to complete a domestic violence
incident report for each domestic violence-related call it
receives. These reports may be evidence for a court to consider
when determining whether to issue a protective order for the
victim. Currently only the victim, if he or she is alive, may
access the incident reports. If he or she is dead, specified
representatives may access the reports. This non-controversial
bill, sponsored by the Conference of California Bar
Associations, allows a victim's immediate family member, as
specified, or attorney to access the incident reports even if
the victim is still alive. In order to protect the victim's
privacy, the bill rightly requires that the representative must
have written authorization from the victim. As proposed to be
amended, the bill has no opposition.
SUMMARY: Expands who may receive a copy of a domestic violence
incident report. Specifically, this bill provides that if the
victim is not deceased, the victim's designated personal
representative, who is limited to the victim's parent, sibling
or adult child or the victim's attorney, all of whom must have
written authorization signed by the victim, may receive a copy
of the victim's domestic violence incident reports and incident
report face sheets.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires law enforcement to complete a domestic violence
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incident report for each domestic violence-related call, as
specified. (Penal Code Section 13730.)
2)Requires law enforcement to provide, without charge, a copy of
all domestic violence incident report face sheets and all
domestic violence incident reports to the victim or, if the
victim is deceased, to his or her representative. (Family
Code Section 6228(a).)
3)Defines a deceased victim's representative as any of the
following: (a) the surviving spouse or domestic partner; (b)
the surviving child of the deceased victim who is at least 18
years of age; (c) a surviving parent; (d) an adult relative;
or (e) the public administrator, if one has been appointed.
(Family Code Section 6228(g).)
COMMENTS : Law enforcement is required to complete a domestic
violence incident report for each domestic violence-related call
it receives. These reports may be evidence for a court to
consider when determining whether to issue a protective order
for the victim. Originally, victims of domestic violence had to
write and request copies of those reports, which were then
provided by mail, a process that often took several weeks. That
delay prejudiced victims in their ability to present a case for
a protective order, so, in 1999, the Legislature required that
victims be provided with an expedited and affordable method for
obtaining these important reports. (AB 403 (Romero, Chap. 1022,
Stats. 1999.)
The Legislature expanded this provision to include
representatives of deceased domestic violence victims in
response to an incident where a victim had committed suicide.
In that case, the victim's mother sought emergency temporary
custody of the victim's children, and needed to obtain the
police reports to support her case - yet she was unable to get
these reports until she hired an attorney. The 2002 legislation
extended to specified representatives of a deceased victim of
domestic violence the right a living victim has to get face
sheets and incident reports from law enforcement upon request.
(SB 1265 (Alpert, Chap. 377, Stats. 2002.)
This bill, sponsored by the Conference of California Bar
Associations, allows a victim's personal representative or
attorney to access the incident reports even if the victim is
still alive. In order to protect the victim's privacy, the
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bill, as proposed to be amended, requires that the authorized
representative can only be the victim's parent, sibling or adult
child or the victim's attorney. The representative must also
have the written authorization from the victim.
The following proposed amendments to page 3, lines 27 to 32 of
the bill effectuate these changes:
(2) For purposes of this section, if the victim is not
deceased, a representative of the victim means either of the
following:
(I) A parent, sibling, or adult child of the victim, who shall
present to law enforcement his or her identification and a
signed authorization by the victim allowing that family member
to act on behalf of the victim.
(II) An attorney for the victim, who shall present to law
enforcement his or her identification and written proof that he
or she is the attorney for the victim the victim's designated
personal representative who has written authorization signed by
the victim or a court order making him or her the personal
representative, or an attorney hired by the victim to represent
him or her in the matter .
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support (as proposed to be amended)
Conference of California Bar Associations (sponsor)
Family Law Section of the State Bar
Opposition (as proposed to be amended)
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334