BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2417|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2417
Author: Cook (R)
Amended: 8/2/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/29/10
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Hancock, Leno
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 5/10/10 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Tribal customary adoption
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes several clarifications regarding
how a background check must be completed for the purposes
of a tribal customary adoption.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires a child's tribe or the
tribe's designee to conduct a tribal customary adoption
home study prior to final approval of the tribal customary
adoptive placement. (Section 366.24 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code)
Existing law requires that a state and federal criminal
background check through the Department of Justice (DOJ) be
conducted on the prospective tribal customary adoptive
parents and on persons over 18 years of age residing in
CONTINUED
AB 2417
Page
2
their household. (Id.)
Existing law provides that, if the tribe chooses a designee
to conduct the home study, the designee shall perform the
state and federal criminal background check. (Id.)
Existing law provides that, upon the tribe conducting its
own home study, the agency that has the placement and care
responsibility of the child shall perform the state and
federal criminal background check. (Id.)
This bill clarifies that a tribal designee must be an
entity that is authorized to request a search of the
state's child abuse and neglect registry, and must be an
entity that is authorized to request a search for state and
federal level criminal offender records through DOJ.
This bill provides that if the tribe conducts its own home
study, the public adoption agency that is otherwise
authorized to obtain criminal background information for
the purpose of adoption shall perform the state and federal
criminal background check through DOJ prior to final
approval of the adoption placement.
This bill additionally makes grammatical and other
nonsubstantive changes in order to provide clarification
and correct technical defects that exist in various
statutory provisions governing tribal customary adoption.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/2/10)
Family Law Section of the State Bar
Morongo Band of Mission Indians
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author states: "Current law
requires a tribe or its designee to conduct specified
background checks to the extent required by federal law as
a condition of receiving federal foster care funding. The
state and federal criminal background check is conducted
through the Department of Justice. However, Section 366.24
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3
of the Welfare and Institutions Code does not specify that
background checks should be conducted through the
Department of Justice, which may lead to confusion. ? AB
2417 will correct this problem."
In support, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians writes:
"The Morongo Band of Mission Indians supported AB 1325 last
year because it was beneficial to tribes in providing for
increased tribal participation in the establishment of
permanent placement plans for tribal children without the
termination of parental rights. We support the clarifying
change in AB 2417 regarding the background checks in
existing law."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block,
Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero,
Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto,
Davis, De Leon, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, Monning, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John
A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: De La Torre, DeVore, Harkey, Mendoza,
Nava, Norby, Saldana, Solorio, Vacancy
RJG:mw 7/9/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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