BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1352
                                                                  Page  1

          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB 1352 (Levine)
          As Amended June 26, 2013
          Majority vote 
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |ASSEMBLY:  |70-0 |(May 16, 2013)  |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 19,    |
          |           |     |                |        |     |2013)          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
            
           Original Committee Reference:    JUD.  

           SUMMARY  :  Revises requirements for the destruction of court  
          records.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Allows a court clerk to certify a copy of a trial court record  
            by electronic or other technological means, provided the means  
            reasonably ensures that the certified copy is a true and  
            correct copy of the original record. 

          2)Allows a trial court clerk to destroy court records, as  
            provided, with reduction in record retention rules for the  
            following documents:

             a)   Civil actions:  mental health records;

             b)   Probate:  certain probate, conservatorship and  
               guardianship records; and

             c)   Criminal actions:  certain felony, misdemeanor and  
               infraction records. 

          3)Contains chaptering out language for AB 1167 (Dickinson).

           The Senate amendments  make technical changes and add in  
          chaptering out language for AB 1167.
           
          EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Provides that trial courts may create, maintain, and preserve  
            court records, other than court reporter's transcripts, in any  
            form of communication, including paper, optical, electronic,  
            magnetic, micrographic media, or other technology, if the form  
            satisfies rules adopted by the Judicial Council, as specified.  
             








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          2)Requires the Judicial Council to establish standards and  
            guidelines for the creation, maintenance, reproduction, or  
            preservation of court records.  Requires these to ensure that  
            court records are created and maintained in a manner that  
            ensures accuracy and preserves the integrity of the records,  
            protects the records against loss, ensures preservation for  
            the required period of time, and ensures that electronic  
            documents are publicly accessible and reproducible.  Requires  
            a court record that is created, maintained, preserved, or  
            reproduced under this section to be stored in a manner and  
            place that reasonably ensures its preservation against loss,  
            theft, defacement, or destruction for the prescribed retention  
            period prescribed by statute.  

          3)Prescribes the manner by which court records may be destroyed  
            after proper notice and of the passing of the prescribed  
            statutory retention period.  Allows for the extension of the  
            retention period for court records by order of the court or by  
            application of a party or interested member of the public for  
            good cause shown.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
           
          COMMENTS  :  This bill, sponsored by the Judicial Council, revises  
          trial court record retention requirements.  According to the  
          author, many court records today are kept for years beyond their  
          useful period and, as a result, trial courts are forced to  
          devote a substantial amount of time and resources to the storage  
          and maintenance of unnecessary court records.  According to a  
          2007 Judicial Council survey, court records were stored in 276  
          locations around the state, totaling almost 2 million linear  
          feet.  The costs associated with managing those records, as of  
          2006-07, were almost $22 million, with $15 million of that  
          devoted to staff costs.  The author believes that the revisions  
          proposed by this bill will "allow courts to efficient and  
          effectively manage court records and reduce unnecessary storage  
          costs."

          AB 1926 (Evans), Chapter 167, Statutes of 2010, sought to  
          modernize the maintenance of trial court records by allowing  
          courts to create, maintain, and preserve court records  
          electronically or in any form of communication, if the form  
          satisfies rules adopted by the Judicial Council.  Documents  








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          electronically signed, subscribed, or verified have the same  
          validity and legal force and effect as paper documents.  It was  
          anticipated that it would be far cheaper to maintain electronic  
          records as opposed to paper copies.  Despite this legislation  
          providing the process for converting paper records to electronic  
          records, large quantities of paper records still exists and, the  
          Judicial Council reports that it is prohibitively expensive to  
          convert these records to electronic form.  Thus the Judicial  
          Council is now seeking to update trial court record retention  
          rules to allow some records to be destroyed sooner than is  
          permissible under existing law and, thus, save storage and  
          record management costs.

          This bill streamlines and, in some cases, shortens the retention  
          period of specific court records.  Originally, the Judicial  
          Council proposed to reduce record retention rules for many more  
          court records, including family and juvenile law records, as  
          well as protective and restraining orders.  However, because of  
          concerns raised during the public comment period, the Judicial  
          Council chose to limit its requested changes.  As a result, many  
          retention provisions remain unchanged or virtually unchanged.   
          These include time periods for retaining records in unlimited  
          and limited civil cases, as well as family law, civil protective  
          and restraining orders, adoption, parentage, name and gender  
          change, real property and unlawful detainers, wills,  
          misdemeanors and infractions.  

          However, the bill reduces the retention period for other court  
          records.  Specifically, this bill makes, among others, the  
          following changes:

           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |      Type of       | Current Retention  | Proposed Retention |
          |  Action/Document   |       Period       |       Period       |
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
           --------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |                                                               |
          |                             CIVIL                             |
           --------------------------------------------------------------- 
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Mental Health       |30 years            |10 years: Lanterman |
          |                    |                    |Developmental       |
          |                    |                    |Disabilities        |
          |                    |                    |Services Act        |
          |                    |                    |                    |








                                                                  AB 1352
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          |                    |                    |20 years:           |
          |                    |                    |Lanterman-Petris-Sho|
          |                    |                    |rt Act, capacity    |
          |                    |                    |hearings            |
          |                    |                    |                    |
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
           --------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |                                                               |
          |                            PROBATE                            |
           --------------------------------------------------------------- 
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Probate Records,    |Permanent           |Five years after    |
          |Excluding           |                    |final disposition   |
          |Judgments, Orders,  |                    |of the estate       |
          |Wills, Codicils,    |                    |proceeding          |
          |Inventories and     |                    |                    |
          |Appraisals          |                    |                    |
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Conservatorship     |10 years            |Permanent: Court    |
          |                    |                    |orders              |
          |                    |                    |                    |
          |                    |                    |5 years after       |
          |                    |                    |disposition or      |
          |                    |                    |death: Other        |
          |                    |                    |conservatorship     |
          |                    |                    |records             |
          |--------------------+--------------------+--------------------|
          |Guardianships       |10 years after 18   |Permanent: Court    |
          |                    |years of age        |orders              |
          |                    |                    |                    |
          |                    |                    |5 years after the   |
          |                    |                    |later of (1) final  |
          |                    |                    |disposition; or (2) |
          |                    |                    |minor turns 23 or   |
          |                    |                    |dies: Other records |
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
           --------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |                                                               |
          |                           CRIMINAL                            |
           --------------------------------------------------------------- 
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Death Penalty       |Permanent: If       |Permanent: Records  |
          |                    |prosecution seeks   |in capital felony   |
          |                    |the death penalty   |cases in which the  |
          |                    |                    |defendant is        |








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          |                    |                    |sentenced to death, |
          |                    |                    |and in any felony   |
          |                    |                    |resulting in a      |
          |                    |                    |sentence of life or |
          |                    |                    |life without the    |
          |                    |                    |possibility of      |
          |                    |                    |parole              |
          |                    |                    |                    |
          |                    |                    |10 years: If a      |
          |                    |                    |capital felony is   |
          |                    |                    |disposed of by      |
          |                    |                    |acquittal           |
          |                    |                    |                    |
          |                    |                    |50 years or for 10  |
          |                    |                    |years after the     |
          |                    |                    |defendant's death:  |
          |                    |                    |If a capital felony |
          |                    |                    |is disposed of by a |
          |                    |                    |sentence less than  |
          |                    |                    |death, life, or     |
          |                    |                    |life without        |
          |                    |                    |possibility of      |
          |                    |                    |parole              |
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Other Felonies and  |75 years            |Permanent:          |
          |Registered Sex      |                    |Judgments           |
          |Offender            |                    |                    |
          |Misdemeanors        |                    |50 years or the     |
          |                    |                    |maximum term of the |
          |                    |                    |sentence, whichever |
          |                    |                    |is longer, or 10    |
          |                    |                    |years after the     |
          |                    |                    |defendant's death:  |
          |                    |                    |Other records       |
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Felony Reduced to   |No comparable       |In accord with      |
          |Misdemeanor         |provision, treated  |relevant            |
          |                    |like felony         |misdemeanor rules   |
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Dismissed Criminal  |No comparable       |3 years: Felony     |
          |Cases               |provision, treated  |charge is dismissed |
          |                    |like underlying     |                    |
          |                    |criminal case       |                    |
          |                    |record              |1 year: Misdemeanor |
          |                    |                    |charge is dismissed |








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           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Infractions         |3 years             |1 year              |
          |--------------------+--------------------+--------------------|
          |Parking Infractions |2 years             |Eliminates the      |
          |                    |                    |current two-year    |
          |                    |                    |retention period    |
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
           --------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |                                                               |
          |                             OTHER                             |
           --------------------------------------------------------------- 
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Court Orders Not    |3 years             |1 year              |
          |Associated With an  |                    |                    |
          |Underlying Case     |                    |                    |
           -------------------------------------------------------------- 

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916)  
          319-2334 


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