BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     AB 365


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          Date of Hearing:  April 15, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          365 (Cristina Garcia) - As Amended March 11, 2015


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill requires the court to allow immigrant parents who have  
          been detained or deported to participate in their children's  
          custody proceedings through electronic means. Specifically, this  
          bill:  








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          1)Provides that if a party is either detained by Immigration and  
            Customs Enforcement or has been   deported and that such  
            detention or deportation will have a material effect on that  
            party's ability to appear in person at a child custody  
            proceeding, the court must allow that party, upon motion of  
            the party, to present testimony and evidence, and participate  
            in mandatory child custody mediation by electronic means, as  
            defined, if the technology is reasonably available to the  
            court, and the due process rights of all parties are  
            protected. 


          2)Specifies that this bill does not authorize the use of  
            electronic recording for purposes of taking official record of  
            the proceedings.


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          Minor and absorbable General Fund court costs.


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose. According to the author, immigration laws attempt to  
            keep families together, whether or not parents are deported.   
            Child welfare policies also strive for family reunification.  
            This bill helps to ensure that child custody proceedings can  
            do the same, by reducing barriers faced by detained or  
            deported parents who are involved with a family law case in  
            California.  









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          2)Background. This bill is modeled after AB 2416 (Cook), Chap.  
            466, Stats. 2010, which, in part, allowed for electronic  
            access to family law proceedings by deployed military members  
            who, because of their deployment, might not otherwise be able  
            to participate in their children's custody cases.  



            Existing law provides that if a parent cannot participate in a  
            child custody proceeding because he or she has been detained  
            or deported, the proceedings can either occur in the parent's  
            absence or be postponed or, if the court allows, proceed via  
            telephone. This bill provides an additional alternative  
            similar to the one currently available to deployed military  
            parents. In order to ensure that the courts can comply, this  
            bill, like the deployed military parent statute, only permits  
            participation by electronic means to the extent the technology  
            is reasonably available in the court.  Also consistent with  
            the deployed parent statute, this bill requires that the  
            alternative electronic participation method must protect the  
            due process rights of all parties.  





          3)Prior Legislation.
             a)   SB 1064 (de Leon), Chapter 845, Statues of 2012, created  
               uniform statewide policies and practices that sought to  
               eliminate family reunification barriers in the child  
               welfare system for immigrant families.



             b)   AB 2416 (Cook), Chapter 466, Statutes of 2010, allowed  
               for electronic access to family law proceedings by deployed  
               military members who might not otherwise be able to  








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               participate in their children's custody cases because of  
               deployment.



          Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081