BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 899
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
899 (Levine)
As Amended April 9, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
|----------------+------+-------------------------+------------------|
|Judiciary |9-0 |Mark Stone, Wagner, | |
| | |Alejo, Chau, Chiu, | |
| | |Cristina Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Maienschein, O'Donnell | |
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SUMMARY: Clarifies that information about a minor who is or has
been the subject of juvenile dependency or wardship proceedings is
confidential and can only be disclosed to specified persons, or to
others designated by court order of the judge of the juvenile
court upon the filing of a petition. Specifically, this bill
states that it is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
section to clarify that juvenile court records should remain
confidential regardless of the juvenile's immigration status and
should not be shared to or by federal authorities.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines "juvenile case file," as a petition filed in any
juvenile court proceeding, reports of the probation officer, and
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all other documents filed in that case or made available to the
probation officer in making his or her report, or to the judge,
referee, or other hearing officer, and thereafter retained by
the probation officer, judge, referee, or other hearing officer.
2)Provides that only specified parties, including but not limited
to court personnel, a district attorney, a city attorney, a
minor who is the subject of the proceeding, the minor's parents
or guardian, the attorneys for the parties, and "[a]ny other
person who may be designated by court order of the judge of the
juvenile court upon filing a petition" are authorized to inspect
a juvenile "case file."
3)Provides that a juvenile case file, any portion thereof, and
information relating to the content of the juvenile case file,
may not be disseminated by the receiving agencies to any persons
or agencies, other than those persons or agencies authorized to
receive documents pursuant to this section.
4)Provides that a juvenile case file, any portion thereof, and
information relating to the content of the juvenile case file,
may not be made as an attachment to any other documents without
the prior approval of the presiding judge of the juvenile court,
unless it is used in connection with and in the course of a
criminal investigation or a proceeding brought to declare a
person a dependent child or ward of the juvenile court.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS: It is the express intent of the Legislature that
"juvenile court records, in general, should be confidential."
This presumption reflects a long recognized public policy of
protecting the confidentiality of juvenile proceedings and
records. (T.N.G. v. Superior Court (1971) 4 Cal.3d 767, 778.)
Only those persons who are listed existing law are authorized to
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inspect records in a juvenile case file without a court order.
The Legislature has reiterated its intent to protect the
confidentiality of information related to juvenile court
proceedings held by law enforcement agencies. Existing law
provides that, "It is the intent of the Legislature to reaffirm
its belief that records or information gathered by law enforcement
agencies relating to the taking of a minor into custody, temporary
custody, or detention (juvenile police records) should be
confidential." California Rule of Court 5.552(f) requires the
filing of JV-575 with the juvenile court to obtain information
gathered by a law enforcement agency regarding the taking of a
minor into custody.
Despite the Legislature's clear intent to limit disclosure of
information related to juvenile court proceedings, some entities
that have or obtain the information may be circumventing these
legal protections in violation of state law. Indeed, the practice
of disclosing confidential juvenile information may be relatively
common. For example, a 2012 advisory by the Stanford University
Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic warned about what it
characterized as "the troubling practice of San Mateo County
Probation Department ("Probation") disclosing confidential
information about youth in the juvenile justice system to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE")."
The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is clearly
prohibited by federal regulation from obtaining and using
confidential information. (5 C.F.R. 2635.703(a).) The regulation
forbids "'the improper use of nonpublic information to further [an
employee's] own private interest... by knowing unauthorized
disclosure.' Nonpublic information is defined as information the
employee gains by reason of federal employment and 'knows or
reasonably should know has not been made available to the general
public... [or] been disseminated to the general public.' (5 C.F.R.
2635.703(b).)" (Chuyon Yon Hong v. Mukasey (9th Cir. 2008) 518
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F.3d 1030, 1035.)
Information obtained in violation of federal regulations, or state
law is subject to exclusion from deportation proceedings. The
United State Supreme Court has observed (in dicta) that while
exclusion of illegally obtained evidence from deportation
proceedings is infrequent, there are several cases where exclusion
is required: when the internal regulations of the immigration
agency have been violated (See INS v. Delgado (1984) 466 U.S. 210)
and when there are "egregious violations of Fourth Amendment or
other liberties that might transgress notions of fundamental
fairness and undermine the probative value of the evidence
obtained." (Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Lopez-Mendoza
(1984) 468 U.S. 1032, 1050-1051.) Given the clear intent of the
Legislature to prohibit the disclosure and dissemination of
juvenile records to persons who are not specifically authorized to
obtain them, it is entirely consistent with state law, federal
regulations, and federal law for this bill to prohibit the further
disclosure and dissemination of confidential juvenile information
by federal immigration authorities.
Analysis Prepared by:
Alison Merrilees / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN:
0000107
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