BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 899| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 899 Author: Levine (D), et al. Amended: 4/9/15 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 5-2, 6/23/15 AYES: Hancock, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning NOES: Anderson, Stone ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-1, 4/16/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Juveniles: confidentiality of records SOURCE: Immigrant Legal Resource Center DIGEST: This bill enacts a new statute explicitly stating that declaratory of existing law, confidential juvenile files cannot be disclosed to federal officials absent a court order, as specified. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Defines a "juvenile case file" as a petition filed in any juvenile court proceeding, reports of the probation officer, and all other documents filed in that case or made available to the probation officer in making his or her report, or to AB 899 Page 2 the judge, referee, or other hearing officer, and thereafter retained by the probation officer, judge, referee, or other hearing officer. (Welfare & Institutions Code Section 827(e). All statutory references are to the Welfare & Institutions Code, unless otherwise indicated.) 2)Requires that the "order and findings of the superior court in each case [under the provisions of this chapter] shall be entered in a suitable book or other form of written record which shall be kept for that purpose and known as the 'juvenile court record.'" (Section 825.) 3)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." (Section 827(a).) 4)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. (Section 827(a)(1)(P)(4).) 5)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. (Section 827(a)(1)(P)(4).) 6)Allows the disclosure of any information gathered by a law enforcement agency, including the Department of Justice, AB 899 Page 3 relating to the taking of a minor into custody (including disposition information about juvenile court proceedings) to be disclosed to another law enforcement agency or to any person or agency which has a legitimate need for the information for purposes of official disposition of a case. (Section 828(a).) 7)Provides that when a petition is sustained for one of the serious or violent offenses listed in Section 676 subdivision (a), specified documents in the juvenile court file (and no others) are available for public inspection: the charging petition, the minutes of the proceeding, and the orders of adjudication and disposition of the court. (Section 676(d).) This bill: 1)States legislative intent "to clarify that juvenile court records should remain confidential regardless of the juvenile's immigration status. Confidentiality is integral to the operation of the juvenile justice system in order to avoid stigma and promote rehabilitation for all youth, regardless of immigration status." 2)Provides that "(n)othing in this article authorizes the disclosure of juvenile information to federal officials absent a court order of the judge of the juvenile court upon filing a petition as provided by subparagraph (P) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 827." 3)Provides that "(n)othing in this article authorizes the dissemination of juvenile information to, or by, federal officials absent a court order of the judge of the juvenile court upon filing a petition as provided by subparagraph (P) of paragraph (1) and paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 827." 4)Provides that "(n)othing in this article authorizes the attachment of juvenile information to any other documents AB 899 Page 4 given to, or provided by, federal officials absent prior approval of the presiding judge of the juvenile court as provided by paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 827." 5)States that for "purposes of this section, "juvenile information" includes the "juvenile case file," as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 827, and information related to the juvenile, including, but not limited to, name, date or place of birth, and the immigration status of the juvenile that is obtained or created independent of, or in connection with, juvenile court proceedings about the juvenile and maintained by any government agency, including, but not limited to, a court, probation office, child welfare agency, or law enforcement agency." 6)States that "(n)othing in this section shall be construed as authorizing any disclosure that would otherwise violate this article." 7)States that "the Legislature finds and declares that this section is declaratory of existing law." 8)Includes uncodified legislative intent language "that juvenile records remain confidential in order to serve the compelling interest of avoiding stigma and promoting rehabilitation for juveniles. It is not the intent of the Legislature to attempt to resist federal officials." Background Existing legislative intent states that "juvenile court records, in general, should be confidential." (Section 827(b)(1).) 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 in Section 827 are authorized to inspect records in a juvenile case file without a court order. The juvenile court has exclusive authority to determine AB 899 Page 5 the extent to which confidential juvenile records may be released and, if it grants a petition, also has exclusive control over "the time, place and manner of inspection." (In re Gina S. (2005) 133 Cal.App.4th 1074, 1081-1082.) Parties who are authorized to inspect the juvenile court file are not automatically authorized to copy documents in the file. (Id, at p. 1082.) The juvenile court has the authority to not only deny disclosure of juvenile court records, but also to order the return of all copies of juvenile case file documents. (Id, at p. 1084-85.) The juvenile court, not the person who is in possession of juvenile court records, has the authority to decide to whom juvenile court records may lawfully be released. (In re Keisha T. (1995) 38 Cal. App. 4th 220, 234.) These protections extend to law enforcement agencies that are not directly connected to the juvenile court. The fact that information is stored within a law enforcement record is irrelevant to the issue of confidentiality because law enforcement records about juveniles "become equivalent to court records and remain under the control of the juvenile court." (T.N.G., supra, 4 Cal. 3d at 781; see also Cal. Ct. Rule 5.552(a)(4) [providing that the juvenile case file includes "[d]ocuments relating to a child concerning whom a petition has been filed in juvenile court that are maintained in the office files of probation officers"].) Even documents that relate to minors who are not detained are subject to the protections of Section 827. (People v. Espinoza (2002) 95 Cal.App.4th 1287, 1315; Wescott v. County of Yuba (1980) 104 Cal. App. 3d 103, 108.) The court in Westcott reasoned that disclosure of information about a law enforcement encounter with juveniles was inappropriate because of "[t]he stigma and ridicule which could occur if a third party is given the report," which outweighed the interests of the requester. (Wescott v. County of Yuba, supra, at p. 108.) "The mere fact that the minors, in this case, were not taken into formal custody does not reduce the potentially harmful effect the release of the police report could have on them. (Ibid.) The Legislature has reiterated its intent to protect the confidentiality of information related to juvenile court proceedings held by law enforcement agencies. Section 827.9 provides that, "It is the intent of the Legislature to reaffirm AB 899 Page 6 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. According to the author, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "issued 211 detainers for youth in juvenile detention centers in California [during a 21 month period] in Fiscal Years 2012 and 2013 [http://trac.syr.edu.] . . . This means that at a minimum, 211 breaches of confidentiality occurred during the reporting period. These numbers do not, however, reflect all violations of confidentiality since many youth who are reported to ICE do not receive a detainer. Accordingly, it is likely that far more than 211 violations of juvenile confidentiality occurred." ICE appears to be 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 F.3d 1030, 1035.) Information obtained in violation of federal regulations or state law is subject to exclusion from deportation proceedings. The United States 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 AB 899 Page 7 evidence obtained." (Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Lopez-Mendoza (1984) 468 U.S. 1032, 1050-1051.) According to the author, "the issues addressed by the bill are the subject of two pending appeals in the First Appellate District: The People v. Y.V., No. A142355 (Cal. App. 1st Dist. filed July 1, 2014); The People v. C.H., No. A141758 (Cal. App. 1st Dist. filed May 1, 2014). This bill will clarify that the probation department cannot disclose confidential juvenile information to federal immigration officials without going through the petitioning process in § 827, as it failed to do in both cases." FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified6/23/15) Immigrant Legal Resource Center (source) Anti-Defamation League Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach Bay Area Industrial Areas Foundation California Civil Rights Law Group California Conference for Equality and Justice California Immigrant Policy Center California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation Canal Alliance Catholic Charities of the East Bay Catholic Legal Immigration Network. Inc. Center for Gender & Refugee Studies Central American Resource Center Centro Legal de la Raza Chinese for Affirmative Action Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action Community United Against Violence Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice Dolores Street Community Services Drug Policy Alliance East Bay Community Law Center AB 899 Page 8 Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of California Fools Mission Huckleberry Youth Programs Immigration Center for Women and Children International Institute of the Bay Area Juvenile Court Judges of California Larkin Street Legal Services for Prisoners with Children Legal Advocates for Children and Youth Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County Legal Services for Children Legal Services for Prisoners with Children National Center for Lesbian Rights National Center for Youth Law National Day Laborer Organizing Network National Immigration Law Center Pangea Legal Services Prison Law Office Public Counsel Sacramento Public Defender San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program San Francisco Public Defender Santa Ana Boys and Men of Color Santa Clara Public Defender Silicon Valley De-Bug Social Justice Collaborative UCI Law Clinic Immigrant Rights Clinic Urban Peace Movement The W. Haywood Burns Institute Youth Law Center OPPOSITION: (Verified6/23/15) None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The author states: The purpose of this bill is to protect minors from AB 899 Page 9 improper disclosures of their juvenile records, regardless of their immigration status. Under existing California law, juvenile court case files of dependent children and wards are to be kept confidential, except from certain specified parties or pursuant to a court order upon filing a petition in juvenile court. Although current California law does not exempt federal officials, including immigration officials, from having to petition the court to obtain juvenile case information and files, many local counties disagree, citing that there is no explicit statement in state law that federal officials must follow this process. Consequently, some local and state agencies are automatically sharing information with federal immigration officials, without following the procedure enumerated in California Welfare & Institutions Code § 827, which requires filing a separate petition with the juvenile court requesting the files. This is problematic because the petitioning procedure in Welfare & Institutions Code § 827 recognizes that juvenile courts have exclusive authority to determine the extent to which juvenile records should be released to third parties given the court's sensitivity and expertise in this area. Further, the procedure provides the minor, his/her parents and his/her attorney (among others) the opportunity to contest the sharing of confidential information that may be contrary to his/her rehabilitation and best interests. This bill makes absolutely clear that federal officials, like all other parties seeking access to juvenile court files who are not actively involved in the proceedings, must file a petition pursuant to Welfare & Institutions Code § 827 in order to request access to a youth's juvenile case file. ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-1, 4/16/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, AB 899 Page 10 Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NOES: Gallagher NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines, Obernolte, Quirk Prepared by:Alison Anderson / PUB. S. / 6/24/15 19:00:49 **** END ****