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 ****