BILL NUMBER: AB 2349	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Chiu

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2016

   An act to amend Section 298 of the Family Code, relating to
domestic partners.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2349, as introduced, Chiu. Domestic partners.
   Existing law authorizes 2 unmarried, unrelated adults who have
chosen to share one another's lives in an intimate and committed
relationship of mutual caring to establish a domestic partnership by
filing a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of
State if both persons are members of the same sex or one or both are
over 62 years of age. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to
prepare the form for the Declaration of Domestic Partnership
pursuant to specified requirements. The Declaration of Domestic
Partnership requires, among other things, each person who wants to
become a domestic partner to provide a mailing address.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this
provision.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 298 of the Family Code is amended to read:
   298.  (a) (1) The Secretary of State shall prepare forms entitled
"Declaration of Domestic Partnership" and "Notice of Termination of
Domestic Partnership" to meet the requirements of this division.
These forms shall require the signature and seal of an acknowledgment
by a notary public to be binding and valid.
   (2) When funding allows, the Secretary of State shall include on
the form notice that a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
specific domestic abuse brochure is available upon request.
   (b) (1) The Secretary of State shall distribute these forms to
each county clerk. These forms shall be available to the public at
the office of the Secretary of State and each county clerk.
   (2) The Secretary of State shall, by regulation, establish fees
for the actual costs of processing each of these forms, and the cost
for preparing and sending the mailings and notices required pursuant
to Section 299.3, and shall charge these fees to persons filing the
forms.
   (3) There is hereby established a fee of twenty-three dollars
($23) to be charged in addition to the existing fees established by
regulation to persons filing domestic partner registrations pursuant
to Section 297 for development and support of a lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender curriculum for training workshops on
domestic violence, conducted pursuant to Section 13823.15 of the
Penal Code, and for the support of a grant program to promote healthy
nonviolent relationships in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender community. This paragraph shall not apply to persons of
opposite sexes filing a domestic partnership registration and who
meet the qualifications described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph
(5) of subdivision (b) of Section 297.
   (4) The fee established by paragraph (3) shall be deposited in the
Equality in Prevention and Services for Domestic Abuse Fund, which
is hereby established. The fund shall be administered by the Office
of Emergency Services, and expenditures from the fund shall be used
to support the purposes of paragraph (3).
   (c) The Declaration of Domestic Partnership shall require each
person who wants to become a domestic partner to  (1) state
  do all of the following: 
    (1)     State  that he or she meets
the requirements of Section 297 at the time the form is 
signed, (2) provide   signed. 
    (2)     Provide  a mailing 
address, (3) state   address. 
    (3)     State  that he or she consents
to the jurisdiction of the Superior Courts of California for the
purpose of a proceeding to obtain a judgment of dissolution or
nullity of the domestic partnership or for legal separation of
partners in the domestic partnership, or for any other proceeding
related to the partners' rights and obligations, even if one or both
partners ceases to be a resident of, or to maintain a domicile in,
this  state, (4) sign   state. 
    (4)     Sign  the form with a
declaration that representations made therein are true, correct, and
contain no material omissions of fact to the best knowledge and
belief of the  applicant, and (5) have  
applicant. 
   (5)     Have  a notary public
acknowledge his or her signature. Both partners' signatures shall be
affixed to one Declaration of Domestic Partnership form, which form
shall then be transmitted to the Secretary of State according to the
instructions provided on the form. Filing an intentionally and
materially false Declaration of Domestic Partnership shall be
punishable as a misdemeanor.
   (d) The Declaration of Domestic Partnership form shall contain an
optional section for either party or both parties to indicate a
change in name pursuant to Section 298.6. The optional section shall
require a party indicating a change in name to provide his or her
date of birth.