BILL NUMBER: AB 2427	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 19, 2016
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 28, 2016
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 4, 2016
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 12, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Chau

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2016

   An act to amend  Section 129   Sections 129
and 2025.280  of, and to add Section 2034.415 to, the Code of
Civil Procedure, relating to civil procedure.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2427, as amended, Chau. Civil Procedure: discovery.
   Existing law generally prohibits a copy, reproduction, or
facsimile of any kind of a photograph, negative, or print, including
instant photographs and video recordings, of the body, or any portion
of the body, of a deceased person, taken by or for the coroner at
the scene of death or in the course of a post mortem examination or
autopsy, from being made or disseminated. This prohibition does not
apply for use in a criminal action or proceeding in this state that
relates to the death of that person, or, as a court permits, by order
after good cause has been shown and after written notification of
the request for the court order has been served, at least 5 days
before the order is made, upon the district attorney of the county in
which the post mortem examination or autopsy has been made or caused
to be made.
   This bill would additionally authorize the making or dissemination
of a copy, reproduction, or facsimile described above for use or
potential use in a civil action or proceeding that relates to the
death of the deceased person (1) if the coroner receives written
authorization from a legal heir or representative of the deceased
person before the action is filed or while the action is pending and
the legal heir or representative provides to the coroner a
declaration under penalty of perjury, a valid form of identification,
and a certified death certificate, or (2) if a subpoena is issued by
a party who is a legal heir or representative of the deceased person
in a pending civil action. By expanding the scope of the crime of
perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
   Existing law  prescribes the procedure for taking oral
depositions inside the state and  authorizes any party, after
the setting of the initial trial date for an action, to demand the
simultaneous exchange by all parties of lists containing the names
and addresses of any persons expected to provide expert opinion
testimony at the trial. Existing law also provides that a demand for
an exchange of expert witness lists may include a demand for the
production of discoverable reports and writings made by the listed
expert witnesses. Existing law authorizes a party, to depose any
expert disclosed in an expert witness list.
   This  bill would require a deponent who is served with a
deposition notice or subpoena calling for electronically stored
information to provide a means of gaining direct access to, or a
translation into a reasonably usable form of, any information that is
password protected or otherwise inaccessible. The  bill would
 also  require  that   an expert who is
served with a deposition notice, as specified, to produce  any
materials or category of materials, including any electronically
stored information,  and any discoverable reports and
writings of an expert trial witness, demanded to be produced in the
deposition notice be produced  no later than 3 business days
before  the   his or her  deposition.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 129 of the Code of Civil Procedure is amended
to read:
   129.  (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a copy, reproduction, or
facsimile of any kind of a photograph, negative, or print, including
instant photographs and video recordings, of the body, or any portion
of the body, of a deceased person, taken by or for the coroner at
the scene of death or in the course of a post mortem examination or
autopsy, shall not be made or disseminated except as follows:
   (1) For use in a criminal action or proceeding in this state that
relates to the death of that person.
   (2) As a court of this state permits, by order after good cause
has been shown and after written notification of the request for the
court order has been served, at least five days before the order is
made, upon the district attorney of the county in which the post
mortem examination or autopsy has been made or caused to be made.
   (3) For use or potential use in a civil action or proceeding in
this state that relates to the death of that person, if either of the
following applies:
   (A) The coroner receives written authorization from a legal heir
or representative of that person before the action is filed or while
the action is pending. To verify the identity of the legal heir or
representative, all of the following shall be provided to the
coroner:
   (i) A declaration under penalty of perjury that the individual is
a legal heir or representative of the deceased person.
   (ii) A valid form of identification.
   (iii) A certified death certificate.
   (B) A subpoena is issued by a party who is a legal heir or
representative of the deceased person in a pending civil action.
   (b) This section shall not apply to the making or dissemination of
a copy, reproduction, or facsimile for use in the field of forensic
pathology, in medical or scientific education or research, or by a
coroner or any law enforcement agency in the United States for
investigative purposes, including identification and identification
confirmation.
   (c) This section shall apply to a copy, reproduction, or
facsimile, and to a photograph, negative, or print, regardless of
when it was made.
   (d) A coroner is not personally liable for monetary damages in a
civil action for any act or omission in compliance with this section.

   SEC. 2.    Section 2025.280 of the   Code of
Civil Procedure   is amended to read: 
   2025.280.  (a) The service of a deposition notice under Section
2025.240 is effective to require any deponent who is a party to the
action or an officer, director, managing agent, or employee of a
party to attend and to testify, as well as to produce any document,
electronically stored information, or tangible thing for inspection
and copying.
   (b) The attendance and testimony of any other deponent, as well as
the production by the deponent of any document, electronically
stored information, or tangible thing for inspection and copying,
requires the service on the deponent of a deposition subpoena under
Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 2020.010). 
   (c) A deponent required by notice or subpoena to produce
electronically stored information shall provide a means of gaining
direct access to, or a translation into a reasonably usable form of,
any electronically stored information that is password protected or
otherwise inaccessible. 
   SEC. 2.  SEC. 3.   Section 2034.415 is
added to the Code of Civil Procedure, to read:
   2034.415.   Any materials or category of materials,
including any electronically stored information, and any discoverable
reports and writings of an expert trial witness, demanded to be
produced in the deposition notice shall be produced no later than
three business days before the deposition of the expert trial
witness.   An expert described in subdivision (b) of
Section 2034.210 whose deposition is noticed pursuant to Section
2025.220 shall, no later than three business days before his or her
deposition, produce any materials or category of materials, including
any electronically stored information, called for by   the
deposition notice. 
   SEC. 3.   SEC. 4.   No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this
act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or
infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the
definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
B of the California Constitution.