BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 541|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 541
Author: Harman (R)
Amended: 7/7/05 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/28/05
AYES: Dunn, Morrow, Ackerman, Cedillo, Figueroa, Kuehl
NO VOTE RECORDED: Escutia
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 4/21/05 (Passed on Consent) - See
last page for vote
SUBJECT : Guardians
SOURCE : California Judges Association
DIGEST : This bill authorizes a court to require any
person who is seeking custody of, or visitation with, a
child who is the subject of a guardianship proceeding, to
undergo drug testing, as specified. This bill authorizes
the court to require any person who is the guardian of the
person, unrelated to the ward, and who receives
compensation for acting as guardian of the person to comply
with those provisions.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that a parent seeking
child custody or visitation may be ordered to undergo drug
or alcohol testing if the court determines that a
CONTINUED
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preponderance of the evidence shows that the parent uses
controlled substances or alcohol frequently, habitually, or
continually. [Family Code Section 3041.5.]
This bill allows a juvenile court to order the same drug
testing for people seeking to obtain guardianship or
visitation in a guardianship of a minor ward of the
juvenile court.
Existing law requires all private professional conservators
and guardians to register with the Statewide Registry by
providing specified information to the Department of
Justice. [Probate Code Section 2850.]
Existing law exempts guardians related to the ward by
blood, marriage, adoption, or domestic partnerships from
the Statewide Registry requirements. [Probate Code Section
2854.]
Existing law exempts foster parents from the Statewide
Registry requirements. [Probate Code Section 2341.]
This bill also exempts all guardians of the person from
this registration requirement. This bill provides that the
court may also, at its discretion, require any person who
is a guardian of the person not related to the ward by
blood or marriage and who receives compensation for acting
as guardian of the person to comply with this article, and
in that case, references in this article to a "private
professional guardian" include those persons. However, as
used in this article, "private professional guardian" does
not include an unrelated guardian of the person of a minor
appointed by the court, if the appointment results from the
selection of a permanency plan for a dependent child or
ward. It also does not include an unrelated guardian of
the person of a minor appointed by the court if that child
is in receipt of AFDC-FC payments and case management
services from the county welfare department, as evidenced
by a Notice of Action of AFDC-FC eligibility.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/16/05)
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California Judges Association (source)
Judicial Council of California
Family Law Section of the State Bar of California
California Advocates, Inc.
Academy of California Adoption Lawyers
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"Last year's AB 1108 (Bermudez) Chapter 19, Statutes of
2004, gave family courts the authority to require drug
testing of parents seeking custody or visitation with their
children. The author points out that although this
valuable tool is available to courts to protect children
from their parents, current law does not does not permit
courts to order drug testing for other related or
non-related people seeking to become guardians of children
pursuant to the Probate Code. The source, the California
Judges Association (CJA), maintains that "exactly the same
risks to children arise if their caretakers engage in
habitual, frequent, or continual illegal use of controlled
substances, regardless of whether the legal context is
parents seeking custody, or grandparents seeking
guardianships of children." Accordingly, this bill extends
the court's authority to require drug testing to people
seeking guardianship or visitation in a guardianship
proceeding under the Probate Code."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Arambula, Baca, Benoit, Berg, Bermudez,
Blakeslee, Bogh, Calderon, Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez,
Chu, Cogdill, Cohn, Coto, Daucher, De La Torre, DeVore,
Dymally, Emmerson, Evans, Frommer, Garcia, Goldberg,
Hancock, Harman, Haynes, Jerome Horton, Shirley Horton,
Houston, Huff, Jones, Karnette, Keene, Klehs, Koretz, La
Malfa, Laird, Leno, Leslie, Levine, Lieber, Liu,
Matthews, Maze, McCarthy, Mountjoy, Mullin, Nakanishi,
Nava, Negrete McLeod, Niello, Parra, Plescia, Richman,
Ridley-Thomas, Sharon Runner, Ruskin, Saldana, Salinas,
Spitzer, Strickland, Torrico, Tran, Umberg, Vargas,
Villines, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Gordon, La Suer, Montanez, Nation,
Oropeza, Pavley, Walters, Nunez
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RJG:nl 8/16/05 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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