BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1338
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Date of Hearing: May 18, 2005
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Judy Chu, Chair
AB 1338 (Nation) - As Amended: April 28, 2005
Policy Committee: Judiciary
Committee Vote: 6-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires undocumented immigrant children under the
jurisdiction of the juvenile court to be assigned an immigration
attorney. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires undocumented foster children who are not likely to be
reunified with their family to be assigned immigration
counsel.
2)Requires that immigration counsel pursue "Special Immigrant
Juvenile Status" (SIJS) under federal immigration law.
3)Exempts counties already completing immigration status work
addressed by this bill.
4)Requires Judicial Council by January 1, 2007 to promulgate
rules of the court to establish standards, training
requirements, and guidelines for counsel appointed by this
bill.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Significant costs in the range of $300,000 annually, assuming
200 immigrant children receive 10 hours of legal assistance
each, billed at $150 per hour. Some estimates indicate there
are 400 children in foster care statewide requiring these
immigration services. However, Los Angeles County already
pursues SJIS on behalf of children and would therefore be
exempt from the specific requirements of this bill. With
regard to undocumented immigrant foster children, it is
reasonable to assume that between 40 and 50 percent of these
AB 1338
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children reside in Los Angeles County.
2)Unknown potential savings to the extent a change in a child's
immigration status creates federal IV-E funding opportunities.
For example, basic foster care rates (for food and housing
costs, not medical care, mental health services) range from
between $10,000 and $63,000 (25 percent GF) per year per
child.
If a child becomes IV-E eligible, costs change from entirely
county or county and state funded to up 50 percent federally
funded, which creates a savings to both the state and the
county.
3)A one-time cost of approximately $25,000 to Judicial Council
to establish regulations and protocols to be followed by
juvenile courts and local welfare departments.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill requires that undocumented immigrant
children in foster care receive legal support in order to
pursue SIJS. Undocumented immigrant children who end up in
juvenile court because of abuse or neglect face even greater
hurdles than other children in foster care. Barriers often
include limited English-speaking proficiency and risk of
deportation. Parents who adopt such children from foster care
face daunting legal hurdles if a child's immigration status is
not clarified prior to the adoption being finalized.
2)Existing law authorizes a juvenile court to establish
jurisdiction over a child if he or she has been abused or
neglected. If maltreatment is severe enough, a child is placed
in foster care. Currently, California has approximately 75,000
children in foster care-about half in Los Angeles County. If
the risk of further maltreatment is great enough or the
child's natural parents cannot be located, a child may be
placed for adoption. Approximately 7,000 foster children are
placed for adoption each year in California.
Children served by the juvenile court are appointed legal
counsel for representation at all hearings. Currently, when
handling the case of an undocumented child, some counties have
protocols for counsel and social workers to address
immigration status-many do not.
AB 1338
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3)Lack of Data . According to federal data, about 1.6 million
children under the age of 18 in the United States are
undocumented immigrants. Extrapolating to California, this
indicates that more than 150,000 undocumented children live in
California. However, specific data about how many of these
children are in foster care statewide are unavailable.
Based on Los Angeles county data, the author concludes that 400
children statewide would qualify for immigration services
under this bill. In recent years, Los Angeles has pursued SIJS
for about 200 children a year. These figures do not reflect
other clarifications of legal status such as citizenship,
green cards or work authorizations.
4)Related Legislation . This bill is very similar to AB 1895
(Nation) in 2004. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed AB 1895,
stating, in part, that "Current law already requires the court
to appoint an attorney to represent the child in dependency
hearings. Counties already have the option of appointing an
attorney to assist in resolving the immigration status of a
child.
This bill will apply an overbroad solution to all counties
regardless of the individual needs of each jurisdiction.
SB 2160 (Schiff), Chapter 450, Statutes of 2000, required the
juvenile court to appoint counsel to all children in juvenile
court, unless the child would not benefit from the appointment
of such counsel.
Analysis Prepared by : Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081