BILL NUMBER: AB 1960 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 27, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Perea
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
An act to amend Section 11105.1 of the Penal Code,
add Section 4142 to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to criminal history information.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1960, as amended, Perea. State summary criminal history
information: state hospitals.
Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain state
summary criminal history information, including the identification
and criminal history of any person, such as his or her name, date of
birth, physical description, fingerprints, photographs, dates of
arrest, arresting agencies and booking numbers, charges,
dispositions, and similar data about the person. Existing law
requires the department to furnish this information in response to a
request from certain authorized agencies, organizations, or
individuals for specified purposes. Existing law authorizes state
criminal summary history information to be given to the director of a
state hospital or other treatment facility in specified
circumstances, including when the person is being committed for being
dangerous to others. Existing law makes it a
misdemeanor to knowingly furnish a state summary criminal history
record or information obtained from a record to a person who is not
authorized by law to receive that record or information.
This bill would require the Attorney General to provide
director of a state hospital or a clinician, as
defined, to obtain the state summary criminal history
information to the director of a state hospital, or his or
her designee, for a patient committed to that
facility for treatment the State Department of State
Hospitals . The bill would require the state hospital
to only use the information for the purpose of treatment or the
determination of security required for that patient and to remove the
information state the purposes for which the
information may be used, including to assess the violence
risk and the appropriate placement of the patient, and would require
the information to be removed from the patient's file and
destroy it destroyed within 30 days of
the patient being discharged. This bill would also authorize
a require law enforcement officer at a
state hospital who has access to personnel to provide
the criminal history information to the director or clinician upon
request through the California Law Enforcement
Telecommunication Telecommunications System
to provide state summary criminal history information to the
director of a state hospital, or his or her designee, for
this purpose. Because the furnishing of this information by the
director or clinician to an unauthorized p erson would be
a misdemeanor pursuant to the provisions described above, this bill
would expand the scope of an existing crime, thereby imposing a
state-mandated local program.
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: no yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 4142 is added to the
Welfare and Institutions Code , to read:
4142. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, whenever a patient is
committed to the State Department of State Hospitals, a director of a
state hospital or a clinician, as defined in subdivision (f), shall
obtain the state summary criminal history information for the
patient. The information shall be used to assess the violence risk of
a patient, to assess the appropriate placement of a patient, for
treatment purposes of a patient, for use in preparing periodic
reports as required by statute, or to determine the patient's
progress or fitness for release. The state summary criminal history
information shall be placed in the patient's confidential file for
the duration of his or her commitment.
(b) The information may be obtained through use of the California
Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS). Law enforcement
personnel shall cooperate with requests for state summary criminal
history information authorized pursuant to this section and shall
provide the information to the requesting entity in a timely manner.
(c) A law enforcement officer or person authorized by this section
to receive the information who obtains the information in the record
and knowingly provides the information to a person not authorized by
law to receive the information is guilty of a misdemeanor as
specified in Section 11142 of the Penal Code.
(d) Information obtained pursuant to this section shall not be
used for any purposes other than those described in subdivision (a).
(e) For purposes of this section, the State Department of State
Hospitals law enforcement personnel, pursuant to Section 830.38 of
the Penal Code, may act as the governmental criminal justice agency
described in subdivision (a).
(f) For purposes of this section, "clinician" means a state
licensed mental health professional working within the State
Department of State Hospitals.
(g) State summary criminal history information secured pursuant to
this section shall remain confidential and access shall be limited
to the director of the state hospital or the clinician. Within 30
days of discharge from the state hospital, the state summary criminal
history information shall be removed from the patient's file and
destroyed.
SEC. 2. 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.
SECTION 1. Section 11105.1 of the Penal Code is
amended to read:
11105.1. (a) The following persons shall be furnished with state
summary criminal history information when needed in the course of
their duties:
(1) The director of a treatment facility other than a state
hospital to which a person is committed for treatment under Sections
1026 and 1370 of the Penal Code, or Section 5250, if committed for
being dangerous to others, or Section 5300, or former Section 6316 or
6321, of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(2) The community program director or the director's designee
under any of the following conditions:
(A) When ordered to evaluate a defendant for the court under
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 1370 and subdivision (b)
of Section 1026 of the Penal Code, or paragraph (2) of subdivision
(a) of former Section 6316 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(B) When ordered to provide outpatient treatment and supervision
services under Title 15 (commencing with Section 1600) of Part 2 of
the Penal Code.
(C) When a patient is committed for being dangerous to others
under Section 5250 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(D) When the director or the director's designee provides
evaluation, supervision, or treatment for a person under Section 2964
or 2972.
(3) The officer providing conservatorship investigation under
Section 5354 of the Welfare and Institutions Code in cases where
referral for conservatorship is made while the proposed conservatee
is being treated under Section 1026 or 1370 of the Penal Code or
Section 5250, if committed for being dangerous to others, or Section
5300, or former Section 6316 or 6321, of the Welfare and Institutions
Code.
(b) In all instances pursuant to subdivision (a), the criminal
history record shall be transmitted by the court with the request for
evaluation or during the conservatorship investigation or with the
order committing the person to a treatment facility or approving
outpatient status, except that the county mental health director and
the officer providing conservatorship investigation may receive the
state summary criminal history information from the law enforcement
agency that referred the person for evaluation and treatment under
Section 5150 of the Welfare and Institutions Code if the person has
been subsequently committed for being dangerous to others under
Section 5250 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Information
obtained under this subdivision shall not be included in any document
that will become part of a public record.
(c) (1) Subject to the requirements of Section 11105, the Attorney
General shall furnish state summary criminal history information to
the director of a state hospital, or his or her designee, for a
patient committed to that facility for treatment. The information
shall only be used for the purpose of treatment or the determination
of security required for that patient. State summary criminal history
information shall be included in the patient's confidential file for
the duration of the patient's treatment at the state hospital. The
state summary criminal history information shall be removed from the
patient's file and destroyed within 30 days of the patient being
discharged.
(2) Subject to the requirements and conditions in Section
11105.03, a law enforcement officer at a state hospital who has
access to the California Law Enforcement Telecommunication System
(CLETS) is hereby authorized to provide state summary criminal
history information to the director of a state hospital, or his or
her designee, for use as provided in paragraph (1).