Bill Text: CA AB1960 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: State summary criminal history information: state hospitals.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2014-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 730, Statutes of 2014. [AB1960 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB1960-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1960 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 730
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2014
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 28, 2014
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 13, 2014
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY MAY 15, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 27, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Perea
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
An act to add Section 4142 to the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to criminal history information.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1960, 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 director of a state hospital or a
clinician, as defined, to obtain the state summary criminal history
information for a patient committed to the State Department of State
Hospitals. The bill would 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 destroyed
within 30 days of the patient being discharged. This bill would also
require law enforcement personnel to provide the criminal history
information to the director or clinician upon request through the
California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System for this
purpose. Because the furnishing of this information by the director
or clinician to an unauthorized person 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.
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 law enforcement personnel described in
subdivision (b).
(f) For purposes of this section, "clinician" means a state
licensed mental health professional working within the State
Department of State Hospitals who has received, and is current in,
CLETS training that is appropriate for a person who has ongoing
access to information from the CLETS and is not a CLETS operator,
following the policies on training, compliance, and inspection
required by the Department of Justice.
(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.
