AB 442: State summary criminal history information.

Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain state summary criminal history information, as defined, and to furnish this information to various state and local government officers, officials, and other prescribed entities, if needed in the course of their duties, including public defenders or attorneys of record when representing a person in criminal appeals and postconviction motions. Existing law makes it a crime for a person authorized by law to receive state summary criminal history information to knowingly furnish that information to a person who is not authorized to receive it.

This bill would additionally authorize the department to provide a state summary criminal history information to a public defender or an attorney with a qualified legal services project or nonprofit, if the information is requested in the course of consultation or representation, on behalf of a prospective client or client who is the subject of state summary criminal history information, and the subject of the information gives informed written consent to the information being furnished. The bill would also update a cross-reference to these provisions. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose 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.