BILL NUMBER: AB 989	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Cooper

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act to amend Section 786 of the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to juveniles.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 989, as introduced, Cooper. Juveniles: sealing of records.
   Existing law subjects any person under 18 years of age who commits
a crime to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge
that person to be a ward of the court, except as specified. Under
existing law, juvenile court proceedings to declare a minor a ward of
the court are commenced by the filing of a petition by the probation
officer, the district attorney after consultation with the probation
officer, or the prosecuting attorney, as specified. Existing law
requires the juvenile court to order the petition of a minor who is
subject to the jurisdiction of the court dismissed if the minor
satisfactorily completes a term of probation or an informal program
of supervision, as specified, and requires the court to seal all
records in the custody of the juvenile court pertaining to that
dismissed petition, except as specified.
   This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to those
provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 786 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   786.  If the minor satisfactorily completes (a) an informal
program of supervision pursuant to Section 654.2, (b) probation under
Section 725, or (c) a term of probation for any offense not listed
in subdivision (b) of Section 707, the court shall order the petition
dismissed, and the arrest upon which the judgment was deferred shall
be deemed not to have occurred. The court shall order sealed all
records pertaining to that dismissed petition in the custody of the
juvenile court, except that the prosecuting attorney and the
probation department of any county shall have access to 
these   the  records after they are sealed for the
limited purpose of determining whether the minor is eligible for
deferred entry of judgment pursuant to Section 790. The court may
access a file that has been sealed pursuant to this section for the
limited purpose of verifying the prior jurisdictional status of a
ward who is petitioning the court to resume its jurisdiction pursuant
to subdivision (e) of Section 388. This access shall not be deemed
an unsealing of the record and shall not require notice to any other
entity.