STATE AGENCY AND OTHER DEPARTMENT UPDATES
April 8, 2024
Judicial Council Requests for Comment
Below are several Judicial Council of California Invitations to Comment currently out for review and feedback. We request your review and feedback of the documents for any comments or issue spotting to help inform potential responses that may be necessary. Please submit any comments for us to consider via email to Nikki at nikki@cpoc.org by April 19, 2024.
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
To implement recent legislation creating new factors to be considered by the juvenile court at a detention hearing, the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes amending three rules and revising one Judicial Council form, effective January 1, 2025. Senate Bill 578 (Ashby; Stats. 2023, ch. 618) amended Welfare and Institutions Code section 319 to require the court to consider the impact on the child when being separated from their parent or guardian at a detention hearing. The proposal would amend rules and revise a form related to the detention hearing to address the new reporting requirements and clarify the court’s role in mitigating harm to the child related to removal from their home.
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes amending one rule of court to implement Assembly Bill 1756 (Stats. 2023, ch. 478, § 62), which amended Welfare and Institutions Code section 10850.4 to extend the juvenile court’s jurisdiction in cases involving the death of a child or nonminor dependent. The committee also proposes adopting one rule of court, amending two rules of court, adopting a new form, and revising six forms to clarify the different legal standards for petitions seeking disclosure of a living child’s juvenile case file under section 827(a)(3) and a deceased child’s juvenile case file under section 827(a)(2).
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee recommends adopting one new form and revising six forms to simplify the process for all adopting parents, and their counsel if represented. The committee further recommends revising the adoption request form to conform to a portion of Assembly Bill 1650 (Patterson; Stats. 2023, ch. 76) which requires that the petitioner inform the court, in writing, whether the petitioner has entered, or has agreed to enter, into a postadoption contact agreement.
Family Law: Child Custody Forms and a Standard of Judicial Administration Under Senate Bill 599
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes
implementing Senate Bill 599 by amending one standard of
judicial administration relating to supervised visitation,
approving a new information sheet to include the new statutory
definition of virtual visitation, and revising three forms
relating to child custody and visitation (parenting time) for
cases involving allegations of a parent or parents’ history of
abuse or substance abuse under Family Code section
3011.
Family and Juvenile Law: Recognition and Enforcement of Tribal Court Child Custody Orders
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
The Tribal Court–State Court Forum and the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee propose that, effective January 1, 2025, the Judicial Council approve two new forms and revise four existing forms to clarify that the requirement to recognize and enforce child custody orders under the provisions of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (found in sections 3400–3465 of the Family Code) applies to custody orders issued by a tribal court. Tribal court judges report that they have experienced problems having their child custody orders registered and enforced because the existing form refers only to out-of-state custody orders and does not reference tribal court orders.
Criminal Law: Parole Period Advisement
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
The Criminal Law Advisory Committee proposes amending rule 4.433 of the California Rules of Court to add a reference to the parole periods described in Penal Code section 3000.01. This reference would appear in subdivision (e), which describes the sentencing judge’s advisement to the defendant about the parole period to be served after expiration of the sentence.
Criminal Law: Firearm and Body Armor Prohibitions
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
The Criminal Law Advisory Committee proposes revising six criminal forms to incorporate firearm and body armor prohibitions enacted in recent legislation. The committee also proposes further revisions to the plea and relinquishment forms in this proposal (forms CR-101, CR-102, and CR-210) to reflect new procedures on firearm relinquishment, clarify prohibited items and relinquishment requirements, and refer to the possibility of a lifetime prohibition on firearm possession for misdemeanor domestic violence offenses. Finally, the committee proposes additional revisions to the felony plea form (form CR-101) based on other statutory changes, and to the criminal protective orders (forms CR-160 and CR-161) based on stakeholder suggestions.
Criminal Law and Family Law: Changes to Form MIL-100
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee and Criminal Law Advisory Committee propose revising form MIL-100, effective January 1, 2025. The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes revising form MIL-100 to implement the requirements of Family Code section 211.5, which was added by Senate Bill 1182 (Stats. 2022, ch. 385). The proposed changes would allow the court to comply with section 211.5 when the form is filed in a family law case involving a person who has military, veteran, reserve, or active status. The Criminal Law Advisory Committee proposes additional revisions to form MIL-100 to clarify procedures under Penal Code section 858 when the form is filed in a criminal case, and to reference treatment options for pretrial diversion under Penal Code section 1001.80. The committees also propose updating and reformatting the information on the back of the form for improved readability.
Juvenile Law: Restraining Orders
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee recommends amending several rules of the California Rules of Court and revising several forms to conform to recent statutory changes enacted by Assembly Bill 1621 (Gipson; Stats. 2022, ch. 76) and Assembly Bill 92 (Stats. 2023, ch. 232). AB 1621 redefines “firearm precursor parts” and AB 92 specifies that a person who is prohibited from possessing firearms is also prohibited from possessing, owning, or buying body armor. The committee also proposes a new notice of hearing form that is separate from the temporary restraining order forms and a new rule clarifying the requirement that the juvenile court that has jurisdiction of a child or youth must hear requests for restraining orders initiated by or brough against the child or youth.
Protective Orders: Rule and Form Changes to Implement Senate Bill 459
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
To implement Senate Bill 459 (Stats. 2023, ch. 874), the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee proposes adopting a number of domestic violence restraining order forms to allow either party to request to change or end a domestic violence restraining order. The proposal also recommends changes to existing family law forms and a family law rule of court to reflect the new proposed process. The proposed changes would help parties, attorneys, and court professionals understand the changes in the procedures when a party wants to ask the court to change or end orders made in a domestic violence restraining order.
Protective Orders: Changes to Domestic Violence Forms to Implement New Laws SB 599 and AB 92
Comments must be submitted by May 3, 2024 5:00 PM (Pacific)
The Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee recommends the approval and revision of a number of domestic violence restraining order forms to comply with new requirements for child custody and visitation orders (Senate Bill 599), and include body armor prohibitions (Assembly Bill 92).
