Domestic Violence Offender Registration Act.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's full text is available for further review if needed.

Domestic Violence Offender Registration Act

This act requires people convicted of certain domestic violence crimes to register with law enforcement and share information about themselves for up to 20 years.

What This Bill Does

• Creates a database where the Department of Justice will store information about people who have been found guilty of specific domestic violence offenses.
• Requires these offenders to give their personal details, like birthplace and current address, to local police departments for up to 20 years.
• Allows offenders to ask to be removed from the registry early if they show they are no longer a risk or were wrongly convicted.
• Makes it illegal for anyone to misuse information in the database, with penalties including jail time.
• Requires courts and law enforcement agencies to keep track of any changes related to these registrations.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who have been found guilty of certain domestic violence crimes
• Local police departments that will receive registration details from offenders
• Courts involved in handling petitions for removal from the registry

Terms To Know

Registrable offense

A specific type of crime related to domestic violence that requires someone to register with law enforcement.

Petition

An official request made by an offender to be removed from the registry early.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill needs funding from the Legislature before it can start.
• It does not specify all the details of how local agencies will manage their databases.

Official Summary Text

AB 2701, as amended, Jeff Gonzalez.
Domestic Violence Offender Registration Act.
Existing law requires each county to develop a procedure for electronically transmitting, upon the issuance of certain types of protective orders, the contents of the order and other specified information to the Department of Justice through the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. Existing law also requires the department to maintain a California Restraining and Protective Order System and to make specified information electronically available to court clerks and law enforcement personnel.
This bill, the Domestic Violence Offender Registration Act, would require the department, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, to create a database for the purpose of storing and sharing information with local agencies and the court, regarding persons convicted of a registrable offense, as defined. The bill would also require the
department to publish that information on its internet website, as specified. The bill would require the offender, as defined, to register, for up to 20 years, certain information including their place of birth and current address with the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over their residence, as specified. The bill would create a petition process for an offender to seek removal from the registry before having completed the applicable term if they demonstrate rehabilitation and no new qualifying offenses, or they demonstrate exoneration, as specified. The bill would require the court to notify the department of certain petition-related events, including when a petition for termination from the registry is granted, denied, or summarily denied. The bill would require local agencies and the court to create a database for the purpose of storing information received from offenders pursuant to these provisions. The bill would create both civil and criminal penalties for the misuse of information
disclosed pursuant to these provisions, including, if a person uses that information to commit a felony, a 5-year prison sentence in addition to and consecutive to any other punishment. The bill would also make an offender’s failure to comply with registration requirements a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year. By increasing the duties on local agencies and creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would declare its provisions to be severable.
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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Current Bill Text

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