Amended  IN  Assembly  April 18, 2018
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 12, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill No. 3076

Introduced by Assembly Member Reyes
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Daly and Waldron)

February 16, 2018

An act to add Section 6214.4 to the Business and Professions Code, relating to child welfare.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 3076, as amended, Reyes. Indian child welfare: legal services.
Existing federal law, the Indian Child Welfare Act, governs the proceedings for determining the placement of an Indian child when that child is removed from the custody of his or her parent or guardian. Existing provisions of state law govern child custody proceedings, adoption proceedings, and dependency proceedings, including termination of parental rights, the voluntary relinquishment of a child by a parent, and guardianship proceedings. Existing law recognizes that the federal Indian Child Welfare Act applies if the subject of these proceedings is or may be an Indian child, and specifies conforming procedures in these cases with regard to the right to notice and intervention accorded the child’s tribe and the standard of proof applied in evaluating the evidence submitted, among other things.
Existing law requires an attorney or law firm that receives or disburses trust funds to establish and maintain an Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) and to deposit in the account all client deposits or funds that are nominal in amount or are on deposit or invested for a short period of time, the interest and dividend earnings on which are to be paid to the State Bar of California to be used to fund qualified legal services projects that provide free civil legal services to indigent persons and qualified support centers that provide legal training, legal technical assistance, or advocacy support to qualified legal services projects, as specified.
This bill would require the State Bar of California to administer grants to qualified legal services projects and qualified support centers for the purpose of providing legal services to Indian tribes in child welfare matters under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act and legal training and technical assistance to qualified legal services projects regarding child welfare matters under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. The bill would provide that its provisions shall become operative upon an appropriation of not less than $1,000,000 to the State Bar of California in the annual Budget Act expressly identified for the purpose of these provisions.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 6214.4 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:

6214.4.
 (a) The State Bar of California shall administer grants to qualified legal services projects and qualified support centers in accordance with this article for the purpose of providing either or both of the following services:
(1)Legal legal services to Indian tribes in child welfare matters under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (25 U.S.C. Sec. 1901 et seq.).

(2)Legal training and technical assistance to qualified legal services projects regarding child welfare matters under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.

(b) Grants shall be provided only to qualified legal services projects and qualified support centers that have experience handling child welfare matters under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act or providing legal services to Indian tribes.
(c) This section shall become operative upon an appropriation of not less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) to the State Bar of California in the annual Budget Act expressly identified for the purposes of this section.