Elder abuse: registry.

Existing law, the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, establishes various procedures for the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of elder and dependent adult abuse, and provides that the purpose of the act is to, among other things, collect information on the number of abuse victims, circumstances surrounding the abuse, and other data. The act defines the term "abuse of an elder or a dependent adult" for its purposes. Existing law also makes it a crime for a person who knows or reasonably should know that a person is an elder or dependent adult to willfully cause or permit the person or health of the elder or dependent adult to be injured, or willfully cause or permit the elder or dependent adult to be placed in a situation in which his or her person or health is endangered. Existing law specifies penalties for a person who violates any law proscribing theft, embezzlement, forgery, or fraud, or specified identity theft laws, when the victim is an elder or a dependent adult. This bill would require a person who is convicted for a crime involving the abuse of an elder adult, as defined in the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, to register for the remainder of his or her life with all police departments and the sheriff in the county in which the person was convicted and in the county in which he or she resides. The bill would require the police department or county sheriff to forward the registration information to the Department of Justice. The bill would require the Department of Justice to maintain a publicly accessible Internet Web site containing certain information concerning persons who are required to register pursuant to these provisions. The bill would make it a crime to use information obtained from the Internet Web site to commit a crime, and would subject a person who uses information obtained from the Internet Web site for any other reason than to protect an at-risk person to civil liability, as specified. The bill would relieve a person from the duty to register pursuant to these provisions if he or she receives a certificate of rehabilitation and he or she is not in custody, on parole, or on probation. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for a person who is required to register pursuant to these provisions to willfully violate any requirements related to registration. By creating new crimes and imposing new duties on local police departments and county sheriffs related to registering individuals convicted of a crime involving the abuse of an elder adult, 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 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.