Protective orders: confidential information regarding minors.

(1) Existing law authorizes a person who has suffered harassment to seek a temporary restraining order and an order prohibiting the harassment. Existing law authorizes a minor or the minor's legal guardian to petition the court to have information regarding the minor that was obtained while issuing a protective order pursuant to this provision to be kept confidential. Disclosure or misuse of information ordered to be kept confidential is enforced as a civil contempt of court, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. This bill would require a notice to be sent to the respondent of a petition seeking an order to keep information confidential that identifies the information that has been made confidential and a statement that a disclosure is punishable by a monetary fine. The bill would authorize a court, either on its own motion at any time or upon a petition filed by a person, to grant a disclosure of information ordered to be kept confidential to certain individuals or entities as necessary to prevent harassment or if it is in the best interest of the minor. The bill would require the party who sought to keep the information confidential to be served with a petition to disclose confidential information and afforded an opportunity to object. The bill would authorize the minor's legal guardian who petitioned to keep the information confidential, the party protected by an order issued under the act, or a person who received confidential information to disclose confidential information without a court order under specified conditions. The bill would modify the civil contempt fine for a disclosure or misuse of confidential information to instead authorize a court to impose a sanction of up to $1,000 for a disclosure of confidential information made without a court order, except that the bill would prohibit the court from imposing a sanction upon a minor who alleged harassment. The bill would require a court, before imposing a sanction, to first determine whether a person has, or is reasonably likely to have, the ability to pay a sanction. (2) The Domestic Violence Prevention Act, among other things, authorizes a court, upon a petition by a minor or the minor's legal guardian, to order information regarding the minor obtained while issuing a protective order pursuant to the act to be kept confidential. The act requires the information regarding the minor that is ordered to be kept confidential to be maintained in a confidential case file and prohibits the information from becoming part of the public file in the proceeding or any other civil proceeding. Disclosure or misuse of the confidential information is enforced as a civil contempt of court, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. This bill would modify the prohibition on the confidential information becoming part of the public file to instead prohibit the information from becoming part of the public file in the proceeding, any other proceeding initiated under the Family Code, or any other civil proceeding. The bill would authorize a court to grant a petition to disclose confidential information, if the court makes certain determinations, and would require the party who sought to keep the information confidential to be served with the petition and afforded an opportunity to object. The bill would authorize the court, at any time and on its own, to authorize a disclosure of any portion of the confidential information to certain individuals or entities if certain conditions are met. The bill would authorize the minor's legal guardian who petitioned to keep the information confidential, the party protected by an order issued under the act, or a person who received confidential information to disclose confidential information without a court order under specified conditions. The bill would modify the civil contempt fine for a disclosure or misuse of confidential information to instead authorize a court to impose a sanction of up to $1,000 for a disclosure of confidential information that is not allowed under the provisions described above, except that the bill would prohibit the court from imposing a sanction upon a minor who alleged abuse, as defined. The bill would require a court, before imposing a sanction, to first determine whether a person has, or is reasonably likely to have, the ability to pay a sanction. (3) The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.