Domestic violence: death review teams.

Existing law authorizes a county to establish an interagency domestic violence death review team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing domestic violence deaths, including homicides and suicides, and facilitating communication among various agencies involved in domestic violence cases. This bill would additionally authorize those interagency domestic violence death review teams to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing domestic violence near-death cases, as defined. The bill would prohibit near-death reviews from occurring before any prosecution has concluded and would prohibit the compelled participation of any near-death survivors in death review team investigations. Under existing law, an oral or written communication or a document provided by a third party to a domestic violence review team is confidential and not subject to disclosure or discovery. This bill would specify that this confidentiality provision includes a statement provided by a survivor in a near-death review case review. Subject to available funding, existing law requires the Attorney General to develop a protocol designed to facilitate communication, as specified, to recognize incidents of domestic violence and deaths related to domestic violence. This bill would require the Attorney General to develop that protocol no later than January 1, 2025, and would include communication regarding near deaths related to domestic violence in the protocol.