California Penal Code 679.027 – (a) Every law enforcement agency investigating a criminal act …
(a) Every law enforcement agency investigating a criminal act and every agency prosecuting a criminal act shall, as provided herein, at the time of initial contact with a crime victim, during followup investigation, or as soon thereafter as deemed appropriate by investigating officers or prosecuting attorneys, inform each victim, or the victim’s next of kin if the victim is deceased, of the rights they may have under applicable law relating to the victimization, including rights relating to housing, employment, compensation, and immigration relief.
(b) (1) ? Every law enforcement agency investigating a criminal act and every agency prosecuting a criminal act shall, as provided herein, at the time of initial contact with a crime victim, during followup investigation, or as soon thereafter as deemed appropriate by investigating officers or prosecuting attorneys, provide or make available to each victim of the criminal act without charge or cost a “Victim Protections and Resources” card described in paragraph (3).
Terms Used In California Penal Code 679.027
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- county: includes "city and county". See California Penal Code 7
- Crime: means an act committed in this state which, if committed by a competent adult, would constitute a misdemeanor or felony. See California Penal Code 679.01
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the district and territories. See California Penal Code 7
- Victim: means a person against whom a crime has been committed. See California Penal Code 679.01
(2) The Victim Protections and Resources card may be designed as part of and included with the “Marsy Rights” card described by Section 679.026.
(3) By June 1, 2025, the Attorney General shall design and make available in PDF or other imaging format to every agency listed in paragraph (1) a “Victim Protections and Resources” card, which shall contain information in lay terms about victim rights and resources, including, but not limited to, the following:
(A) Information about the rights provided by Sections 230 and 230.1 of the Labor Code.
(B) Information about the rights provided by § 1946.7 of the Civil Code.
(C) Information about the rights provided by § 1161.3 of the Civil Code, including information in lay terms about which crimes and tenants are eligible and under what circumstances.
(D) Information about federal immigration relief available to certain victims of crime.
(E) Information about the program established by Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 13950) of Part 4 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, including information about the types of expenses the program may reimburse, eligibility, and how to apply.
(F) Information about the program established by Chapter 3.1 (commencing with Section 6205) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code.
(G) Information about eligibility for filing a restraining or protective order.
(H) Contact information for the Victims’ Legal Resource Center established by Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 13897) of Title 6 of Part 4.
(I) A list of trauma recovery centers funded by the state pursuant to § 13963.1 of the Government Code, with their contact information, which shall be updated annually.
(J) The availability of community-based restorative justice programs and processes available to them, including programs serving their community, county, county jails, juvenile detention facilities, and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
(c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2024, only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024-25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if an appropriation is made to backfill the Restitution Fund to support the actions in this section.
(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 513, Sec. 3. (AB 60) Effective January 1, 2024. Conditionally operative July 1, 2024, as prescribed by its own provisions.)