Amended  IN  Assembly  May 23, 2025
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 23, 2025
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 28, 2025

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1363

Introduced by Assembly Member Stefani
(Coauthor: Senator Becker)

February 21, 2025

An act to add Section 6380.5 to the Family Code, relating to protective orders.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1363, as amended, Stefani. Protective orders: Wyland’s Law.
Existing law requires each county to develop a procedure for electronically transmitting, upon the issuance of certain types of protective orders, the contents of the order and other specified information to the Department of Justice (department) through the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. Existing law also requires the department to maintain a California Restraining and Protective Order System and to make specified information electronically available to court clerks and law enforcement personnel.
This bill, Wyland’s Law, would require a superior court to maintain a record demonstrating that it has discharged its obligation to transmit information about a protective order to the department and would require the department to maintain a record demonstrating its receipt of the information transmitted about a protective order, as specified. The bill would require the superior court to make those records to be made available to a petitioner, respondent, or protected person, or their representative, within one business day upon an oral or written request. The bill would require, as of January 1, 2027, each superior court and the department to develop and implement an electronic form and manage an email address to facilitate the electronic submission of these requests. The bill would require a superior court and the department to conspicuously post the form and the email address on their respective internet websites under the heading “Wyland’s Law Record Request.” The bill would authorize the department to establish, or contract with a vendor to establish, an automated protected person information and notification system to provide a petitioner or a protected person in a protective order case with automated access to information about their case, as specified. The bill would require a record demonstrating transmission of information about a protective order that a superior court is required to maintain or a record demonstrating receipt of information about a protective order that the department is required to maintain to be open to public inspection and copying. The bill would authorize the court and the department to redact personal identifying information, as defined, about the protected person from any record made available to the public. The bill would make these provisions apply to a case pending before January 1, 2026, to the extent information about a protective order is necessary to verify a superior court’s specified transmission obligations.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 6380.5 is added to the Family Code, to read:

6380.5.
 (a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as Wyland’s Law.
(b) (1) (A) A superior court shall maintain a record demonstrating it has discharged its obligation pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 6380 to transmit information about a protective order to the department. The
(B) The record shall include, at a minimum, include the case number, the name of the court that issued the order, the name of the respondent, the date of issuance of the order, and the date it the superior court transmitted the order.
(C) The record shall not contain a protected party’s personal identifying information.
(2) If a superior court uses a designee to transmit information about a protective order to the department pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 6380, the designee shall confirm with the superior court that it transmitted information about the protective order to the department pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 6380, and the superior court shall maintain the record that the information about the protective order was transmitted to the department.
(c) The department shall maintain a record demonstrating receipt of the information about a protective order transmitted to the department pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 6380.
(d) The superior court that issued a protective order shall make a record it maintains pursuant to subdivision (b) available upon the oral or written request of a petitioner, respondent, or protected person, or their representative, within one business day or, if the request is made on the same day the order is issued, within two business days.

(e)Notwithstanding Section 7922.535 of the Government Code, the department shall make a record it maintains pursuant to subdivision (c) available upon request of a petitioner, respondent, or protected person, or their representative, within one business day or, if the request is made on the same day the order is issued, within two business days.

(f)(1)As of January 1, 2027, each superior court and the department shall develop and implement an electronic form and manage an email address to facilitate the electronic submission of a request made pursuant to subdivision (d) or (e).

(2)A superior court and the department shall post the form and email address described in this subdivision conspicuously on their respective internet websites under the heading “Wyland’s Law Record Request.”

(e) The department may establish, or contract with a vendor to establish, an automated protected person information and notification system to provide a petitioner or protected person in a protective order case with automated access to information maintained in the California Restraining and Protective Order System about their case, including all of the following:
(1) Whether the department has received a record of the protective order.
(2) If the protective order has been successfully served on the restrained person.
(3) If the restrained person has violated the protective order by attempting to purchase or acquire a firearm or ammunition while the order is in effect.

(g)

(f) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, a record demonstrating transmission of information about a protective order that a superior court maintains pursuant to subdivision (b) is required to be open to public inspection and copying. The court may redact personal identifying information about the protected person from any record that it makes available to the public.
(2) Notwithstanding any other law, a record demonstrating receipt of information about a protective order that the department maintains pursuant to subdivision (c) is a public record that is not exempt from disclosure in response to a public record request made pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code). The department may redact personal identifying information about the protected person from any record that it makes available to the public.
(3) This subdivision applies to a case pending before January 1, 2026, to the extent that information about a protective order is necessary to verify a superior court’s transmission obligations under this section, or pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 6380.
(4) Paragraph (2) of this subdivision does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law.

(h)

(g) For purposes of this section, the following terms are defined as follows: definitions apply:
(1) “Department” means the Department of Justice.
(2) “Personal identifying information” has the same meaning as in subdivision (b) of Section 530.55 of the Penal Code.