299.5
. (a) All DNA and forensic identification profiles and other
identification information retained by the Department of Justice
pursuant to this chapter are exempt from any law requiring disclosure
of information to the public and shall be confidential except as
otherwise provided in this chapter.
(b) All evidence and forensic samples containing biological
material retained by the Department of Justice DNA Laboratory or
other state law enforcement agency are exempt from any law requiring
disclosure of information to the public or the return of biological
specimens, samples, or print impressions.
(c) Non-DNA forensic identification information may be filed with
the offender's file maintained by the Sex Registration Unit of the
Department of Justice or in other computerized data bank or database
systems maintained by the Department of Justice.
(d) The DNA and other forensic identification information retained
by the Department of Justice pursuant to this chapter shall not be
included in the state summary criminal history information. However,
nothing in this chapter precludes law enforcement personnel from
entering into a person's criminal history information or offender
file maintained by the Department of Justice, the fact that the
specimens, samples, and print impressions required by this chapter
have or have not been collected from that person.
(e) The fact that the blood specimens, saliva or buccal swab
samples, and print impressions required by this chapter have been
received by the DNA Laboratory of the Department of Justice shall be
included in the state summary criminal history information as soon as
administratively practicable.
The full palm prints of each hand shall be filed and maintained by
the Automated Latent Print Section of the Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Information of the Department of Justice, and may
be included in the state summary criminal history information.
(f) DNA samples and DNA profiles and other forensic identification
information shall be released only to law enforcement agencies,
including, but not limited to, parole officers of the Department of
Corrections, hearing officers of the parole authority, probation
officers, the Attorney General's office, district attorneys' offices,
and prosecuting city attorneys' offices, unless otherwise
specifically authorized by this chapter. Dissemination of DNA
specimens, samples, and DNA profiles and other forensic
identification information to law enforcement agencies and district
attorneys' offices outside this state shall be performed in
conformity with the provisions of this chapter.
(g) A defendant's DNA and other forensic identification
information developed pursuant to this chapter shall be available to
his or her defense counsel upon court order made pursuant to Chapter
10 (commencing with Section 1054) of Title 6 of Part 2.
(h) Except as provided in subdivision (g) and in order to protect
the confidentiality and privacy of database and data bank
information, the Department of Justice and local public DNA
laboratories shall not otherwise be compelled in a criminal or civil
proceeding to provide any DNA profile or forensic identification
database or data bank information or its computer database program
software or structures to any person or party seeking such records or
information whether by subpoena or discovery, or other procedural
device or inquiry.
(i) (1) (A) Any person who knowingly uses an offender specimen,
sample, or DNA profile collected pursuant to this chapter for other
than criminal identification or exclusion purposes, or for other than
the identification of missing persons, or who knowingly discloses
DNA or other forensic identification information developed pursuant
to this section to an unauthorized individual or agency, for other
than criminal identification or exclusion purposes, or for the
identification of missing persons, in violation of this chapter,
shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one
year or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or
three years.
(B) Any person who, for the purpose of financial gain, knowingly
uses a specimen, sample, or DNA profile collected pursuant to this
chapter for other than criminal identification or exclusion purposes
or for the identification of missing persons or who, for the purpose
of financial gain, knowingly discloses DNA or other forensic
identification information developed pursuant to this section to an
unauthorized individual or agency, for other than criminal
identification or exclusion purposes or for other than the
identification of missing persons, in violation of this chapter,
shall, in addition to the penalty provided in subparagraph (A), be
punished by a criminal fine in an amount three times that of any
financial gain received or ten thousand dollars ($10,000), whichever
is greater.
(2) (A) If any employee of the Department of Justice knowingly
uses a specimen, sample, or DNA profile collected pursuant to this
chapter for other than criminal identification or exclusion purposes,
or knowingly discloses DNA or other forensic identification
information developed pursuant to this section to an unauthorized
individual or agency, for other than criminal identification or
exclusion purposes or for other than the identification of missing
persons, in violation of this chapter, the department shall be liable
in civil damages to the donor of the DNA identification information
in the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation,
plus attorney's fees and costs. In the event of multiple disclosures,
the total damages available to the donor of the DNA is limited to
fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) plus attorney's fees and costs.
(B) (i) Notwithstanding any other law, this shall be the sole and
exclusive remedy against the Department of Justice and its employees
available to the donor of the DNA.
(ii) The Department of Justice employee disclosing DNA
identification information in violation of this chapter shall be
absolutely immune from civil liability under this or any other law.
(3) It is not a violation of this section for a law enforcement
agency in its discretion to publicly disclose the fact of a DNA
profile match, or the name of the person identified by the DNA match
when this match is the basis of law enforcement's investigation,
arrest, or prosecution of a particular person, or the identification
of a missing or abducted person.
(j) It is not a violation of this chapter to furnish DNA or other
forensic identification information of the defendant to his or her
defense counsel for criminal defense purposes in compliance with
discovery.
(k) It is not a violation of this section for law enforcement to
release DNA and other forensic identification information developed
pursuant to this chapter to a jury or grand jury, or in a document
filed with a court or administrative agency, or as part of a judicial
or administrative proceeding, or for this information to become part
of the public transcript or record of proceedings when, in the
discretion of law enforcement, disclosure is necessary because the
DNA information pertains to the basis for law enforcement's
identification, arrest, investigation, prosecution, or exclusion of a
particular person related to the case.
(l) It is not a violation of this section to include information
obtained from a file in a transcript or record of a judicial
proceeding, or in any other public record when the inclusion of the
information in the public record is authorized by a court, statute,
or decisional law.
(m) It is not a violation of this section for the DNA Laboratory
of the Department of Justice, or an organization retained as an agent
of the Department of Justice, or a local public laboratory to use
anonymous records or criminal history information obtained pursuant
to this chapter for training, research, statistical analysis of
populations, or quality assurance or quality control.
(n) The Department of Justice shall make public the methodology
and procedures to be used in its DNA program prior to the
commencement of DNA testing in its laboratories. The Department of
Justice shall review and consider on an ongoing basis the findings
and results of any peer review and validation studies submitted to
the department by members of the relevant scientific community
experienced in the use of DNA technology. This material shall be
available to criminal defense counsel upon court order made pursuant
to Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 1054) of Title 6 of Part 2.
(o) In order to maintain the computer system security of the
Department of Justice DNA and Forensic Identification Database and
Data Bank Program, the computer software and database structures used
by the DNA Laboratory of the Department of Justice to implement this
chapter are confidential.