§ 736.5

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to close the Division of Juvenile Justice within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, through shifting responsibility for all youth adjudged a ward of the court, commencing July 1, 2021, to county governments and providing annual funding for county governments to fulfill this new responsibility.

(b) Beginning July 1, 2021, a ward shall not be committed to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice, except as described in subdivision (c).

(c) Pending the final closure of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice, a court may commit a ward who is otherwise eligible to be committed under existing law and in whose case a motion to transfer the minor from juvenile court to a court of criminal jurisdiction was filed.

(d) All wards committed to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice prior to July 1, 2021 or pursuant to (c), shall remain within its custody until the ward is discharged, released or otherwise moved pursuant to law.

(e) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish a separate dispositional track for higher-need youth by March 1, 2021. The framework for consideration shall be the processes laid out in Section 30 of Senate Bill 823 as amended on August 24, 2020.

(Added by Stats. 2020, Ch. 337, Sec. 30. (SB 823) Effective September 30, 2020.)