(a) If a local agency has reasonable grounds to believe that a record belonging to that local agency is in the possession of a person, organization, or institution not authorized by law to possess the record, it may request the secretary to act on its behalf pursuant to the procedures specified in Sections 6204 and 6204.1, or undertake on its own behalf the same procedure available to the secretary under those sections, subject to subdivisions (b), (c), and (d).

(b) If a person, organization, or institution that receives a written notice and demand from a local agency issued pursuant to this section does not deliver the described record, does not respond to the notice and demand within the required time, or does not adequately demonstrate that the record does not belong to the local agency, the local agency may request the county district attorney or, where applicable, the city attorney, to petition the superior court in the county in which the record is located for an order requiring the return of the record.

(c) After a hearing, and upon a finding that a specified record is in the possession of a person, organization, or institution not authorized by law to possess the record, the court shall order the record to be delivered to the local agency or a government official designated by the court.

(d) The court may issue any order necessary to protect the record from destruction, alteration, transfer, conveyance, or alienation by the person, organization, or institution in possession of the record, and may order the record to be surrendered into the custody of the local agency pending the court’s decision on the petition. The court may order the record to be available for public access under a request made pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250)).

(Added by Stats. 2009, Ch. 519, Sec. 1. (AB 1245) Effective January 1, 2010.)