(a) A designated Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program may submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information of employment and volunteer candidates for the purpose of obtaining information as to the existence and nature of any record of child abuse investigations contained in the Child Abuse Central Index, state- or federal-level convictions, or state- or federal-level arrests for which the department establishes that the applicant was released on bail or on his or her own recognizance pending trial. Requests for federal-level criminal offender record information received by the department pursuant to this section shall be forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation by the department.

(b) When requesting state-level criminal offender record information pursuant to this section, the designated CASA program shall request subsequent arrest notification, pursuant to Section 11105.2, for all employment and volunteer candidates.

(c) The department shall respond to the designated CASA program with information as delineated in subdivision (p) of Section 11105.

(d) (1) The department shall charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of processing the requests for federal-level criminal offender record information.

(2) The department shall not charge a fee for state-level criminal offender record information.

(e) For purposes of this section, a designated CASA program is a local court-appointed special advocate program that has adopted and adheres to the guidelines established by the Judicial Council and which has been designated by the local presiding juvenile court judge to recruit, screen, select, train, supervise, and support lay volunteers to be appointed by the court to help define the best interests of children in juvenile court dependency and wardship proceedings. For purposes of this section, there shall be only one designated CASA program in each California county.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 561, Sec. 192. (AB 1516) Effective January 1, 2018.)