2005 California Probate Code Sections 2920-2922 CHAPTER 2. APPOINTMENT OF PUBLIC GUARDIAN

2920.  If any person domiciled in the county requires a guardian or
conservator and there is no one else who is qualified and willing to
act and whose appointment as guardian or conservator would be in the
best interest of the person:
   (a) The public guardian may apply for appointment as guardian or
conservator of the person, the estate, or the person and estate.
   (b) The public guardian shall apply for appointment as guardian or
conservator of the person, the estate, or the person and estate, if
the court so orders.  The court may make an order under this
subdivision on motion of an interested person or on the court's own
motion in a pending proceeding or in a proceeding commenced for that
purpose.  The court shall not make an order under this subdivision
except after notice to the public guardian for the period and in the
manner provided in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1460) of Part
1, consideration of the alternatives, and a determination by the
court that the appointment is necessary.  The notice and hearing
under this subdivision may be combined with the notice and hearing
required for appointment of a guardian or conservator.
2920.5.  (a) (1) When a court or an agency designated to perform
adult protective services refers a conservatee or potential
conservatee to a person or entity listed in paragraph (2), that
person or entity may submit to the Department of Justice the
fingerprints of, and information regarding, a person who is being
investigated as a potential conservator.  A potential conservatee
also may request that fingerprints and information regarding a person
being investigated as a potential conservator be submitted to the
Department of Justice, if the person being investigated has offered
to provide assistance that may make a conservatorship unnecessary.
The person or entity listed in paragraph (2) shall inform the
potential conservatee of this right. If the potential conservatee
requests this background check, the person or entity shall submit the
necessary fingerprints and information to the Department of Justice.
  The Department of Justice shall provide the information described
in subdivision (b).  Fingerprints taken by the use of live-scan
technology may be submitted.
   (2) The following persons and entities are authorized to make
submissions pursuant to subdivision (a):
   (A) A public guardian providing conservatorship services pursuant
to this part or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 5350) of Part 2 of
Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
   (B) An agency designated as a county conservatorship investigator
pursuant to Section 5351 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
   (b) Upon a proper request pursuant to the provisions of
subdivision (a), the Department of Justice shall provide information
to the requesting person or agency regarding the existence and nature
of the following:
   (1) Every conviction rendered against the subject of the request
for a violation or attempted violation of an offense specified in
subdivision (a) of Section 15660 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code.  However, excepting those offenses for which registration is
required pursuant to Section 290 of the Penal Code, the Department of
Justice may only provide information on a conviction that occurred
within 10 years of the date of the request, or on a conviction that
occurred over 10 years after the date of the request, if the subject
of the request was incarcerated within 10 years of the date of the
request.
   (2) Every arrest for a violation or attempted violation of an
offense specified in subdivision (a) of Section 15660 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code that the Department of Justice has established
is still pending and for which the subject of the request is
presently awaiting trial, whether the subject of the request is
incarcerated, or has been released on bail or on his or her own
recognizance pending trial.
   (c) The Department of Justice may not retain fingerprints or
related information submitted pursuant to this subdivision to provide
subsequent arrest notification pursuant to Section 11105.2 of the
Penal Code.
   (d) The Department of Justice shall charge a fee sufficient to
cover the cost of processing a request for information pursuant to
this section.  This fee shall be paid by the requesting agency.
   (e) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a private professional
conservator who is in compliance with the requirements of Section
2342 in the county conducting the investigation may not be the
subject of a background check pursuant to this section.
   (f) The criminal records information received by a public guardian
shall be kept confidential, except that it may be disclosed under
seal to the court and to the attorney for the person for whom a
conservatorship is being considered, when the appointment of a
conservator as an alternative to the public guardian is being
considered by the court.  The person or entity described in paragraph
(2) of subdivision (a) shall disclose the information provided by
the Department of Justice to the subject of the background check.
The attorney for the proposed conservatee shall keep any disclosed
criminal records information confidential.
   (g) The Legislative Analyst's office shall, as part of its
analysis of the Budget Bill for the 2006-07 fiscal year, include a
sampling of counties, to the extent that data is made available from
the persons or entities listed in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a),
on the annual number of requests for information that were brought
pursuant to this section, and a recommendation as to whether this
information helped the public guardian or other person or entity in
assessing the competency and trustworthiness of a potential
conservator.
   (h) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2007, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2007, deletes or extends
that date.
2921.  An application of the public guardian for guardianship or
conservatorship of the person, the estate, or the person and estate,
of a person who is under the jurisdiction of the State Department of
Mental Health or the State Department of Developmental Services may
not be granted without the written consent of the department having
jurisdiction of the person.
2922.  If the public guardian is appointed as guardian or
conservator:
   (a) Letters shall be issued in the same manner and by the same
proceedings as letters are issued to other persons.  Letters may be
issued to "the public guardian" of the county without naming the
public guardian.
   (b) The official bond and oath of the public guardian are in lieu
of the guardian or conservator's bond and oath on the grant of
letters.