Cal. HSC § 24210 — California Code / Code hsc / Division 20 / Chapter 1.6 / Section 24210
Section 24210
Status: in_force

(a) There is hereby established the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program, to be administered by the California Victim Compensation Board.

(b) The purpose of the program is to provide victim compensation to the following individuals:

(1) Any survivor of state-sponsored sterilization conducted pursuant to eugenics laws that existed in the State of California between 1909 and 1979.

(2) Any survivor of coercive sterilization performed on an individual under the custody and control of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after 1979.

(c) For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Board” means the California Victim Compensation Board.

(2) “Program” means the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program.

(3) “Qualified recipient” means an individual who is eligible for victim compensation pursuant to this chapter by meeting the following requirements of either eligibility as a survivor of eugenics sterilization or as a survivor of coercive sterilization of imprisoned populations:

(A) Eligibility as a survivor of eugenics sterilization requires an individual to meet all of the following requirements:

(i) The individual was sterilized pursuant to eugenics laws that existed in the State of California between 1909 and 1979.

(ii) The individual was sterilized while the individual was at a facility under the control of the State Department of State Hospitals or the State Department of Developmental Services, including any of the following institutions:

(I) Agnews Developmental Center, formerly known as Agnews State Mental Hospital.

(II) Atascadero State Hospital.

(III) Camarillo State Hospital and Developmental Center.

(IV) DeWitt State Hospital.

(V) Fairview Developmental Center, formerly known as Fairview State Hospital.

(VI) Mendocino State Hospital.

(VII) Modesto State Hospital.

(VIII) Napa State Hospital, formerly known as Napa State Asylum for the Insane.

(IX) Metropolitan State Hospital, formerly known as Norwalk State Hospital.

(X) Frank D. Lanterman State Hospital and Developmental Center, formerly known as Pacific State Hospital or Pacific Colony.

(XI) Patton State Hospital, formerly known as Southern California State Asylum for the Insane and Inebriates.

(XII) Porterville Developmental Center, formerly known as Porterville State Hospital.

(XIII) Sonoma Developmental Center, formerly known as Sonoma State Hospital, Sonoma State Home, or California Home for the Care and Training of the Feeble Minded.

(XIV) Stockton Developmental Center, formerly known as Stockton State Hospital.

(iii) The individual is alive as of the start date of the program.

(B) Eligibility as a survivor of coercive sterilization of imprisoned populations requires an individual to meet all of the following requirements:

(i) The individual was sterilized while under the custody and control of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and imprisoned in a state prison or reentry facility, community correctional facility, county jail, or any other institution in which they were involuntarily confined or detained under a civil or criminal statute.

(ii) The sterilization was not required for the immediate preservation of the individual’s life in an emergency medical situation.

(iii) The sterilization was not the consequence of a chemical sterilization program administered to convicted sex offenders.

(iv) The individual’s sterilization meets one of the following requirements:

(I) The individual was sterilized for a purpose that was not medically necessary, as determined by contemporaneous standards of evidence-based medicine.

(II) The individual was sterilized for the purpose of birth control.

(III) The individual was sterilized without demonstrated informed consent, for which evidence of a lack of consent includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(ia) Procurement of a pregnant individual’s written consent within 30 days of anticipated or actual labor or delivery or less than 72 hours before emergency abdominal surgery and premature delivery.

(ib) Procurement of an individual’s written consent less than 30 days before sterilization.

(ic) Failure of the prison administration to document written informed consent signed by the imprisoned individual.

(id) Failure of the prison administration to document the use of interpreters for non-English speakers to ensure understanding by the imprisoned individual of the medical treatment being consented to.

(ie) Failure of the prison administration to document the counseling of the imprisoned individual on, and offering a consultation of, treatment options that would not result in loss of reproductive capacity.

(if) Failure of the prison administration to document written informed consent to sterilization signed by the imprisoned individual if sterilization is performed in conjunction with or in addition to other surgery.

(ig) Failure of prison staff, employees, or agents to comply with requirements of Section 3440 of the Penal Code after its enactment, designed to prohibit and deter coercive sterilization of people in prison.

(IV) The sterilization was performed by means that are otherwise prohibited by law or regulation.

(4) “Start date of the program” means the date the program becomes operative pursuant to Section 24212.