(a) If any person makes a report of a missing person to a police department, sheriff’s department, district attorney’s office, Department of the California Highway Patrol, or other law enforcement agency, the agency shall use the Attorney General’s form as required under Section 13519.07. That form shall include a statement authorizing the release of the dental or skeletal X-rays, or both, and treatment notes, of the person reported missing and authorizing the release of a recent photograph of a person reported missing who is under 18 years of age.

(b) Included with the form shall be instructions that state that if the person reported missing is still missing 30 days after the report is made, the release form signed by a member of the family or next of kin of the missing person shall be taken by the family member or next of kin to the dentist, physician and surgeon, or medical facility in order to obtain the release of the dental or skeletal X-rays, or both, and treatment notes, of that person or may be taken by a peace officer, if others fail to take action, to secure those X-rays and treatment notes.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law, dental or skeletal X-rays, or both, and treatment notes, shall be released by the dentist, physician and surgeon, or medical facility to the person presenting the request and shall be submitted within 10 days by that person to the police or sheriff’s department or other law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the investigation.

(d) If the person reported missing has been determined by the agency to be an at-risk person, has not been found within 30 days, and the dental or skeletal X-rays, or both, and treatment notes have not been released pursuant to subdivision (b) or otherwise obtained, the law enforcement agency shall execute a written declaration, stating that an active investigation seeking the location of the missing person is being conducted, and that the dental or skeletal X-rays, or both, and treatment notes, are necessary for the exclusive purpose of furthering the investigation.

(e) Notwithstanding any other law, the written declaration, signed by a peace officer, is sufficient authority for the dentist, physician and surgeon, or medical facility to immediately release the missing person’s dental or skeletal X-rays, or both, or treatment notes.

(f)  The Attorney General’s office shall code and enter the dental or skeletal X-rays, or both, into the center‘s database, which shall serve as the statewide database for those X-rays, and shall forward the information to the National Crime Information Center.

(g) If a person reported missing has not been found within 30 days, the sheriff, chief of police, or other law enforcement agency conducting the investigation for the missing person may confer with the coroner or medical examiner prior to the preparation of a missing person report. The coroner or medical examiner shall cooperate with the law enforcement agency. After conferring with the coroner or medical examiner, the sheriff, chief of police, or other law enforcement agency initiating and conducting the investigation for the missing person may submit a missing person report and the dental or skeletal X-rays, or both, and photograph received pursuant to subdivision (a) to the Attorney General’s office in a format acceptable to the Attorney General.

(h) Nothing in this section prohibits a parent or guardian of a child, reported to a law enforcement agency as missing, from voluntarily submitting fingerprints, and other documents, to the law enforcement agency accepting the report for inclusion in the report which is submitted to the Attorney General.

(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 228, Sec. 2. (SB 388) Effective January 1, 2021.)