AB 1900 Summary

• Allows courts to use any means of video recording (not just videotape) to comply with requirements for recording and preserving testimony in sex crime cases

• Permits video recording of victim testimony at preliminary hearings when victims are 15 years old or younger, developmentally disabled, or victims of spousal rape or corporal injury crimes

• Authorizes courts to order minors age 13 or younger to testify via closed-circuit television from another location when clear and convincing evidence shows testifying in defendant's presence would cause serious emotional distress

• Requires complete video records of minor testimony (including all participants' images and voices) to be preserved, transmitted to court clerk, made available to prosecutors and defense counsel, and destroyed five years after judgment (or after final appeal if applicable)

• Extends similar video recording and closed-circuit testimony accommodations to adult victims with disabilities in sexual offense and specified violent crime cases, with Judicial Council required to report on effectiveness within two years