4015. (Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 24, Sec. 74.)

(a) The State Department of State Hospitals shall, in coordination with the task force described in subdivision (c) and with other state entities, including, but not limited to, the Department of General Services, the State Department of Developmental Services, the Secretary of State, and the California State Library, do all of the following:

(1) Conduct and complete inventories of all of the following:

(A) All materials and records necessary to create the most complete record of persons who died while residing at any state hospital as defined in Section 7200, or any developmental center as defined in Section 4440.

(B) Within existing resources, identify the location of all gravesites at existing state hospitals and developmental center lands and of gravesites not located on state lands but designated by the state for burial of state hospital or developmental center residents. This shall include the location of remains that may have been moved from their original burial site and the location of grave markers that may have been moved from gravesites.

(C) Within existing resources, identify the names of patients whose remains were donated for medical research, the entity to which the remains were donated, and the final disposition of those remains.

(2) Assist and cooperate with the California Memorial Project in conducting research regarding the records of deaths and burials of persons at state hospitals and developmental centers and cemeteries based on the grounds of these facilities. This assistance shall, subject to paragraph (3), include the granting of access to those state records as necessary to perform the inventories described in this section.

(3) Notwithstanding Sections 4514 and 5328 or any other provision of law regarding confidentiality of patient records, the information described in this section shall be limited to the name, date of birth, date of death, and photographic images of any person who died while in residency at any state hospital or developmental center and shall be made available for the purposes of the implementation of this section. The exportation and use of these records or photographic images from state facilities shall be limited to the information delineated within, and the purposes of, this section.

(4) Assist the California Memorial Project in developing a plan for the restoration of gravesites and cemeteries at state hospitals and developmental centers and gravesites not located on state lands but designated by the state for burial of state hospital or developmental center residents.

(5) Notwithstanding Sections 4514 and 5328 or any other provision of law governing the confidentiality of patient records, with respect to any monument or memorial erected consistent with this section, the department may include, if available, the name, date of birth, and date of death, of any person being memorialized who died while in residency at a state hospital or developmental center and who was buried by the state.

(6) Develop a protocol for the future interment of patients who die while residing at a state hospital or developmental center and are unclaimed by a family member.