736.5. (Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 18, Sec. 10.)

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to close the Division of Juvenile Justice within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, through shifting responsibility for all youth adjudged a ward of the court, commencing July 1, 2021, to county governments and providing annual funding for county governments to fulfill this new responsibility.

(b) Beginning July 1, 2021, a ward shall not be committed to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice, except as described in subdivision (c).

(c) Pending the final closure of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice, a court may commit a ward who is otherwise eligible to be committed under existing law and in whose case a motion to transfer the minor from juvenile court to a court of criminal jurisdiction was filed. The court shall consider, as an alternative to commitment to the Division of Juvenile Justice, placement in local programs, including those established as a result of the implementation of Chapter 337 of the Statutes of 2020.