(a) In a civil action not governed by Section 351.2, evidence of a person’s immigration status shall not be disclosed in open court by a party or his or her attorney unless the judge presiding over the matter first determines that the evidence is admissible in an in camera hearing requested by the party seeking disclosure of the person’s immigration status.
(b) This section does not do any of the following:
(1) Apply to cases in which a person’s immigration status is necessary to prove an element of a claim or an affirmative defense.
(2) Impact otherwise applicable laws governing the relevance of immigration status to liability or the standards applicable to inquiries regarding immigration status in discovery or proceedings in a civil action, including Section 3339 of the Civil Code, Section 7285 of the Government Code, Section 24000 of the Health and Safety Code, and Section 1171.5 of the Labor Code.
(3) Prohibit a person or his or her attorney from voluntarily revealing his or her immigration status to the court.
(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2022, and as of that date is repealed.
(Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 12, Sec. 1. (SB 785) Effective May 17, 2018. Repealed as of January 1, 2022, by its own provisions.)