Government Code section 27491.56
(a)
This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Forensic Accountability, Custodial Transparency, and Safety (FACTS) Act of 2025.(b)
In any county where the offices of the sheriff and the coroner are combined, the sheriff-coroner shall not determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of death pursuant to Section 27491 for any in-custody death, but shall instead do one or both of the following:(1)
Contract with one or more counties that have a coroner’s office that operates independently from the office of the sheriff, or that have established an office of medical examiner pursuant to Section 24010, to determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of death. The contracted coroners or medical examiners shall operate independently from the office of the sheriff-coroner in conducting the medical examination process, including, but not limited to, exercising professional judgment to make determinations of the circumstances, manner, and cause of death.(2)
Contract with one or more private third-party medical examination providers that are separate and independent from the office of the sheriff-coroner and that meet the physician qualification requirements described in Section 24010 to determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of death. A private third-party medical examination provider shall operate independently from the office of the sheriff-coroner in conducting the medical examination process, including, but not limited to, exercising professional judgment to make determinations of the circumstances, manner, and cause of death.(c)
The cause and manner of death listed on the death certificate shall match the cause and manner of death determined by the coroner, medical examiner, or private third-party medical examination provider, as provided in this section.(d)
(1)In any county in which the offices of the sheriff and the coroner are combined, the county board of supervisors shall annually select and enter into a service agreement or service agreements with medical examiners or independent coroner offices from other counties, or with one or more private third-party medical examination providers, or with any combination of those medical examiners, independent coroner offices, or private third-party medical examination providers.(2)
A private third-party medical examination provider that has entered into a service agreement with a county, as provided in paragraph (1), may not, during the term of that service agreement, be contracted by the county or the sheriff-coroner of that county to provide medical examination for any cases that do not involve in-custody deaths.(e)
Upon the determination of the circumstances, manner, and cause of death, the findings of the examination shall be delivered to the sheriff-coroner, district attorney, county health officer, and board of supervisors of the county in which the death occurred. The findings shall also be delivered to the decedent’s next of kin.(f)
For purposes of this section, “in-custody death” means either of the following:(1)
An in-custody death as defined in Section 10008 of the Penal Code.(2)
A death of a person who is detained, under arrest, or is in the process of being detained or arrested, by a federal law enforcement officer, including for the purposes of immigration enforcement, or who is en route to be detained, or is detained, at a federal correctional facility or immigration detention facility, and for which the sheriff-coroner has jurisdiction or the federal government has requested an autopsy be performed by the sheriff-coroner’s office.(g)
This section shall be operative January 1, 2027.
Source:
Section 27491.56, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=27491.56. (updated Jan. 1, 2026; accessed Dec. 15, 2025).
