BILL NUMBER: SB 612	CHAPTERED  07/01/08

	CHAPTER  47
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JULY 1, 2008
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  JULY 1, 2008
	PASSED THE SENATE  JANUARY 30, 2008
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  JUNE 16, 2008
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 9, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Senators Simitian, Cogdill, and Margett

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2007

   An act to amend Section 786 of the Penal Code, relating to crime.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 612, Simitian. Crime.
   Existing law provides that the jurisdiction of a criminal action
for unauthorized use of personal identifying information includes the
county in which the theft of the information occurred and the county
in which the information was used for an illegal purpose.
   This bill would expand these jurisdiction provisions to include
the crimes of unauthorized retention and transfer of personal
identifying information, as defined. This bill would also add the
county in which the victim resided at the time the offense was
committed to the jurisdictions in which a criminal action may be
brought for commission of these crimes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 786 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   786.  (a) When property taken in one jurisdictional territory by
burglary, carjacking, robbery, theft, or embezzlement has been
brought into another, or when property is received in one
jurisdictional territory with the knowledge that it has been stolen
or embezzled and the property was stolen or embezzled in another
jurisdictional territory, the jurisdiction of the offense is in any
competent court within either jurisdictional territory, or any
contiguous jurisdictional territory if the arrest is made within the
contiguous territory, the prosecution secures on the record the
defendant's knowing, voluntary, and intelligent waiver of the right
of vicinage, and the defendant is charged with one or more property
crimes in the arresting territory.
   (b) (1) The jurisdiction of a criminal action for unauthorized
use, retention, or transfer of personal identifying information, as
defined in subdivision (b) of Section 530.55, shall also include the
county where the theft of the personal identifying information
occurred, the county in which the victim resided at the time the
offense was committed, or the county where the information was used
for an illegal purpose. If multiple offenses of unauthorized use of
personal identifying information, all involving the same defendant or
defendants and the same personal identifying information belonging
to the one person, occur in multiple jurisdictions, any one of those
jurisdictions is a proper jurisdiction for all of the offenses.
   (2) When charges alleging multiple offenses of unauthorized use of
personal identifying information occurring in multiple territorial
jurisdictions are filed in one county pursuant to this section, the
court shall hold a hearing to consider whether the matter should
proceed in the county of filing, or whether one or more counts should
be severed. The district attorney filing the complaint shall present
evidence to the court that the district attorney in each county
where any of the charges could have been filed has agreed that the
matter should proceed in the county of filing. In determining whether
all counts in the complaint should be joined in one county for
prosecution, the court shall consider the location and complexity of
the likely evidence, where the majority of the offenses occurred, the
rights of the defendant and the people, and the convenience of, or
hardship to, the victim and witnesses.
   (3) When an action for unauthorized use, retention, or transfer of
personal identifying information is filed in the county in which the
victim resided at the time the offense was committed, and no other
basis for the jurisdiction applies, the court, upon its own motion or
the motion of the defendant, shall hold a hearing to determine
whether the county of the victim's residence is the proper venue for
trial of the case. In ruling on the matter, the court shall consider
the rights of the parties, the access of the parties to evidence, the
convenience to witnesses, and the interests of justice.
   (c) This section shall not be interpreted to alter victims' rights
under Section 530.6.