BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    







                      SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
                             Senator Mark Leno, Chair                A
                             2009-2010 Regular Session               B

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          AB 1813 (Lieu)                                             3
          As Amended April 15, 2010
          Hearing date:  June 22, 2010
          Government Code
          MK:mc


                        PUBLIC OFFICIALS: PERSONAL INFORMATION  

                                       HISTORY


          Source:  California Statewide Law Enforcement Association

          Prior Legislation: AB 1035 (Spitzer) - 2005, held in Senate  
          Judiciary
                       AB 1595 (Evans) - Chapter 343, Stats. 2005
                       AB 2905 (Spitzer) - Chapter 248, Stats. 2004
                       AB 2238 (Dickerson) - Chapter 621, Stats. 2002
           
          Support: L.A. County Probation Officers Union; Association for  
                   Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs; Riverside Sheriffs'  
                   Association; Anaheim Police Officers Political Action  
                   Committee; Peace Officers Research Association of  
                   California; California District Attorneys Association;  
                   Irvine Police Association; California Attorneys,  
                   Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers;  
                   California Correctional Peace Officers Association;  
                   California State Sheriffs' Association; Orange County  
                   Employees Association; California Probation Parole and  
                   Correctional Association; Chief Probation Officers of  
                   California; California Public Defenders Association





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          Opposition: None known

          Assembly Floor Vote:  Ayes 74 - Noes 0


                                        KEY ISSUES
           
          SHOULD INFORMATION PROVIDED TO CELLULAR PHONE APPLICATIONS BE  
          INCLUDED IN THE TYPE OF INFORMATION THAT A PUBLIC OFFICIAL MAY OPT  
          OUT FROM HAVING ON THE INTERNET?

          SHOULD THE DEFINITION OF PEACE OFFICER WITHIN THE DEFINITION OF  
          "PUBLIC OFFICIAL" BE EXPANDED?



                                       PURPOSE

          The purpose of this bill is to include the information provided  
          to cellular phone applications in the information that a public  
          official may ask to be removed from the internet and to expand  
          the definition of peace officer within the definition of public  
          official.

           Existing law  , the Public Records Act (PRA), provides that all  
          records of state and local agencies are open and the public has  
          the right to inspect those records under specified conditions.   
          The PRA exempts specified records, and other provisions of law  
          exempt specified records from the PRA requirement of open  
          records.  (Government Code  6250 et seq.)
           
           Existing law  prohibits a state or local agency from posting on  
          the Internet the home address or telephone number of any elected  
          or appointed official without first obtaining the written  
          permission of the elected official.  (Government Code   
          6254.21(a).)
           
           Existing law  makes it a misdemeanor for a person to knowingly  
          post on the Internet the home address or telephone number of any  
          elected or appointed official, his or her spouse or child,  




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          knowing that the information concerns an elected or appointed  
          official and intending to cause imminent great bodily harm that  
          is likely to occur, or threatening to cause imminent great  
          bodily harm to that individual.  A violation that leads to  
          bodily injury of the official, his or her spouse or child, is  
          prosecutable as a wobbler.  (Government Code  6254.21(b).)
           
           Existing law  states that no person, business, or association  
          shall publicly post or publicly display on the Internet the home  
          address or telephone number of any elected or appointed official  
          if that official has made a written demand of that person,  
          business, or association to not disclose his or her home address  
          or telephone number.  (Government Code  6254.21(c)(1)(A).)
           
           Existing law  prohibits any person, business, or association from  
          soliciting, selling, or trading on the Internet the home address  
          or telephone number of an elected or appointed official with the  
          intent to cause imminent great bodily harm to the official or to  
          any person residing at the official's home address.  (Government  
          Code  6254.21(d)(1).)
           
           Existing law  defines "elected or appointed official" to include,  
          but is not limited to, all of the following:

                 State constitutional officers;
                 Members of the Legislature;
                 Judges and court commissioners;
                 District attorneys;
                 Public defenders;
                 Members of a city council;
                 Members of a board of supervisors;
                 Appointees of the Governor;
                 Appointees of the Legislature;
                 Mayors;
                 City attorneys;
                 Police chiefs and sheriffs;
                 A public safety official, as defined in Government Code  
               Section 6254.24;
                 State administrative law judges;
                 Federal judges and federal defenders; and,




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                 Members of the United States Congress and appointees of  
               the President.  (Government Code Section  6254.21(1) to  
               (16).)

           Existing law  states nothing in this section is intended to  
          preclude punishment instead under provisions of the Penal Code  
          of or any other provision of law.  (Government Code   
          6254.21(g).)

           This bill  provides that the information that must be removed  
          includes information provided to cellular telephone  
          applications.

           Existing law  defines public safety official for the purposes of  
          Government Code Section 6254.21 as follows:

                 An active or retired peace officer as defined in  
               Sections 830 and 830.1of the Penal Code.
                 An active or retired public officer or other person  
               listed in Sections 1808.2 and 1808.6 of the Vehicle Code.
                 An "elected or appointed official" as defined in  
               subdivision (f) of Section 6254.21.
                 An attorney employed by the Department of Justice, the  
               State Public Defender, or a county office of the district  
               attorney or public defender, the United States Attorney, or  
               the Federal Public Defender.
                 A city attorney and an attorney who represent cities in  
               criminal matters.
                 A specified employee of the Department of Corrections  
               and Rehabilitation who supervises inmates or is required to  
               have a prisoner in his or her care or custody, sworn or  
               nonsworn employee who supervises inmates in a city police  
               department, a county sheriff's office, the Department of  
               the California Highway Patrol, federal, state, or a local  
               detention facility, and a local juvenile hall, camp, ranch,  
               or home, and a probation officer as defined in Section  
               830.5 of the Penal Code.
                 A federal prosecutor, a federal criminal investigator,  
               and a National Park Service Ranger working in California.
                 The surviving spouse or child of a peace officer defined  




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               in Section 830 of the Penal Code, if the peace officer died  
               in the line of duty.
                 State and federal judges and court commissioners.
                 An employee of the Attorney General, a district  
               attorney, or a public defender who submits verification  
               from the Attorney General, district attorney, or public  
               defender that the employee represents the Attorney General,  
               district attorney, or public defender in matters that  
               routinely place that employee in personal contact with  
               persons under investigation for, charged with, or convicted  
               of, committing criminal acts.
                 A nonsworn employee of the Department of Justice or a  
               police department or sheriff's office that, in the course  
               of his or her employment, is responsible for collecting,  
               documenting, and preserving physical evidence at crime  
               scenes, testifying in court as an expert witness, and other  
               technical duties, and a nonsworn employee that, in the  
               course of his or her employment, performs a variety of  
               standardized and advanced laboratory procedures in the  
               examination of physical crime evidence, determines their  
               results, and provides expert testimony in court.   
               (Government Code  6254.24.)

           Existing law  defines a number of different types of "peace  
          officers" and people who have duties similar to peace officers.   
          (Penal Code  830-830.65 and 830.7.)

           This bill  includes  in the definition of peace officer for the  
          purposes of defining "public safety official"  peace officers as  
          defined in Penal Code sections 830-830.65 and a person who is  
          not a peace officer but may exercise the powers of arrest during  
          the course and within the scope of their employment pursuant to  
          Penal Code section 830.7.

           This bill  also extends the definition of peace officers to  
          retired officers.
                                           
                                          
              RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION IMPLICATIONS
          




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          The severe prison overcrowding problem California has  
          experienced for the last several years has not been solved.  In  
          December of 2006 plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against the  
          Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sought a  
          court-ordered limit on the prison population pursuant to the  
          federal Prison Litigation Reform Act.  On January 12, 2010, a  
          federal three-judge panel issued an order requiring the state to  
          reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design capacity  
          -- a reduction of roughly 40,000 inmates -- within two years.   
          In a prior, related 184-page Opinion and Order dated August 4,  
          2009, that court stated in part:

               "California's correctional system is in a tailspin,"  
               the state's independent oversight agency has reported.  
               . . .  (Jan. 2007 Little Hoover Commission Report,  
               "Solving California's Corrections Crisis: Time Is  
               Running Out").  Tough-on-crime politics have increased  
               the population of California's prisons dramatically  
               while making necessary reforms impossible. . . .  As a  
               result, the state's prisons have become places "of  
               extreme peril to the safety of persons" they house, .  
               . .  (Governor Schwarzenegger's Oct. 4, 2006 Prison  
               Overcrowding State of Emergency Declaration), while  
               contributing little to the safety of California's  
               residents, . . . .   California "spends more on  
               corrections than most countries in the world," but the  
               state "reaps fewer public safety benefits." . . .  .   
               Although California's existing prison system serves  
               neither the public nor the inmates well, the state has  
               for years been unable or unwilling to implement the  
               reforms necessary to reverse its continuing  
               deterioration.  (Some citations omitted.)

               . . .

               The massive 750% increase in the California prison  
               population since the mid-1970s is the result of  
               political decisions made over three decades, including  
               the shift to inflexible determinate sentencing and the  
               passage of harsh mandatory minimum and three-strikes  




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               laws, as well as the state's counterproductive parole  
               system.  Unfortunately, as California's prison  
               population has grown, California's political  
               decision-makers have failed to provide the resources  
               and facilities required to meet the additional need  
               for space and for other necessities of prison  
               existence.  Likewise, although state-appointed experts  
               have repeatedly provided numerous methods by which the  
               state could safely reduce its prison population, their  
               recommendations have been ignored, underfunded, or  
               postponed indefinitely.  The convergence of  
               tough-on-crime policies and an unwillingness to expend  
               the necessary funds to support the population growth  
               has brought California's prisons to the breaking  
               point.  The state of emergency declared by Governor  
               Schwarzenegger almost three years ago continues to  
               this day, California's prisons remain severely  
               overcrowded, and inmates in the California prison  
               system continue to languish without constitutionally  
               adequate medical and mental health care.<1>

          The court stayed implementation of its January 12, 2010, ruling  
          pending the state's appeal of the decision to the U.S. Supreme  
          Court.  On Monday, June 14, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed  
          to hear the state's appeal in this case.   

           This bill  does not appear to aggravate the prison overcrowding  
          crisis described above.

           


                                      COMMENTS
                             ---------------------------
          <1>   Three Judge Court Opinion and Order, Coleman v.  
          Schwarzenegger, Plata v. Schwarzenegger, in the United States  
          District Courts for the Eastern District of California and the  
          Northern District of California United States District Court  
          composed of three judges pursuant to Section 2284, Title 28  
          United States Code (August 4, 2009).




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          1.    Need for This Bill  

          According to the author:

              In the past two years, Los Angeles law enforcement  
              officers were killed at their homes.  These tragic  
              deaths continue to serve as a reminder of how vulnerable  
              our public safety officials are, even while off-duty at  
              their homes.  Current law allows public safety officials  
              to opt-out of having their personal information on the  
              internet; however, with the expansion of smart cellular  
              phones (iphone, blackberry, droid, etc.) and their  
              applications to the existing opt-out provisions under  
              the Public Safety Officials Home Protection Act.   
              Additionally, this bill will include more peace officers  
              to the definition of public safety officials for the  
              existing opt-out provisions. This bill will help ensure  
              the safety and wellbeing of more public safety officials  
              and their families.
























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          2.    Cellular Telephone Applications  

          Existing law permits specified "public officials" to request  
          their home address and telephone be removed from an internet  
          site.  This bill provides that information provided to cellular  
          telephone applications is included in information that may be  
          requested to be removed.  According to the author:

              [W]ith the expansion of smart cellular phones 9iphone,  
              blackberry and droid, etc) and their applications, the  
              opted-out information still remains available on these  
              phones because data vendors can purchase public  
              information from a variety of source, including the  
              county recorder's office, county assessor's office and  
              school alumni lists.  The concern is that when data  
              vendors purchase the pubic information from a different  
              source, the pubic safety official's home address and  
              telephone number is posted once again, but now on cell  
              phone applications.

          3.    Definition of "Peace Officer"  

          As noted above, the law provides that a specified "public  
          official" can request specified personal information be removed  
          from internet sites.  Peace officers are defined within the  
          definition for "public official" as peace officers falling under  
          Penal Code sections 830 and 830.1.  This bill expands that  
          definition by including all peace officers as defined under  
          Penal Code sections 830-830.65.  This expansion would include:  
          LA County Police Officers; Park Rangers; Department of General  
          Services Peace Officers; Housing Authority Patrol Officers;  
          Community College Police; School District Police; BART Police;  
          Harbor Police; Transit Police; Airport Police; Municipal Utility  
          District or County Water District Security Police; Welfare Fraud  
          or Child Support Investigators; Coroners and Deputy Coroners,  
          Legislative Sergeant-at-Arms; Marshals of the Supreme Court;  
          Bailiffs of the Court of Appeal; Fire Department of Arson  
          Investigators; State Mental Hospital Officers; Security Officers  
          of the Department of Justice; Parole Officers;  and Correctional  




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          Officers.  

          This bill also expands the definition of peace officer to  
          include a person who is not a peace officer but may exercise the  
          powers of arrest during the course and within the scope of their  
          employment under Penal Code section 830.7 which includes:  
          persons designated by a cemetery authority; persons employed as  
          a security officers for independent institutions of higher  
          learning; persons regularly employed as security officers for  
          health facilities; employees designated by the Director of  
          Forestry and Fire Protection; persons employed as inspectors,  
          supervisors or security officers for transit districts under  
          specified circumstances; nonpeace officers employed as county  
          parole officers; persons appointed by the Executive Director of  
          the California Science Center; persons employed as investigators  
          by the Department of Transportation for the City of Los Angeles;  
          people employed by any department of the City of Los Angeles who  
          are designated as security officers; and illegal dumping  
          enforcement officers.

          Finally, this bill expands the universe of peace officers who  
          are included in the definition of "public officials" by  
          extending it to all officers active or retired.

          Supporters of the bill argue that this expansion protects all  
          peace officers, who have the ability to arrest, and their  
          families.


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