BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 708
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 708 (Knight) - As Introduced: February 17, 2011
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill adds crimes involving hidden video recordings to the
list of offenses for which the statute of limitations does not
begin to run until discovery of the offense, specifying that a
criminal complaint may be filed within one year of the date of
discovery of a hidden recording related to the use of concealed
cameras to secretly videotape another, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT
Unknown, likely minor, non-state-reimbursable local law
enforcement costs, offset to a degree by increased fine revenue,
to investigate and punish the misdemeanor offenses addressed by
this bill.
COMMENT
1)Rationale. The author, referencing a recent case in Sacramento
County in which a prominent realtor was accused of
surreptitiously videotaping persons in his homes in various
stages of undress, notes that since many of the accusations
were several years old, the statute of limitations had expired
and the accused could not be tried on the misdemeanor
disorderly conduct offenses of nonconsensual taping.
According to the author and proponents (law enforcement), this
bill addresses an anomaly in the law that allows that statute
of limitations to expire for crimes that are by definition
secret and may not surface for years.
(The Sacramento criminal case has been settled, with the
AB 708
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individual pleading to felony eavesdropping related to
instances in which he secretly recorded encounters with
prostitutes. Those offenses occurred within the three-year
felony statute of limitations. He received a two-year state
prison term that was suspended for probation and a one-year
county jail term that will likely be served on house arrest.
It is unlikely this bill would have altered his sentence as he
was convicted of a felony.)
2) Current Law .
a) Makes it a misdemeanor to use a concealed camera to
secretly record a person under or through the clothing for
the purpose of viewing the body of or undergarments worn by
that other person, without the consent or knowledge of that
other person, under circumstances in which the other person
has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
b) Provides that, unless otherwise specified, prosecution
for a misdemeanor shall commence within one year after
commission of the offense, and prosecution for a felony
shall commence within three years after commission of the
offense.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081