BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                          SB 61 (Pavley)
          
          Hearing Date: 05/26/2011        Amended: As Introduced
          Consultant: Jolie Onodera       Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
          
















































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          BILL SUMMARY: SB 61 would extend the sunset on provisions 
          governing wiretaps from January 1, 2012, to January 1, 2015.
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                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2011-12      2012-13       2013-14     Fund
           
          Prison commitments                 Unknown; potentially 
          significant costs      General
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          STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. 

          This bill would extend the sunset on existing wiretap laws. 
          State wiretap law was originally enacted in 1989 and granted law 
          enforcement officers the right to use wiretapping while 
          investigating specific types of crimes. Most recently, Chapter 
          707/2010 expanded the use of wiretapping to include the 
          interception of modern types of electronic communications. 

          The use of wiretap orders in California has stabilized over the 
          past several years, averaging slightly over 600 orders per year 
          since 2008. The Department of Justice indicates that of the 627 
          wiretap orders issued in 2010, 696 arrests were made, leading to 
          184 convictions. The crimes for which arrests were made vary, 
          but were largely narcotics-related.  

          Wiretaps are used as an investigative tool, one of many at law 
          enforcement's disposal. In the absence of this bill, the state 
          wiretap law would sunset, and any arrests and convictions 
          directly attributable to wiretaps (and any corollary commitments 
          to state prison) would cease, resulting in potential cost 
          avoidance to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in 
          incarceration costs. 

          It is unknown how many wiretap orders would be authorized under 
          SB 61 between January 1, 2012, and January 1, 2015, or how many 
          arrests, convictions, and prison commitments would result 
          directly from their use. In order to obtain intercept authority, 
          law enforcement must already be investigating specific criminal 
          activity, with wiretaps to be used after all other normal 
          investigative procedures have been exhausted. It is unclear how 








          SB 61 (Pavley)
          Page 3

          many investigations could have led to successful convictions 
          even in the absence of wiretaps. Moreover, wiretap evidence 
          makes it more difficult to prove a defendant's innocence and 
          could ultimately result in an indeterminable level of reduced 
          trial and incarceration costs to the extent that a defendant is 
          more likely to plea bargain due to the existence of wiretap 
          evidence of his or her guilt.  Nonetheless, if even two 
          additional defendants are sentenced to state prison directly 
          attributable to a wiretap, the cost would exceed the threshold 
          for referral to the Suspense File.

          Prior Legislation. SB 1428 (Pavley) 2010 proposed to extend the 
          sunset on wiretap provisions to January 1, 2014, however, this 
          provision was amended out of the chaptered version of the bill.