BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1474|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1474
Author: Hancock (D), et al.
Amended: 5/25/12
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/17/12
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Calderon, Harman, Liu, Price,
Steinberg
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/24/12
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price,
Steinberg
SUBJECT : Grand jury proceedings: Attorney General:
powers and
duties
SOURCE : Office of the Attorney General
DIGEST : This bill allows the Attorney General to convene
a grand jury in cases of theft or fraud where the same
actor or actors committed the offenses in multiple
counties.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that a grand jury is a
body of the required number of persons returned from the
citizens of the county before the court of competent
jurisdiction, and sworn to inquire of public offenses
committed or triable within the county. (Penal Code
Section 888.)
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Existing law sets forth the number of grand jurors required
by the size of a county. (Penal Code Section 888.2.)
Existing law sets forth the qualifications of grand jurors.
(Penal Code Section 893.)
Existing law provides that a prosecutor shall inform the
grand jury of the nature and existence of any exculpatory
evidence. (Penal Code Section 939.71.)
Existing law sets forth the number of grand jurors
necessary for an indictment. (Penal Code Section 940.)
Existing law provides that every superior court, whenever
in its opinion the public interest so requires, shall draw
a grand jury. (Penal Code Section 904.)
Existing law authorizes the presiding judge of the superior
court, or the judge appointed by the presiding judge to
supervise the grand jury to, upon the request of the
Attorney General or the district attorney or upon his or
her own motion, order and direct the impanelment, of one
additional grand jury, as specified. (Penal Code Section
904.6.)
Existing law provides that whenever the Attorney General
considers that the public interest requires, he or she may,
with or without concurrence of the district attorney,
direct the grand jury to convene for the investigation and
consideration of those matters of a criminal nature that he
or she desires to submit to it. He or she may take full
charge of the presentation of the matters to the grand
jury, issue subpoenas, prepare indictments, and do all
other things incident thereto to the same extent as the
district attorney may do. (Penal Code Section 923 (a).)
Existing law provides that whenever the Attorney General
considers that the public interest requires, he or she may,
with or without concurrence of the district attorney,
petition the court to impanel a special grand jury to
investigate, consider, or issue indictments for Medi-Cal
fraud and sets forth duties and scope of such a grand jury.
(Penal Code Section 923(b).)
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Existing law provides that upon certification by the
Attorney General, a statement of costs directly related to
the impanelment and activities of the grand jury for the
purposes of prosecuting Medi-Cal fraud from the presiding
judge of the superior court where the grand jury was
impaneled shall be submitted for state reimbursement of the
costs to the county. (Penal Code Section 923 (c).)
This bill would also allow the Attorney General to convene
a grand jury, without the concurrence of the district
attorney to investigate, consider or issue indictments in
matters in which there are multiple activities, in which
fraud or theft is a material element, that have occurred in
more than one county and conducted either by a single
defendant or multiple defendants acting in concert.
This bill provides that a special grand jury convened
pursuant to this bill may be impaneled in the counties of
Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, or San
Francisco, at the Attorney General's discretion.
This bill provides that for special grand juries impaneled
pursuant to this subdivision, the Attorney General may
issue subpoenas for documents and witnesses located
anywhere in the state in order to obtain evidence to
present to the special grand jury.
This bill provides that the special grand jury may hear all
evidence in the form of testimony or physical evidence
presented to them, irrespective of the location of the
witness or physical evidence prior to the subpoena.
This bill provides that the special grand jury may indict a
person or persons with charges for crimes that occurred in
counties other than where the special grand jury is
impaneled and that the indictment shall then be submitted
to the appropriate court in any of the counties where any
of the charges could otherwise have been properly brought.
This bill provides that the court where the indictment is
filed under this subdivision shall have proper jurisdiction
over all counts in the indictment.
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Existing law provides that an indictment, when found by the
grand jury, must be presented by their foreman, in their
presence, to the court, and must be filed by the clerk. No
recommendation as to the dollar amount of bail to be fixed
shall be made to any court by any grand jury. (Penal Code
Section 944.)
This bill provides that notwithstanding Penal Code Section
944, an indictment found by a special grand jury and
endorsed as a true bill by the special grand jury
foreperson, may be presented to the appropriate court
solely by the prosecutor within five days of the
endorsement of the indictment. For indictments presented
to the court in this manner, the prosecutor shall also file
with the court clerk, at the time of the presenting
indictment, an affidavit signed by the special grand jury
foreperson attesting that all the jurors who voted on the
indictment heard all of the evidence presented and the
proper of number of jurors voted for the indictment.
This bill provides that the Attorney General's Office shall
be responsible for prosecuting any indictment produced by
the grand jury.
This bill provides that if a defendant makes a timely and
successful challenge to the Attorney General's right to
convene a special grand jury by clearly demonstrating that
the charges brought are not encompassed by this
subdivision, the court shall dismiss the indictment without
prejudice to the Attorney General, who may bring the same
or other charges against the defendant at a later date via
another special grand jury properly convened, or by a
regular grand jury or by any other procedure available.
This bill specifies that this special grand jury must
comply with the provision requiring the prosecutor to
present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury.
This bill provides that the special grand jury under this
provision shall be in addition to any other grand juries
authorized.
This bill provides that the costs charged the Attorney
General for the activities related to the grand jury shall
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be no more than what would be charged to a regularly
impaneled grand jury convened by the county, unless an
alternative payment arrangement is agreed upon by the
county and the Attorney General.
Existing law provides that when a public offense is
committed in part in one jurisdictional territory and in
part in another, or the acts or effects thereof
constituting or requisite to the consummation of the
offense occur in two or more jurisdictional territories,
the jurisdiction of such offense is in any competent court
with in either jurisdictional territory. (Penal Code
Section 781.)
This bill provides that the special grand jury created by
this bill is an exception to the above general rule
regarding jurisdiction when an offense occurs in more than
one county.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Potential costs in the range of $100,000 to $275,000
(General Fund) for multiple week-long special grand
juries or one 18-month special grand jury to the
Department of Justice to reimburse the county for special
grand jury activities, assuming standard grand jury
reimbursement rates. Total annual costs would be
dependent upon the number, duration and location of
special grand juries convened, as well as any alternative
agreement between the Attorney General and county.
Potential cost savings to various counties and courts to
the extent fewer grand juries are empaneled in individual
counties for financial crimes than otherwise would have
been impaneled under existing law.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/25/12)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
California District Attorneys Association
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California Federation of Labor
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
Consumer Attorneys of California
Greenlining Institute
National Asian American Coalition
Western Center on Law and Poverty
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
In an effort to combat widespread financial abuses
that have occurred in the midst of the most severe
mortgage crisis in decades, the Attorney General's
Office is engaged in the investigation of significant
financial crimes of statewide scope and impact.
Unfortunately, existing county grand jury authority to
investigate these crimes is ill-suited to the needs of
these cases as crimes of a financial nature often
occur in multiple jurisdictions, and thus are often
beyond the scope of single-county grand juries. SB
1474 provides the Attorney General's Office the option
of creating a limited Statewide Grand Jury. With a
statewide Grand Jury, the AG's office will be able to
investigate multi-jurisdictional financial crimes in
an efficient and effective manner not possible under
current law, providing protection for Californians at
a time they need it most.
RJG:nl 5/25/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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