BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1578
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Date of Hearing: July 3, 2012
Counsel: Gabriel Caswell
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
SB 1578 (Governmantal Organization Committee)
As Introduced: March 20, 2012
SUMMARY : SB 1578 makes minor clarifying changes to outdated
provisions of law relating to the State Treasurer's Office (STO)
in order to modernize its business practices. Specifically,
this bill : Eliminates the provision of law which grants STO
guards and messengers limited peace officer status.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides STO employees who are performing guard or messenger
duties with the powers and authority conferred by law upon
peace officers. (Government Code Section 12304)
2)Requires the STO to close at 4:00 p.m. (Government Code
Section 11020)
3)Authorizes the Treasurer to appoint as civil executive
officers: one cashier, one bond officer, one deposit officer,
one vault officer, one principal accountant, one bookkeeper,
and one secretary stenographer. (Government Code Section
12302)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "this measure
would delete portions of three separate Government Code
provisions and a corresponding Penal Code provision which are
obsolete and impact the STO. These existing provisions of law
are not consistent with current STO business practice and
necessitate deletion to avoid any conflicts that could arise
if STO staff followed the letter of the law."
2)Technical Clean Up Bill : Government Code Section 11020
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currently requires the STO to close at 4:00 p.m. This statute
was relevant when the STO operated like a bank, and actually
had a "teller" window. Modifying this provision brings the
STO in line with actual practice - the STO stays open until
5:00 p.m.
Government Code Section 12302, among other things, currently
authorizes the Treasurer to appoint as civil executive
officers: one cashier, one bond officer, one deposit officer,
one vault officer, one principal accountant, one bookkeeper,
and one secretary stenographer. This language is obsolete and
unnecessary. SB 1578 would strike reference to these
positions.
Government Code Section 12304 currently provides STO employees
who are performing guard or messenger duties with the powers
and authority conferred by law upon peace officers. This
particular provision of law made sense when the cash window in
the STO lobby functioned - redeeming state-issued bonds and
cashing state payroll checks but not in this day and age - the
STO currently does not employ peace officers for such work.
The state vault is still housed in the Treasurer's building
but, much to the chagrin of the elementary students who tour
the vault, it's full of boxed unclaimed personal property not
pallets of gold bars and stacks of Benjamins - U.S. one
hundred dollar bill ($100).
This measure would delete the above-referenced provision
relating to STO employees who perform guard or messenger
duties and require a corresponding deletion to a portion of
the Penal Code Section 830.4.
SB 1578 is technical and clarifying in nature - it would have
no fiscal, programmatic, or policy impact to the STO or any
other State agency and rightfully belongs in an Omnibus bill.
3)Argument in Support : According to the State Treasurer of
California , "I am pleased to support SB 1578, a bill that
makes three minor changes to statutes to reflect the current
business practices of the State Treasurer's Office (STO).
"Section 1 of the bill deletes language which permits the
State Treasurer's Office to close at 4:00pm. This statute was
relevant when my office staffed an active 'bank teller'
window. Cashing services are no longer available and the
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office remains open until 5:00pm. Deleting this exception
from the statute would be consistent with the actual office
practice. Section 2 deletes specific job classification
language which is obsolete. Sections 3 and 4 would remove
provisions allowing STO employees who perform guard or
messenger duties the same powers and authority conferred by
law upon peace officers in both Government Code and Penal Code
Sections. This statute was relevant when the 'bank teller'
window was active and messengers were transporting cash in and
out of the building. Further, my office does not employ peace
officers and we see no reason going forward to require peace
officer status for any employee in our office."
4)Argument in Opposition: None submitted
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
State Treasurer of California
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744