BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 524
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Date of Hearing: April 10, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 524 (Mullin) - As Amended: April 1, 2013
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 5-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill adds the threat of reporting the immigration status or
suspected immigration status of an individual or the
individual's family to the Penal Code definition of fear
sufficient to constitute extortion.
FISCAL EFFECT
Unknown moderate costs, potentially in excess of $150,000,
depending on the number of persons who are convicted and
committed to state prison for extortion as a result of the
expanded definition of fear. In the past two years, 41 persons
were committed to state prison for extortion. If this bill
results in three additional commitments, annual GF costs could
exceed $150,000.
COMMENT
1)Rationale. The author and sponsor, the California Labor
Federation, contend this bill will protect immigrants from
extortion. According to the author, "AB 524 seeks to curb the
countless untold human trafficking and exploitation incidents
that go unreported in California every day. By highlighting
the issue and explicitly stating that threats to report a
person's immigration status are against the law, the bill
would help protect California's immigration population from
exploitation, improve safety in our communities and strengthen
human rights. This legislation sends a clear message to
potential perpetrators: exploitation based on immigration
status is strictly against the law."
AB 524
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2)Current law defines extortion as the obtaining of property
from another, with his consent, or the obtaining of an
official act of a public officer, induced by a wrongful use of
force or fear, or under color of official right. Fear that may
constitute extortion as induced by threat, is defined as
threatening injury to person or property, accusing the
threatened person of a crime, or threatening to expose a
person to disgrace.
3)Support. According to the California Labor Federation, "Almost
one-quarter of all undocumented immigrants in the US live in
California and one in ten workers is undocumented. These
workers are forced to live in the shadows, with no path to
legalization, leaving them extremely vulnerable to employer
abuse?.
"So long as workers are willing to endure widespread wage
theft and unsafe working conditions, these employers don't ask
about immigration status. It is only when workers spoke out
about unfair or illegal conditions that employers turned to
tools like real or threatened immigration audits, Immigration
& Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, and implementation of
e-verify as retaliation."
4)Opposition . The California District Attorneys Association
(CDAA) contend the bill is unnecessary and could actually
result in a narrowing of the application of the fear of a
threat in extortion cases.
"We are concerned that the bill is unnecessary given the way
in which Penal Code Section 519 currently exists. It appears
that several of the existing criteria used to prove that a
threat constituting extortion already cover the threat to
report a person as being illegally present in this country.
"Perhaps more importantly, we fear that AB 524 will lead to
additional unnecessary expansion of PC 519. If this section
is further amended to add more circumstances that constitute
extortion, defense counsel is likely to argue that the lack of
a specific reference to a particular set of facts demonstrates
the Legislature's affirmative exclusion of threats that are
likely already covered today from the reach of PC 519."
CDAA's concerns appear accurate. While clearly
well-intentioned, it is likely current law
AB 524
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would cover the fear/threat of reporting immigration status, and
it is also reasonable to
suggest that increasing the specificity of the definition may
result in reducing the
application of the current general definition to other cases.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081