BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 35
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Date of Hearing: June 18, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 35 (Pavley) - As Amended: January 6, 2014
Policy Committee: Public Safety
Vote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill extends the sunset date regulating state and local
government interception of electronic communications (wiretaps)
from January 1, 2015 until January 1, 2020.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Ongoing significant state costs, potentially in the millions
of dollars, to the extent continuing current authorization for
wiretaps leads to an increase in state prison commitments.
(For example, according to the state Department of Justice
(DOJ), in California in 2012, 707 wiretaps were authorized in
16 counties, leading to 961 arrests and 58 convictions.)
2)Major ongoing non-reimbursable local and federal law
enforcement costs, more than $30 million, as a result of
continuing wiretapping authorization, according to counties
reporting to DOJ in 2012.
3)Potential ongoing state law enforcement costs to DOJ for its
wiretapping efforts, though DOJ did not note any state
wiretaps in its statutory electronic interceptions report.
4)Minor costs to DOJ, less than $50,000, for its detailed annual
report.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author and proponents (law enforcement
entities) contend existing wiretap statutes have enabled law
enforcement agencies to obtain authorization that has
SB 35
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successfully contributed to efforts to address the production
and sale of controlled substances and to investigate murder
and criminal gang activity statewide.
2)Current law authorizes the A.G. or the district attorney to
apply to the Superior Court for an order authorizing
interception of a wire, electronic pager, or electronic
cellular phone communication under specified circumstances.
(Virtually all orders are for cell phones.)
The crimes for which an interception order may be sought
include murder, solicitation to commit murder, bombing, use or
threat to use weapons of mass destruction, criminal gang
activity, and importation, possession for sale,
transportation, manufacture or sale of heroin, cocaine, PCP,
or methamphetamine. Written reports must be submitted at the
discretion of the court, but at least every 10 days, to the
judge who issues the order.
3)Statistical overview from DOJ's 2010 and 2012 California
Electronic Interceptions Reports:
Calendar Year 2010 Calendar Year
2012
Counties reporting wiretaps: 19 16
Number of court orders sought: 628 714
Number granted: 627 707
The four busiest counties: L.A.:
192Riverside: 305
S Bernardino: 110 L.A.:170
Riverside: 75 S
Bernardino: 73
San Diego:
74
San Diego:
36
Arrests: 698 961
Murder : (52) (17)
Narcotics: (576) (495)
Gang Offenses: (194)
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Convictions: 190 58
Murder: (0) (2)
Narcotics (190) (55)
4)Are electronic interceptions cost-efficient ?
Is the expenditure of more than $30 million (mainly local and
federal law enforcement funds) to intercept millions of
communications that result in hundreds of arrests and dozens
of convictions a wise use of resources?
According to DOJ, however, annual state electronic intercept
statistics can be misleading, in that a) convictions often
occur in out-years; b) convictions do not tell the whole
story; intercepts also prevent crime; c) all convictions are
not equal, for example, some may involve massive amounts of
narcotics; and d) state-authorized intercepts may result in
federal prosecutions that are not included in the state
summary statistics.
5)Related Legislation . AB 1526 (Holden) is identical to SB 35.
The bills were introduced at the same time. Neither bill has
had a dissenting vote.
6)Prior Legislation .
a) SB 1016 (Boatwright), Statutes of 1995, established
California's wire intercept statute. The initial sunset was
Jan. 1, 1999.
b) SB 688 (Alaya), Statutes of 1997, extended the sunset to
Jan. 1, 2003.
c) AB 74 (Washington), Statutes of 2002, extended the
sunset to Jan. 1, 2008.
d) AB 569 (Portantino), Statutes of 2007, extended the
sunset to Jan. 1, 2012.
e) SB 61 (Pavley), Statutes of 2011, extended the sunset to
Jan. 1, 2015.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081