BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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CONSENT
Bill No: SCR 54
Author: Padilla (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 7/2/13
AYES: Walters, Anderson, Corbett, Jackson, Leno, Monning
NO VOTE RECORDED: Evans
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : California Law Revision Commission
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution requires the California Law Revision
Commission (CLRC) to report to the Legislature recommendations
to revise statutes governing access by state and local
government agencies to customer information from communications
service providers, as specified.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Authorizes the California Law Revision Commission to study
topics approved by concurrent resolution of the Legislature.
2.Prohibits an employee or member of the CLRC, with respect to
any proposed legislation concerning matters assigned to the
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commission for study, advocate for the passage or defeat of
the legislation by the Legislature or the approval or veto of
the legislation by the Governor or appear before any committee
of the Legislature unless requested to do so by the committee
or its chairperson.
This resolution:
1.Requires the CLRC to report to the Legislature recommendations
to revise statutes governing access by state and local
government agencies to customer information from
communications service providers in order to do all of the
following:
A. Update statutes to reflect 21st Century mobile and
Internet-based technologies;
B. Protect customers' constitutional rights, including, but
not limited to, the rights of privacy and free speech, and
the freedom from unlawful searches and seizures;
C. Enable state and local government agencies to protect
public safety; and
D. Clarify the process communications service providers are
required to follow in response to requests from state and
local agencies for customer information or in order to take
action that would affect a customer's service, with a
specific description of whether a subpoena, warrant, court
order, or other process or documentation is required.
1.Makes the following legislative statements:
A. Widespread use of 21st Century mobile and Internet-based
communications technologies and services enable service
providers to monitor, collect, and retain large quantities
of information regarding customers, including when and with
whom a customer communicates or transacts business,
location data, and the content of communications;
B. Government requests to communications service providers
for customer information have increased dramatically in
recent years, especially by law enforcement agencies;
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C. California statutes governing access to customer
information lack clarity and uniform definitions as to the
legal standard for government agencies to obtain customer
information from communications service providers, and many
were enacted prior to the advent of wireless mobile
services and the Internet; and
D. Revising and updating these statutes is necessary to
reflect modern technologies and clarify the rights and
responsibilities of customers, communications service
providers, and government agencies seeking access to
customer information.
Background
The CLRC was created in 1953 and tasked with the responsibility
for a continuing substantive review of California statutory and
decisional law. The CLRC studies the law in order to discover
defects and make related recommendations to the Legislature for
needed reforms.
The CLRC's enabling statute recognizes two types of topics the
CLRC is authorized to study: (1) those that the CLRC identifies
for study and lists in the Calendar of Topics that it reports to
the Legislature; and (2) those that the Legislature assigns to
the CLRC directly, by statute or concurrent resolution. In the
past, the bulk of the CLRC's study topics have come through the
first route - matters identified by the CLRC and approved by the
Legislature. Once the CLRC identifies a topic for study, it
cannot begin to work on the topic until the Legislature, by
concurrent resolution, authorizes the CLRC to conduct the study.
Direct legislative assignments have become much more common in
recent years, and many of the CLRC's recent studies were
directly assigned by the Legislature.
Comments
According to the author's office, California statutes governing
access by state and local government agencies to customer
information from communications service providers lack a clear
framework and defined legal standard for when government can
obtain customer information and from whom. These statutes are
scattered throughout the California Code and lack consistent and
clear definitions for what is required when a service provider
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gets a request for information. Many of the statutes were
enacted in the era of monopoly landline telephone service do not
reflect the vast amount of information available with modern
technologies from numerous providers.
An update is needed because widespread use of 21st Century
mobile and Internet-based communications technologies and
services enable service providers to monitor, collect and retain
large quantities of information about customers, including when
and with whom a customer communicates or transacts business,
location data, and the content of communications. Nearly all
Californians (92%) have a cell phone, 58% of them have a
smartphone, and nearly all (86%) use the Internet at least
occasionally, according to a new survey by the Public Policy
Institute of California released June 26, 2013. As use of these
services increases, so have law enforcement requests to
providers for customer information. A Congressional inquiry
last year found that requests to service providers from law
enforcement increased between 12% and 16% in each of the
previous five years. The time is now to update California law
to reflect when and how state and local government can obtain
customer information related to the ever-expanding use of modern
communications services.
Prior Legislation
AB 567 (Wagner, Chapter 15, Statutes of 2013) repealed the
requirement that the CLRC make the decennial recommendations,
and retained the CLRC's general authority to study, review, and
make recommendations regarding the enforcement of judgments law.
ACR 98 (Wagner, Resolution Chapter 108, Statutes of 2012)
required the CLRC, before commencing work on any project within
the calendar of topics the Legislature has authorized or
directed the CLRC to study, to submit a detailed description to
legislative members, as specified, and required the CLRC to
provide a copy of a commission recommendation to each member of
a policy committee that is hearing a bill that would implement
the recommendation.
ACR 49 (Evans, Resolution Chapter 98, Statutes of 2009) required
the CLRC, prior to commencing work on any project within the
list of topics authorized or directed for study by the
Legislature, to submit a detailed description of the scope of
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work to the Chairs and Vice Chairs of the Committees on
Judiciary of the Senate and Assembly, and if during the course
of the project there is a major change to the scope of work,
submit a description of the change.
ACR 125 (Papan, Resolution Chapter 167, Statutes of 2002)
authorized the CLRC to study, report on, and prepare recommended
legislation concerning the issue of financial privacy to address
protection and control of a consumer's personal information and
provide both administrative and civil penalties.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: Yes
AL:nl 8/13/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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