BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 558
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   July 3, 2013

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                     SB 558 (Lieu) - As Amended:  June 25, 2013 

          Policy Committee:                             JudiciaryVote:10-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill amends the reporters' shield law to require:

          1)A party or body issuing a subpoena in any civil or criminal  
            proceeding to a third party to seek the records of a  
            journalist to provide notice of the subpoena to the journalist  
            and to the publisher or broadcast station operations manager  
            that employs or contracts with the journalist at least five  
            days prior to issuing the subpoena. 

          2)The above notice to include an explanation of why the  
            requested records will be of material assistance to the party  
            or body seeking them and why alternate sources of information  
            are not sufficient to avoid the need for the subpoena.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Any costs to a state or local government entity to comply with  
          the additional requirements will be minor and absorbable. Any  
          costs to local governments are not state reimbursable.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  . The California Constitution (a) prevents a  
            publisher, journalist, or any other person employed by a  
            newspaper or other publication, or by any broadcast news  
            station, from being held in contempt for refusing to disclose  
            a news source and (b) shields the journalist from contempt for  
            refusing to disclose any "unpublished information," such as  
            notes, interviews, or other material gathered in the process  
            of researching or writing a story. In addition, current law  
            imposes certain requirements and limitations on efforts to  








                                                                  SB 558
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            obtain a journalist's records or testimony by subpoena,  
            including a requirement that a journalist who is subpoenaed in  
            a civil or criminal proceeding be given at least five days'  
            notice by the party issuing the subpoena that his or her  
            appearance will be required.  These constitutional and  
            statutory provisions are known as the reporters' shield law.

           2)Purpose  . Despite the above protections, current law does not  
            require prior notice to a journalist if the subpoena is issued  
            to a third party that may be in possession of the records or  
            other unpublished information of a journalist. This bill  
            provides this additional protection to journalists. 

            The author claims the need for this bill is illustrated by  
            recent reports that the U.S. Department of Justice secretly  
            collected, pursuant to subpoena, two months of Associated  
            Press phone records in New York, Hartford, Connecticut, and  
            Washington, D.C. The department never provided notice to the  
            Associated Press that it was seeking this information. 

            This bill is supported by the California Newspaper Publishers  
            Association.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081