BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 846| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 846 Author: Galgiani (D), et al. Amended: 8/14/14 Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/8/14 AYES: Hancock, Anderson, De León, Knight, Liu, Mitchell, Steinberg SENATE FLOOR : 34-0, 4/21/14 AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Vidak, Walters, Wolk, Wyland NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Cannella, Evans, Hancock, Wright, Yee ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 8/18/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Crimes: Violent Crime Information Center SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill clarifies that local law enforcement has the ability to request information and data maintained by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the purpose of linking unsolved missing or unidentified person case with another case that was previously unknown to be related to that case, or for the purpose of resolving an unsolved missing or unidentified person CONTINUED SB 846 Page 2 case, as specified. Assembly Amendments replace the term "criminal justice community" with "law enforcement agencies," add a coauthor and add double-jointing language with SB 1066 (Galgiani). ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Requires the Attorney General (AG) to maintain the Violent Crime Information Center to assist in the identification and the apprehension of persons responsible for specific violent crimes and for the disappearance and exploitation of persons, particularly children and dependent adults. The Center is required to, among other things, assist local law enforcement agencies and county district attorneys, by providing investigative information on persons responsible for specific violent crimes and missing person cases. 2.Requires the AG to establish and maintain a computer system designed to effect an immediate law enforcement response to reports of missing persons. This system must include an active file of information concerning persons reported to it as missing and who have not been reported as found. The computer system is to be made available to law enforcement agencies. However, the AG shall not release the information if the reporting agency requests the AG in writing not to release the information because it would impair a criminal investigation. 3.Requires the AG to establish and maintain, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature, the Violent Crime Information Network within the Center to enable DOJ crime analysts with expertise in child abuse, missing persons, child abductions, and sexual assaults to electronically share their data, analysis, and findings on violent crime cases with each other, and to electronically provide law enforcement agencies with information to assist in the identification, tracking, and apprehension of violent offenders. The Violent Crime Information Network shall serve to integrate existing state, federal, and civilian data bases into a single comprehensive network. CONTINUED SB 846 Page 3 4.Requires the Violent Crime Information Center to make accessible to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System specific information authorized for dissemination and as determined appropriate by the Center that is contained in law enforcement reports regarding missing or unidentified persons. 5.Requires the AG to establish the Missing and Exploited Children's Recovery Network, an automated computerized system that has the capability to electronically transmit to all state and local law enforcement agencies, and all cooperating news media services, either by facsimile or computer modem, a missing child poster that includes the name, personal description data, and picture of the missing child. 6.Requires the AG to establish and maintain an automated violent crime method of operation system to facilitate the identification and apprehension of persons responsible for murder, kidnap, including parental abduction, false imprisonment, or sexual assault. This system shall be responsible for identifying perpetrators of violent felonies collected from the center and analyzing and comparing data on missing persons in order to determine possible leads which could assist local law enforcement agencies. This system shall only release information about active investigations by police and sheriffs' departments to local law enforcement agencies. This bill: 1.Allows a law enforcement agency to request information and data maintained by DOJ, for the purpose of linking unsolved missing or unidentified person case with another case that was previously unknown to be related to that case, or for the purpose of resolving an unsolved missing or unidentified person case. 2.Contains double-jointing language with SB 1066 (Galgiani). Comments The California DOJ maintains the "Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit:" CONTINUED SB 846 Page 4 Through the Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit, the California Department of Justice assists law enforcement agencies throughout the state in finding missing persons. The Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit maintains statewide files containing the dental records, photographs and physical characteristics of missing and unidentified persons. Staff assists law enforcement agencies in locating missing persons and identifying unknown live and deceased persons through the comparison of physical characteristics, fingerprints, and dental/body X-rays. While the ability of local law enforcement to ask for information from the DOJ appears to be implicit in existing law, this bill makes it clear that a local law enforcement agency can request information and data from the DOJ for the purpose of linking unsolved missing or identified person cases. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 8/18/14) California District Attorneys Association California Police Chiefs Association ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "The need for SB 846 evolved after the recovery of loved ones who had been missing in my district since the 1980s. There are 25,000 active missing and unidentified in the AG's repository of cold cases. I have a law enforcement task force in place and we have identified a need to give the AG greater discretion to assist local law enforcement with identifying similarities between cases. Our goal is to give local law enforcement additional tools to increase the likelihood of matching records of missing and unidentified loved ones, and resolving their cold cases." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 8/18/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, CONTINUED SB 846 Page 5 Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Gomez, Holden JG:e 8/18/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED