BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 160
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
160 (Dababneh)
As Amended June 16, 2015
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | 77-0 | (May 28, |SENATE: |40-0 | (August 31, |
| | |2015) | | |2015) |
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| | | | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY: Expands the list of crimes that allow for forfeiture
of assets and prosecution of criminal profiteering and broadens
the definition of criminal profiteering by broadening the
organized crime element to include other specified offenses.
The Senate amendments make technical, non-substantive changes to
this bill.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the "California Control Profits of Organized Crime
Act."
2)Declares that the Legislature finds and declares that an
effective means of punishing and deterring criminal activities
of organized crime is through the forfeiture of profits
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acquired and accumulated as a result of such criminal
activities. It is the intent of the Legislature that the
"California Control of Profits of Organized Crime Act" be used
by prosecutors to punish and deter only such activities.
3)Defines "criminal profiteering activity" as any act committed
or attempted or any threat made for financial gain or
advantage, which act or threat may be charged as a crime under
any of the following offenses: arson, bribery, child
pornography or exploitation, felonious assault, embezzlement,
extortion, forgery, gambling, kidnapping, mayhem, murder,
pimping and pandering, receiving stolen property, robbery,
solicitation of crimes, grand theft, trafficking in controlled
substances, violation of the laws governing corporate
securities, specified crimes involving obscenity, presentation
of a false or fraudulent claim, false or fraudulent
activities, schemes, or artifices, money laundering, offenses
relating to the counterfeit of a registered mark, offenses
relating to the unauthorized access to computers, computer
systems, and computer data, conspiracy to commit any of the
crimes listed above, offenses committed on behalf of a
criminal street gang, offenses related to fraud or theft
against the state's beverage container recycling program,
human trafficking, any crime in which the perpetrator induces,
encourages, or persuades a person under 18 years of age to
engage in a commercial sex act, any crime in which the
perpetrator, through force, fear, coercion, deceit, violence,
duress, menace, or threat of unlawful injury to the victim or
to another person, causes a person under 18 years of age to
engage in a commercial sex act, theft of personal identifying
information, offenses involving the theft of a motor vehicle,
abduction or procurement by fraudulent inducement for
prostitution.
4)Defines "pattern of criminal profiteering activity" means
engaging in at least two incidents of criminal profiteering,
as defined by this chapter, that meet the following
requirements:
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a) Have the same or a similar purpose, result, principals,
victims, or methods of commission, or are otherwise
interrelated by distinguishing characteristics;
b) Are not isolated events; and/or
c) Were committed as a criminal activity of organized
crime.
5)Defines "organized crime" as a crime that is of a
conspiratorial nature and that is either of an organized
nature and seeks to supply illegal goods and services such as
narcotics, prostitution, loan-sharking, gambling, and
pornography, or that, through planning and coordination of
individual efforts, seeks to conduct the illegal activities of
arson for profit, hijacking, insurance fraud, smuggling,
operating vehicle theft rings, fraud against the beverage
container recycling program, or systematically encumbering the
assets of a business for the purpose of defrauding creditors.
"Organized crime" also means crime committed by a criminal
street gang, as defined. "Organized crime" also means false
or fraudulent activities, schemes, or artifices, as defined,
and the theft of personal identifying information, as defined.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill:
1)Expanded the list of offenses which can serve as a basis for a
criminal profiteering action to include piracy and insurance
fraud.
2)Expanded provisions from the "organized crime" element as it
pertains to criminal profiteering by the provisions that
require that the nature of the conspiratorial action be of an
organized nature to include such examples as:
a) Pimping and pandering;
b) Counterfeiting of any registered trademark;
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c) Illegal piracy of recordings or audiovisual works;
d) Embezzlement;
e) Securities fraud;
f) State tax fraud;
g) Insurance fraud;
h) Grand theft;
i) Money laundering; and
j) Forgery.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "Criminals should not profit
from their crimes. Unfortunately, California's asset forfeiture
laws for non-drug related crimes, like financial crimes and
other white collar offenses, are so poorly drafted that they are
almost unusable by District Attorneys and the Attorney General's
office. As a result, white collar victims who sometimes have
lost everything due to a defendant's fraud, often cannot collect
restitution to make them whole. Adding more examples of crimes
to the definition of "organized crime" will ensure that
prosecutors are able to seize unlawfully obtained assets.
"Equally problematic, underground economy crimes like tax
evasion that drain public resources from our schools, health
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services and law enforcement, are not even included among the
list of crimes in which asset forfeiture is available. As found
by the Little Hoover Commission, after an investigation of over
a year, in the current climate, 'Crime Actually Does Pay -
people participate in the underground economy because the
rewards outweigh the risk.' (Little Hoover Commission Report #
226, p. 30.) This bill fixes the internal inconsistencies in
the language of the state's asset forfeiture laws, and adds
certain underground economy crimes to the list of offenses that
can trigger asset forfeiture of criminal profits. This bill is
to make it so that crime no longer pays in California."
Analysis Prepared by:
Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN:
0001417