BILL NUMBER: AB 925 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Low
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to amend Section 632.7 of the Penal Code, relating to
crimes.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 925, as amended, Low. Interception and intentional
Intentional recording of telephonic
communication.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to
exceed $2,500, by imprisonment in county jail for not more than one
year or in the state prison, or by both that fine and
imprisonment to, without the consent of both parties,
imprisonment, to intercept or receive and intentionally record,
or assist in the interception or receipt and intentional recording
of, a communication transmitted between 2 telephonic
devices, including cordless telephones and cellular radio
telephones. without the consent of all parties to the
communication. Existing law exempts from these provisions a public
communications utility when the acts are for the construction,
maintenance, or operation of the services of the public utility or
are pursuant to the tariffs of the public utility, and also exempts
telephonic communication systems used exclusively within a
correctional facility, as specified.
This bill would increase the fine for this crime to not
more than $3,500. additionally exempt from that
prohibition a nonconfidential communication between a person or
business and a current or former customer, or a person reasonably
believed to be a cur rent or former customer, regarding
their business relationship, including communications regarding
billing, provisioning, maintaining, or operating the
product or service provided by the person or business.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 632.7 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
632.7. (a) Every person who, without the consent of all parties
to a communication, intercepts or receives and intentionally records,
or assists in the interception or reception and intentional
recordation of, a communication transmitted between two cellular
radio telephones, a cellular radio telephone and a landline
telephone, two cordless telephones, a cordless telephone and a
landline telephone, or a cordless telephone and a cellular radio
telephone, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding three
two thousand five hundred dollars
($3,500), ($2,500) , or by
imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state
prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the person has
been convicted previously of a violation of this section or of
Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6, or 636, the person shall be punished
by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), by
imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state
prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(b) This section shall not apply to any of the following:
(1) A public utility engaged in the business of providing
communications services and facilities, or to the officers,
employees, or agents thereof, where when
the acts otherwise prohibited are for the purpose of
construction, maintenance, conduct, or operation of the services and
facilities of the public utility.
(2) The use of any instrument, equipment, facility, or service
furnished and used pursuant to the tariffs of the public utility.
(3) A telephonic communication system used for communication
exclusively within a state, county, city and county, or city
correctional facility.
(4) A nonconfidential communication between a person or business
and a current or former customer of the person or business, or a
person reasonably believed to be a current or former customer,
regarding their business relationship, including, but not limited to,
communications regarding billing, provisioning, maintaining, or
operating the product or service provided by the person or business.
(c) As used in this section, each of the following terms have the
following meaning:
(1) "Cellular radio telephone" means a wireless telephone
authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to operate in the
frequency bandwidth reserved for cellular radio telephones.
(2) "Cordless telephone" means a two-way, low power communication
system consisting of two parts, a "base" unit which connects to the
public switched telephone network and a handset or "remote" unit,
that are connected by a radio link and authorized by the Federal
Communications Commission to operate in the frequency bandwidths
reserved for cordless telephones.
(3) "Communication" includes, but is not limited to,
communications transmitted by voice, data, or image, including
facsimile.