BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1678 Page 1 Date of Hearing: March 8, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY Mark Stone, Chair AB 1678 (Santiago) - As Amended February 25, 2016 SUBJECT: CRIME VICTIMS: INCIDENT REPORTS KEY ISSUE: IN ORDER TO BETTER PROTECT VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, STALKING, HUMAN TRAFFICking AND ELDER ABUSE, should theSE VICTIMS BE permitted TO RECEIVE FREE and TIMELY COPIES OF THEIR POLICE REPORTS, JUST AS IS DONE TODAY FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE? SYNOPSIS California has established important legal avenues to help protect victims of domestic violence and other similar crimes from further abuse and allow them to heal. These victims can obtain restraining orders to keep their abusers away and help prevent further abuse. They can terminate a lease early and move to a safer location. They can also take time off from work, without risk of losing their jobs, to obtain a restraining order or, for larger employers, to obtain specified services to increase their safety. Employers are also required to provide reasonable accommodations to help ensure the safety of these victims while they are at work. To be able to obtain these legal protections, victims must prove, whether to the court, their landlord or their employer, that they are indeed victims; AB 1678 Page 2 and the best evidence of abuse may be a police report. Originally, victims had to write and request copies of those reports, which were then provided by mail, a process that often took several weeks. That delay prejudiced victims in their ability to present a case for a protective order. In 1999, the Legislature required that domestic violence victims be provided, within 48 hours of request, a free copy of their police report. However, current law does not require that victims of sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking or elder adult abuse also receive timely and free copies of their police reports. This bill corrects that oversight and allows victims of sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking and elder adult abuse, like victims of domestic violence, to obtain timely police reports free of charge. This bill is supported by the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence and the California State Sheriffs' Association. It has no known opposition. SUMMARY: Allows a victim of specified crimes to receive a timely copy of his or her law enforcement incident report, free of charge. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires law enforcement to provide, without charge and within a specified timeframe, a copy of all incident reports and all incident report face sheets to victims of sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, and elder or dependent adult abuse, all as defined, or the victims' representatives. 2)Clarifies what a victim's representative must provide in order to obtain the incident report. EXISTING LAW: AB 1678 Page 3 1)Provides that a court may issue a temporary restraining order for domestic violence prevention, as specified. (Family Code Sections 6220, 6300 et seq.) 2)Provides that a court may issue a temporary restraining order for civil harassment, as specified, which may prevent an abuser from, among other things, stalking and sexually assaulting the victim. (Code of Civil Procedure Section 527.6.) 3)Provides that a court may issue a temporary restraining order for elder or dependent adult abuse, as specified. (Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15657.03(c).) 4)Requires law enforcement to complete a domestic violence incident report for each domestic violence-related call, as specified. (Penal Code Section 13730.) 5)Requires law enforcement to provide, without charge, a copy of all domestic violence incident report face sheets and all domestic violence incident reports to the victim of domestic violence or his or her representative, as provided. Defines who may be a representative for a living or deceased victim and what that representative must provide to law enforcement in order to be given a copy of the incident report. Requires that a copy of the report be provided within 48 hours of its request, except for good cause, as provided. (Family Code Section 6228.) 6)Allows a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or elder or dependent adult abuse to terminate a residential lease early if he or she is able to provide the landlord with specified documentation attesting that he or she is a survivor of abuse or violence. Permitted AB 1678 Page 4 documentation includes a restraining order or a copy of a police report. (Civil Code Section 1946.7.) 7)Protects a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, as defined, from employment discrimination and retaliation if the victim provides notice to the employer of that status or the employer has actual knowledge of that status and allows the victim to take time off from work, as provided. Requires, in certain situations, for the employee to provide the employer with certification of his or her status as a victim and provides that such certification can include a police report indicating that the employee is a victim. (Labor Code Sections 230 and 230.1.) FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal. COMMENTS: California has established various legal avenues to help protect victims of domestic violence and other similar crimes from further abuse and allow them to heal. These victims can obtain restraining orders to keep their abusers away and help prevent further abuse. (See, e.g., Family Code Section 6320.) They can terminate a lease early and move to a safer location. (Civil Code Section 1946.7.) They can also take time off from work, without risk of losing their job, to obtain a restraining order or, for larger employers, to obtain specified services to increase their safety, such as participation in safety planning and psychological counseling. (Labor Code Sections 230-230.1.) Employers are also required to provide reasonable accommodations to help ensure the safety of these victims while they are at work. (Labor Code Section 230.) To be able to obtain these legal protections, victims must prove, whether to the court, their landlord or their employer, that they are indeed victims. Obviously, a court requires evidence before issuing a restraining order. (See Family Code Section 6300.) Similarly, both the employment protections and the tenancy termination protections require proof of the abuse. AB 1678 Page 5 (Labor Code Section 230(d)(2); Civil Code Section 1946.7(b).) One of the easiest ways to establish the necessary proof is with a police report. Police reports may be evidence for a court to consider when determining whether to issue a protective order for the victim. Additionally, both the employee and tenancy termination protections specifically allow the police report as proof of the underlying abuse. ((Labor Code Section 230(d)(2)(A); Civil Code Section 1946.7(b)(2).) Originally, victims had to write and request copies of those reports, which were then provided by mail, a process that often took several weeks. That delay prejudiced victims in their ability to present a case for a protective order. In 1999, the Legislature required that domestic violence victims be provided with an expedited and affordable method for obtaining these important reports. (AB 403 (Romero), Chap. 1022, Stats. 1999.) Under that legislation, a victim of domestic violence or his or her representative, must be provided, within 48 hours of request, a copy of the police report at no cost. However, current law does not require that victims of sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking or elder adult abuse also receive timely and free copies of their police reports. This bill corrects that oversight and allows victims of sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking or elder adult abuse, like victims of domestic violence, to obtain timely police reports free of charge. In support of the bill, the author writes: Currently domestic violence victims are granted one free police report upon request. Sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, and elder abuse victims often seek the same protections that domestic violence victims do, however, they may not be classified as a "domestic violence" case on their report. That prevents them from receiving a free police report they would have received if they were AB 1678 Page 6 classified under "domestic violence." This adds a financial burden to their already stressful situation, especially in cases where victims need to pay for multiple reports in order [to chronicle] the events of abuse to build or strengthen their case. . . . AB 1678 will ensure that domestic crime victims also have access to a free police report and that access should not be hindered by the lack of money. While police reports are free to victims of domestic violence, currently local law enforcement can decide what to charge victims of similar crimes for copies of their police reports. The author reports that these local agencies today charge up to $30 for reports, with Los Angeles County charging $24. By contrast, San Francisco provides the reports for free. By increasing the availability of timely and no-cost police reports to victims of sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking and elder abuse, this bill improves the likelihood that these victims will have the required evidence to secure needed protective orders against their abusers. They will also be able to better protect themselves by terminating a lease early and moving to a safer location or taking time off from work to get needed services and, if necessary, to be provided reasonable safety accommodations, all without risk of losing their jobs. This bill also restates who is considered a representative of a victim, for both living and deceased victims, for purposes of collecting the free police reports, and what those representatives must present to law enforcement in order to collect the reports. The changes to the law proposed by this bill do not make any substantive changes. Rather, they simply restate the provisions in a way that is easier to understand. AB 1678 Page 7 ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: In support of the bill, the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence writes: State law currently allows domestic violence victims [] to request and receive one free copy of their police report from law enforcement agencies. For victioms of non-domestic violence crimes police reports are made available for up to a thirty dollar fee. Currently, local and state agencies are able to decide how mcuh, is at all, they will chanrge for a police reprort. For survivors with limited financial resources, this is an additional burden to accessing needed documentation of their victimization. A copy of the police report can be needed by survivors as documentation to take time off of work, to terminate their lease early and relocate for their safety, and to request a good cause waiver for certain CalWORKs requirements, among other uses. By ensuring that survivors of these crimes can receive a copy of their police report free of charge, AB 1678 will eliminate an unnecessary financial burden for survivors trying to access needed legal relief and recover from abuse. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support California Partnership to End Domestic Violence California State Sheriffs' Association AB 1678 Page 8 Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by:Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334