BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1678 (Santiago) - Provision of incident reports to victims
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|Version: February 25, 2016 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 7 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: June 20, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 1678 would require state and local law enforcement
agencies to provide upon request, without charge, and within
specified timeframes, one copy of all incident reports and face
sheets to a victim, or a victim's representative, for the crimes
of sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, and elder or
dependent adult abuse.
Fiscal
Impact:
Records retention : Potentially minor to significant ongoing
state-reimbursable costs (General Fund) to local law
enforcement agencies to retain copies of incident reports and
face sheets for the specified crimes. The Commission on State
Mandates (CSM) previously determined that the storage of
domestic violence incident reports for five years constitutes
a higher level of service on local law enforcement agencies
(CSM 99-TC-08). The statewide cost estimate reflects annual
costs of over $139,000 for only 21 claims for reimbursement
for the retention of reports for three additional years beyond
the statutorily mandated records retention period of two
AB 1678 (Santiago) Page 1 of
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years.
Incident reports : Potentially significant, likely
non-reimbursable local costs (Local Funds) for local law
enforcement agencies to provide incident reports for the
specified crimes within the specified time periods. With
regard to the preparation of incident reports for the
specified crimes, the CSM previously disagreed that an
"implied mandate" was created by the statute to prepare
incident reports via the requirement to provide copies of such
reports within specified timeframes. Apart from preparation,
the provision of face sheets and incident reports for these
crimes would not appear to create a reimbursable state
mandate, as disclosure of this information to a victim or
his/her authorized representative is currently required under
the California Public Records Act.
Lost fee revenues : Potential reduction in fee revenues (Local
Funds) to counties that currently charge fees for face
sheet/incident report requests. DOJ has indicated over 16,000
arrests for the specified offenses in each of the past three
years. The number of future requests for face sheets/incident
reports is unknown. As a result, the potential lost revenue to
local law enforcement agencies cannot be estimated with
certainty and would be dependent on the volume of requests
submitted to each local agency and the associated fee charged
by that agency, if any.
State agencies : Likely minor impact to the California Highway
Patrol (CHP) and the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) to the extent the provisions of the bill
relate to report requests made pursuant to acquiring a
restraining order.
Background: Existing law requires state and local law enforcement agencies
to provide, without fee, one copy of all domestic violence
incident report face sheets and one copy of all domestic
violence incident reports, or both, to a victim of domestic
violence, as defined, or to his or her personal representative,
as defined, upon request. (Family Code § 6228.)
While police reports are provided to victims of domestic
violence at no cost to the victim, local law enforcement
agencies can currently charge victims of similar crimes for
copies of police reports.
AB 1678 (Santiago) Page 2 of
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Proposed
Law: This bill would require state and local law enforcement
agencies, upon request, to provide victims of the following
offenses with one copy of all incident report face sheets and
one copy of all incident reports, or both, at no cost to the
victim or his or her representative, as specified:
Sexual assault, as defined in Sections 261, 261.5, 262, 265,
266, 266a, 266b, 266c, 266g, 266j, 267, 269, 273.4, 285, 286,
288, 288a, 288.5, 289, or 311.4 of the Penal Code.
Stalking, as defined in Section 1708.7 of the Civil Code or
Section 646.9 of the Penal Code.
Human trafficking, as defined in Section 236.1 of the Penal
Code.
Abuse of an elder or a dependent adult, as defined in Section
15610.07 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
This bill would extend the existing application for requests for
face sheets or incident reports for domestic violence acts
within five years from the date of completion of the incident
report to the additional crimes specified in this measure.
This bill would define who is considered a representative of the
victim in cases where the victim is alive and not the subject of
a conservatorship, and that the representative shall also
present a written authorization, signed by the victim, making
him or her the victim's personal representative.
Prior
Legislation: AB 403 (Romero) Chapter 1022/1999 required that a
victim of domestic violence or his or her representative must be
provided with a copy of the police report of the incident at no
cost within 48 hours of the request for the report.
Staff
Comments: By revising the existing requirement to provide
copies of incident reports and face sheets at no cost and within
specified time frames to victims of domestic violence to
additionally extend the same services to victims of sexual
assault, stalking, human trafficking, and elder/dependent adult
AB 1678 (Santiago) Page 3 of
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abuse, this bill could result in additional workload and costs
to local law enforcement agencies.
Existing law pursuant to Government Code §§ 26202 and 34090
provides for a mandatory two-year retention period for records
and documents by counties and cities, respectively. This bill
would require the provision of copies of face sheets and
incident reports for the specified crimes for five years from
the date of completion of the incident report. The CSM
previously determined in its decision 99-TC-08 Crime Victims
Domestic Violence Incident Reports, that the storage of domestic
violence incident reports for five years constitutes a higher
level of service on local law enforcement agencies. The
statewide cost estimate reflects annual costs of over $139,000
for only 21 claims for reimbursement for the retention of
reports for three additional years beyond the standard records
retention requirement of two years. By expanding the five-year
records retention mandate currently imposed for domestic
violence reports to include reports for the crimes of sexual
assault, stalking, human trafficking, and elder/dependent adult
abuse, this bill could result in additional state-reimbursable
costs to local law enforcement agencies. Annual costs would be
dependent on the number of reports to be retained by each agency
and the method utilized for records retention (which is
unspecified and may vary by agency). While the number of records
to be retained is unknown, data from the Department of Justice
indicates over 16,000 arrests each year for the applicable
crimes.
This bill could result in potentially significant
non-reimbursable local costs for local law enforcement agencies
to provide incident reports for the specified crimes within the
specified time periods. With regard to the preparation of
incident reports for the specified crimes, the CSM previously
disagreed with a test claimant's statement that an "implied
mandate" was created by the statute for local law enforcement
agencies to prepare incident reports via the requirement to
provide copies of such reports within specified timeframes.
Apart from preparation, the provision (retrieving and copying)
of face sheets and incident reports upon request for these
crimes would not appear to create a reimbursable state mandate,
as disclosure of this information to a victim or his/her
authorized representative is currently required under the
California Public Records Act (Government Code § 6254(f)) upon
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request.
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