BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1678
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
1678 (Santiago)
As Amended August 15, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(April 14, |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 18, |
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Original Committee Reference: JUD.
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.
Provides that the timeframe for requesting reports without
charge is five years from the date of completion of a report
for domestic violence and two years from completion of a
report for sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or
elder or dependent adult abuse.
2)Clarifies what a victim's representative must provide in order
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to obtain the incident report.
The Senate amendments limit the timeframe for requesting no cost
reports to two years from completion of an incident report for
sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or abuse of an
elder or a dependent adult.
EXISTING LAW:
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
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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
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: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)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 Commission on State Mandates 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.
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2)Lost fee revenues: Potential reduction in fee revenues (Local
Funds) to counties that currently charge fees for face
sheet/incident report requests. Department of Justice 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.
3)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.
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.
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(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), Chapter 1022, Statutes of
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.
Analysis Prepared by:
Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN:
0004257
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