BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1993 (Irwin) - Corporate law enforcement contacts
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|Version: August 2, 2016 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 7 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: August 8, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 1993 would require service providers, as defined,
to maintain a law enforcement contact process that meets
specified criteria, and by July 1, 2017, file a statement with
the Attorney General describing that process.
Fiscal
Impact: One-time costs potentially in excess of $250,000 and
ongoing costs of less than $100,000 (General Fund) to the
Department of Justice (DOJ) to receive, review, and consolidate
the service provider statements to make a record available to
law enforcement agencies, as well as to update the record for
revised and new provider statements on a continual basis.
Workload costs would be dependent on the volume of service
provider statements filed, which is unknown but potentially
significant given the broad definition of "service provider"
potentially subject to the reporting requirements of this bill.
Background: Existing law requires a provider of electronic communication
service or remote computing service to disclose to a
AB 1993 (Irwin) Page 1 of
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governmental prosecuting or investigating agency, the name,
address, telephone billing records, telephone number or other
subscriber number or identity, and length of service of a
subscriber to or customer of that service, and the types of
services the subscriber or customer utilized, when the
governmental entity is granted a search warrant. (Penal Code §
1524.3(a).)
Under existing law, a provider of wire or electronic
communication services or remote computing services is required,
upon the request of a peace officer, to take all necessary steps
to preserve records and other evidence in its possession pending
the issuance of a search warrant or a request in writing and an
affidavit declaring an intent to file a warrant to the provider.
(Penal Code § 1523.3(d).)
This bill seeks to require companies that generate significant
amounts of data, including but not limited to technology and
telecommunications companies, to standardize their processes for
receiving and responding to law enforcement agency requests for
data, which can number in the hundreds of thousands annually (as
in the case of Verizon, which reported nearly 136,000 requests
from law enforcement agencies for customer data in the first six
months of 2016
(< http://www.verizon.com/about/portal/transparency-report/wp-cont
ent/uploads/2016/07/Transparency-Report-US-1H-2016.pdf >), to
enable law enforcement agencies with a more efficient means to
obtain the requested information.
Proposed Law:
This bill would require a service provider, as defined, to
maintain a law enforcement contact process that meets the
following criteria:
Provides a specific contact mechanism for law
enforcement personnel.
Provides continual availability of the law enforcement
contact process.
Provides a method to provide status updates to a
requesting law enforcement agency on a request for
assistance.
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This bill would specify its provisions apply to a "service
provider," as defined in Penal Code § 1546(j), meaning a person
or entity offering an electronic communication service (a
service that provides to its subscribers or users the ability to
send or receive electronic communications, including any service
that acts as an intermediary in the transmission of electronic
communications, or stores electronic communication information),
that operates in California.
This bill requires every service provider to, by July 1, 2017,
file a statement with the Attorney General describing the law
enforcement contact process. Additionally, this bill:
Requires the Attorney General to consolidate the
statements received into one discrete record and regularly
make that record available to local law enforcement
agencies.
Provides that the exclusive remedy for a violation of
this section shall be an action brought by the Attorney
General for injunctive relief. Nothing in this section
shall limit remedies available for a violation of any other
state or federal law.
Provides that a statement filed or distributed pursuant
to this section is confidential and not disclosable
pursuant to any state law, including, but not limited to,
the California Public Records Act.
Related
Legislation: SB 178 (Leno) Chapter 651/2015 creates the
California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA),
which generally requires law enforcement entities to obtain a
search warrant before accessing data on an electronic device or
from an online service provider.
Staff
Comments: The DOJ has indicated existing staffing could
experience an increase in workload that is not absorbable to
receive, review, and consolidate statements received from
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service providers regarding their law enforcement contact
processes, and to make the information available to law
enforcement agencies. The DOJ indicates one additional full-time
position would be required to continually review, update, and
publish the service provider law enforcement contact
information. Additionally, the DOJ indicates new staff would
potentially be required to perform analysis, development,
testing, and implementation of the program.
Staff notes the level of workload to DOJ would be dependent on
the volume of statements submitted by services providers, which
is unknown but potentially significant given the broad
definition of "service provider" specified in the bill. Initial
workload to accept, compile, and consolidate the statements
could result in one-time costs, potentially in excess of
$250,000 to make a discrete record regularly available to law
enforcement agencies. Ongoing workload to receive and update the
record for revised and new provider statements is estimated to
be less than $100,000 annually.
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