BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2498|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2498
Author: Bonta (D)
Amended: 8/19/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/14/16
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/28/16
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/19/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Human trafficking
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill exempts the names, addresses, and images of
victims of human trafficking and their immediate family, as
specified, from disclosure pursuant to the California Public
Records Act (CPRA). This bill requires law enforcement to orally
inform a person who alleges to be the victim of human
trafficking of his or her right to have his or her name,
addresses, and images, and the names, addresses, and images of
his or her immediate family members withheld and kept
confidential, and, with regard to calendaring, gives courts the
AB 2498
Page 2
discretion to grant human trafficking actions preference in the
order of trial.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/19/16 remove the reference to
Section 1048 of the Penal Code, and therefore remove the
addition of human trafficking to the list of crimes that would
have preference during court calendaring. The amendments
instead give a court the discretion to give human trafficking
cases priority on the court's calendar.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Declares, in the California Constitution, the people's right
to transparency in government. ("The people have the right of
access to information concerning the conduct of the people's
business, and therefore, the meetings of public bodies and the
writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to
public scrutiny....") (Cal. Const., art. I, Sec. 3.)
2)Governs, pursuant to the CPRA, the disclosure of information
collected and maintained by public agencies. (Gov. Code Sec.
6250 et seq.) Generally, all public records are accessible to
the public upon request, unless the record requested is exempt
from public disclosure. (Gov. Code Sec. 6254.) There are 30
general categories of documents or information that are exempt
from disclosure, essentially due to the character of the
information, and unless it is shown that the public's interest
in disclosure outweighs the public's interest in
non-disclosure of the information, the exempt information may
be withheld by the public agency with custody of the
information.
3)Makes certain criminal record information, including records
of complaints to, or investigations conducted by, or any
investigatory or security files compiled by any other state or
local police agency confidential, but requires state and local
AB 2498
Page 3
law enforcement agencies to make public specified information,
including the full name, physical description, date and time
of arrest, time and date of booking, and factual circumstances
surrounding an arrest, except to the extent that disclosure of
a particular item of information would endanger the safety of
a person involved in an investigation or would endanger the
successful completion of the investigation or a related
investigation. (Gov. Code Sec. 6254(f).)
4)Provides, notwithstanding any disclosure required under the
investigatory exemption under the CPRA, that the name of a
victim of certain sexual crimes, including a victim of human
trafficking, may be withheld from disclosure at the victim's
request, or at the request of the victim's parent or guardian
if the victim is a minor. (Gov. Code Sec. 6254(f)(2).)
5)Requires state and local law enforcement agencies to disclose,
subject to certain restrictions, the current address of every
individual arrested by the agency and the current address of
the victim of a crime, if the requester declares under penalty
of perjury that the request is made for a scholarly,
journalistic, political, or governmental purpose, or that the
request is made for investigation purposes by a licensed
private investigator, as defined. However, notwithstanding
this general disclosure requirement, the address of the victim
of certain sexual crimes, including human trafficking, must
remain confidential. (Gov. Code Sec. 6254 (f)(3).)
6)Requires an employee of a law enforcement agency who
personally received a report from a person alleging that he or
she has been the victim of a sex offense, to inform the person
making the report that his or her name will become a matter of
public record unless he or she requests that it not become a
matter of public record, and additionally provides that if the
victim makes this request then the law enforcement agency
shall not disclose the name of a victim. (Pen. Code Sec. 293
(a)-(d).)
7)Provides that any victim of a sexual crime who has not elected
to exercise his or her right to keep her name confidential may
AB 2498
Page 4
request to be identified in all court records and proceedings
as either Jane Doe or John Doe, if the court finds that such
an order is reasonably necessary to protect the privacy of the
person and will not unduly prejudice the prosecution or the
defense. (Pen. Code Sec. 293.5.)
8)Provides that certain criminal actions, especially those
involving sexual offenses, take precedence over other criminal
actions in the order of the trail calendar. (Pen. Code Sec.
1048.)
This bill:
1)Prohibits law enforcement agencies from disclosing the names,
addresses, and images of human trafficking victims and their
immediate families, except as specified.
2)Requires law enforcement agencies to orally inform victims of
human trafficking of their right to have their names,
addresses, and images, and that of their immediate families,
withheld and kept confidential.
3)Exempts the names and images of human trafficking victims and
their immediate families, with exceptions, from disclosure
under the CPRA, until the investigation or subsequent
prosecution is complete.
4)Allows the court, upon a showing of good cause, to grant
priority to an action for an alleged human trafficking
violation.
Background
The CPRA governs the disclosure of information collected and
maintained by public agencies. Generally, all public records
are accessible to the public upon request, unless the record
AB 2498
Page 5
requested is exempt from public disclosure. (Gov. Code Sec. 6254
et seq.) There are 30 general categories of documents or
information that are exempt from disclosure, essentially due to
the character of the information, and unless it is shown that
the public's interest in disclosure outweighs the public's
interest in non-disclosure of the information, the exempt
information may be withheld by the public agency with custody of
the information.
A major category of exempted information covers information from
records of complaints and investigations, records of
intelligence information, and security procedures of the
Department of Justice and any state or local law enforcement
agency. (Gov. Code Sec. 6254(f).) The statute permits the
disclosure of specified information, however, unless disclosure
would endanger the successful completion of the investigation or
endanger the safety of a witness, the victim, or other persons
involved in the investigation. The information permitted to be
disclosed are facts about persons arrested by the agency (e.g.
physical description, date and time of arrest, name and
occupation, all charges filed), facts about complaints or
requests for assistance received by the agency (including
information about the crimes alleged and factual circumstances
about the crime or incident and the injuries sustained by
victims), and, pursuant to a request for information for
scholarly, journalistic, political, or governmental purpose, the
names and addresses of those arrested by the agency and the
victims of specified crimes. (Gov. Code Sec. 6254(f)(1), (f)(2),
and (f)(3).)
Among the information permitted to be disclosed under Section of
Government Code 6254(f) are the names of victims of crimes (Gov.
Code Sec. 6254(f)(2).) and their addresses (Gov. Code Sec.
6254(f)(3).). However, where the crime committed is one on a
list of sex offenses (such as rape, unlawful sexual intercourse
with a minor, sodomy, lewd acts on a child) the law enforcement
agency may withhold the victim's name at the victim's request or
at the request of the victim's parent or guardian if the victim
is a minor. This bill creates additional protections for
victims of human trafficking and their families, as specified.
AB 2498
Page 6
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Law enforcement agency mandates: Potential state-reimbursable
costs (General Fund) to orally inform alleged victims of their
right to have their information, and the information of their
immediate family members, kept confidential, as well as to
redact information from police reports regarding the victims
and their families once the investigation or prosecution is
complete (as this information would be exempt from disclosure
under the CPRA during this period, potential state
reimbursement is only projected after the disclosure exemption
under the CPRA has elapsed). The Commission on State Mandates
(CSM) previously determined specified provisions of Penal Code
Section 293 constituted a reimbursable state mandate (Sex
Crime Confidentiality, 98-TC-21), including but not limited to
the requirement to inform an alleged victim that his or her
name will become a matter of public record unless otherwise
requested, and to redact victim information from public
records.
CPRA exemption: Minor ongoing non-reimbursable local agency
costs (Local Funds) and state agency costs (General Fund) for
additional records exemptions from the CPRA that could incur
new workload for redaction.
Court calendaring: Potential minor ongoing workload impact
(General Fund*) to add human trafficking to the list of types
of criminal cases provided a calendaring preference.
AB 2498
Page 7
*Trial Court Trust Fund
SUPPORT: (Verified8/19/16)
Alameda County District Attorney
Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs
California Catholic Conference
California Immigrant Policy Center
California State Sheriffs' Association
California Statewide Law Enforcement Association
Crime Victims United of California
Fraternal Order of Police
Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee
League of California Cities
Long Beach Police Officers Association
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Peace Officers Research Association of California
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association
WestCoast Children's Clinic
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/19/16)
Judicial Council of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: In support, Planned Parenthood
Affiliates of California (PPAC) writes:
Traffickers use force, fraud, and mental and physical coercion
to compel victims to engage in commercial acts of sex or labor
services against their will. According to the National Human
Trafficking Resource Center, in California there were 912
human trafficking cases reported in 2014 and of those, 75
percent were sex trafficking cases. [?]. PPAC supports
policies that will prevent human exploitation and that will
AB 2498
Page 8
protect the identity of those who fall victim to these crimes.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Judicial Council of California was
in opposition to prior versions of this bill for the following
reasons:
The council has historically opposed calendar preferences
because courts are in the best position to prioritize cases
based on the unique fact and circumstances of each individual
case in the context of the other cases on the courts' dockets.
The council is concerned that statutory calendar preferences
mean that other cases, including cases that have statutorily
mandated calendar preferences mean that other cases, including
cases that have statutorily mandated calendar preferences,
such as juvenile cases, criminal cases, and civil cases in
which a party is at risk of dying, will take longer to decide.
Moreover, delays in the administration of justice that would
likely result from any expansion of calendar preferences would
be even more pronounced in light of the ongoing fiscal
limitations faced by the judicial branch. Finally, the
council notes that courts are charged with dispensing equal
access to justice for each and every case on their dockets and
the calendar preference that would be established by AB 2498
would interfere with the ability of the courts to do so.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/19/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Mathis, McCarty, Williams
Prepared by:Nichole Rapier / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
8/22/16 23:03:49
AB 2498
Page 9
**** END ****