BILL NUMBER: SB 227	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 19, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Mitchell

                        FEBRUARY 13, 2015

   An act to amend  Section 891   Sections 917
and 919  of the Penal Code, relating to grand juries.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 227, as amended, Mitchell. Grand  juries. 
 juries: powers and duties.  
   Existing law authorizes a grand jury to inquire into all public
offenses committed or triable within the county in which the grand
jury is impaneled, sworn, and charged, and to present them to the
court by indictment. Existing law requires a grand jury to inquire
into willful or corrupt misconduct in office by a public officer in
the county.  
   This bill would prohibit a grand jury from inquiring into an
offense or misconduct that involves a shooting or use of excessive
force by a peace officer, as specified, that led to the death of a
person being detained or arrested by the peace officer. 

   Existing law makes it a crime for a person who, by any means
whatsoever, willfully and knowingly, and without knowledge and
consent of the grand jury, records, or attempts to record, all or
part of the proceedings of any grand jury while it is deliberating or
voting, or listens to or observes, or attempts to listen to or
observe, the proceedings of any grand jury of which he or she is not
a member while that jury is deliberating or voting. 

   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that
provision. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 917 of the   Penal
Code   is amended to read: 
   917.   (a)    The grand jury may inquire into
all public offenses committed or triable within the county and
present them to the court by indictment. 
   (b) The grand jury shall not inquire into an offense that involves
a shooting or use of excessive force by a peace officer described in
Section 830.1, subdivision (a) of Section 830.2, or Section 830.39,
that led to the death of a person being detained or arrested by the
peace officer pursuant to Section 836. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 919 of the   Penal Code
  is amended to read: 
   919.  (a) The grand jury may inquire into the case of every person
imprisoned in the jail of the county on a criminal charge and not
indicted.
   (b) The grand jury shall inquire into the condition and management
of the public prisons within the county.
   (c) The grand jury shall inquire into the willful or corrupt
misconduct in office of public officers of every description within
the county.  This subdivision does not apply to misconduct that
involves a shooting or use of excessive force by a peace officer
described in Section 830.1, subdivision (a) of Section 830.2, or
Section 830.39,   that led to the death of a person being
detained or a   rrested by the peace officer pursuant to
Section 836.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 891 of the Penal Code is
amended to read:
   891.  A person who, by any means whatsoever, willfully and
knowingly, and without knowledge and consent of the grand jury,
records, or attempts to record, all or part of the proceedings of any
grand jury while it is deliberating or voting, or listens to or
observes, or attempts to listen to or observe, the proceedings of any
grand jury of which he or she is not a member while that jury is
deliberating or voting is guilty of a misdemeanor.
   This section is not intended to prohibit the taking of notes by a
grand juror in connection with and solely for the purpose of
assisting him or her in the performance of his or her duties as a
juror.