BILL NUMBER: AB 1036	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 29, 2005

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Koretz

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2005

   An act to amend Section  530.5   786  of
the Penal Code, relating to crime.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1036, as amended, Koretz.  Identity theft. 
   Existing law provides that the jurisdiction of a criminal action
for unauthorized use of personal identifying information includes the
county in which the theft of the information occurred and the county
in which the information was used for an illegal purpose.  

   This bill would expand these provisions to include unauthorized
retention and transfer of personal identifying information. This bill
would also add the county in which the victim resided at the time
the offense was committed to the jurisdictions in which a criminal
action may be brought for commission of these crimes.  
   Existing law provides that every person who willfully obtains
personal identifying information about another person, as defined,
and uses that information for any unlawful purpose is guilty of a
crime punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one
year, a fine not to exceed $1,000, or both, or by imprisonment in the
state prison, a fine not to exceed $10,000, or both.  

   This bill would make a technical, nonsubtantive change to these
provisions. 
   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 530.5 of the  Penal Code  is amended to read:

  SECTION 1.   Section 786 of the   Penal Code 
 is amended to read: 
   786.  (a) When property taken in one jurisdictional territory by
burglary, carjacking, robbery, theft, or embezzlement has been
brought into another, or when property is received in one
jurisdictional territory with the knowledge that it has been stolen
or embezzled and the property was stolen or embezzled in another
jurisdictional territory, the jurisdiction of the offense is in any
competent court within either jurisdictional territory, or any
contiguous jurisdictional territory if the arrest is made within the
contiguous territory, the prosecution secures on the record the
defendant's knowing, voluntary, and intelligent waiver of the right
of vicinage, and the defendant is charged with one or more property
crimes in the arresting territory.
   (b) (1) The jurisdiction of a criminal action for unauthorized use
 , retention, or transfer  of personal identifying
information, as defined in Section 530.5 of the Penal Code, shall
also include the county where the theft of the personal identifying
information occurred,  the county in which the victim resided at
the time the offense was committed,  or the county where the
information was used for an illegal purpose. If multiple offenses of
unauthorized use of personal identifying information, all involving
the same defendant or defendants and the same personal identifying
information belonging to the one person, occur in multiple
jurisdictions, any one of those jurisdictions is a proper
jurisdiction for all of the offenses.
   (2) When charges alleging multiple offenses of unauthorized use of
personal identifying information occurring in multiple territorial
jurisdictions are filed in one county pursuant to this section, the
court shall hold a hearing to consider whether the matter should
proceed in the county of filing, or whether one or more counts should
be severed.  The district attorney filing the complaint shall
present evidence to the court that the district attorney in each
county where any of the charges could have been filed has agreed that
the matter should proceed in the county of filing. In determining
whether all counts in the complaint should be joined in one county
for prosecution, the court shall consider the location and complexity
of the likely evidence, where the majority of the offenses occurred,
the rights of the defendant and the people, and the convenience of,
or hardship to, the victim and witnesses.
   (c) This section shall not be interpreted to alter victims' rights
under Section 530.6.   

   530.5.  (a) Every person who willfully obtains personal
identifying information, as defined in subdivision (b), of another
person, and uses that information for any unlawful purpose, including
to obtain, or attempt to obtain, credit, goods, services, or medical
information in the name of the other person without the consent of
that person, is guilty of a public offense, and upon conviction
therefor, shall be punished either by imprisonment in a county jail
for a period not to exceed one year, a fine not to exceed one
thousand dollars ($1,000), or both that imprisonment and fine, or by
imprisonment in the state prison, a fine not to exceed ten thousand
dollars ($10,000), or both that imprisonment and fine.
   (b) "Personal identifying information," as used in this section,
means the name, address, telephone number, health insurance
identification number, taxpayer identification number, school
identification number, state or federal driver's license number, or
identification number, social security number, place of employment,
employee identification number, mother's maiden name, demand deposit
account number, savings account number, checking account number, PIN
(personal identification number) or password, alien registration
number, government passport number, date of birth, unique biometric
data including fingerprint, facial scan identifiers, voice print,
retina or iris image, or other unique physical representation, unique
electronic data including identification number, address, or routing
code, telecommunication identifying information or access device,
information contained in a birth or death certificate, or credit card
number of an individual person.
   (c) In any case in which a person willfully obtains personal
identifying information of another person, uses that information to
commit a crime in addition to a violation of subdivision (a), and is
convicted of that crime, the court records shall reflect that the
person whose identity was falsely used to commit the crime did not
commit the crime.
   (d) Every person who, with the intent to defraud, acquires,
transfers, or retains possession of the personal identifying
information, as defined in subdivision (b), of another person is
guilty of a public offense, and upon conviction therefor, shall be
punished by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or
a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that
imprisonment and fine.