BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Mark Leno, Chair A
2009-2010 Regular Session B
9
9
AB 99 (De Le?n)
As Introduced January 7, 2009
Hearing date: July 2, 2009
Business and Professions Code
AA:br
SECONDHAND AND COIN DEALERS :
IDENTIFICATION OF SELLER OR PLEDGER
HISTORY
Source: Collateral Loan and Secondhand Dealers Association of
California
Prior Legislation: AB 1870 (De Le?n) - 2008, vetoed
AB 522 (Diaz) - 2003, vetoed
ACR 229 (Diaz) - Ch. 187, Stats. 2002
Support: California Immigrant Policy Center, San Ysidro Chamber
of Commerce; San Ysidro Business Association; an
individual
Opposition: None known
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 48 - Noes 28
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD A MATRICULA CONSULAR, IN ADDITION TO ANOTHER ITEM OF
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IDENTIFICATION BEARING AN ADDRESS, BE A DOCUMENT WHICH CAN VERIFY
THE IDENTIFICATION OF A SELLER OR PLEDGER OF PROPERTY TO A
SECONDHAND DEALER OR COIN DEALER?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to provide that a Matricula
Consular, in addition to another item of identification bearing
an address, can be a document which can verify the
identification of a seller or pledger of property to a
secondhand dealer or a coin dealer.
Current law states that it "is the intent of the Legislature in
enacting (specified statutory provisions) to curtail the
dissemination of stolen property and to facilitate the recovery
of stolen property by means of a uniform, statewide,
state-administered program of regulation of persons whose
principal business is the buying, selling, trading, auctioning,
or taking in pawn of tangible personal property and to aid the
State Board of Equalization to detect possible sales tax
evasion.
"Further, it is the intent of the Legislature . . . to require
the uniform statewide reporting of tangible personal property
acquired by persons whose principal business is the buying,
selling, trading, auctioning, or taking in pawn of tangible
personal property, unless the property or the transaction is
specifically exempt herein, for the purpose of correlating these
reports with other reports of city, county, and city and county
law enforcement agencies and further utilizing the services of
the Department of Justice to aid in tracing and recovering
stolen property." (Business and Professions Code 21625.)
Under current law a "secondhand dealer," for purposes relevant
to this bill, "means and includes any person, copartnership,
firm, or corporation whose business includes buying, selling,
trading, taking in pawn, accepting for sale on consignment,
accepting for auctioning, or auctioning secondhand tangible
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personal property." (Business and Professions Code 21626
(a).)
Under current law a "coin dealer" for purposes relevant to this
bill "means any person, firm, partnership, or corporation whose
principal business is the buying, selling, and trading of coins,
monetized bullion, or commercial grade ingots of gold, or
silver, or other precious metals." (Business and Professions
Code 21626 (b).)
Current law requires every secondhand dealer or coin dealer, as
specified, to "report daily, or on the first working day after
receipt or purchase of the property, . . . all tangible personal
property which he or she has purchased, taken in trade, taken in
pawn, accepted for sale on consignment, or accepted for
auctioning, to the chief of police or to the sheriff," as
specified. (Business and Professions Code 21628.)
Current law requires that the report described above "be
legible, prepared in English, completed where applicable, and
include, but not be limited to, the following information:
(a) The name and current address of the intended
seller or pledger of the property.
(b) The identification of the intended seller or
pledger.
(c) A complete and reasonably accurate description
of serialized property, as specified.
(d) A complete and reasonably accurate description
of nonserialized property, as specified.
(e) A certification by the intended seller or
pledger that he or she is the owner of the property or has
the authority of the owner to sell or pledge the property.
(f) A certification by the intended seller or
pledger that to his or her knowledge and belief the
information is true and complete.
(g) A legible fingerprint taken from the intended
seller or pledger, as specified. (Id.)
Current law requires that the "identification of the seller or
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pledger of the property shall be verified by the person taking
the information. The verification shall be valid if the person
taking the information reasonably relies on any one of the
following documents, provided that the document is currently
valid or has been issued within five years and contains a
photograph or description, or both, of the person named on it,
is signed by the person, and bears a serial or other identifying
number:
(1) A passport of the United States.
(2) A driver's license issued by any state, or
Canada.
(3) An identification card issued by any state.
(4) An identification card issued by the United
States.
(5) A passport from any other country in addition
to another item of identification bearing an
address. (Id.)
This bill would add the following to this list of documents upon
which identification verification could be based under this
section:
"6) A Matricula Consular in addition to another item of
identification bearing an address."
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
California continues to face a severe prison overcrowding
crisis. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
currently has about 170,000 inmates under its jurisdiction. Due
to a lack of traditional housing space available, the department
houses roughly 15,000 inmates in gyms and dayrooms.
California's prison population has increased by 125% (an average
of 4% annually) over the past 20 years, growing from 76,000
inmates to 171,000 inmates, far outpacing the state's population
growth rate for the age cohort with the highest risk of
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incarceration.<1>
In December of 2006 plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against
CDCR sought a court-ordered limit on the prison population
pursuant to the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. On
February 9, 2009, the three-judge federal court panel issued a
tentative ruling that included the following conclusions with
respect to overcrowding:
No party contests that California's prisons are
overcrowded, however measured, and whether considered
in comparison to prisons in other states or jails
within this state. There are simply too many
prisoners for the existing capacity. The Governor,
the principal defendant, declared a state of emergency
in 2006 because of the "severe overcrowding" in
California's prisons, which has caused "substantial
risk to the health and safety of the men and women who
work inside these prisons and the inmates housed in
them." . . . A state appellate court upheld the
Governor's proclamation, holding that the evidence
supported the existence of conditions of "extreme
peril to the safety of persons and property."
(citation omitted) The Governor's declaration of the
state of emergency remains in effect to this day.
. . . the evidence is compelling that there is no
relief other than a prisoner release order that will
remedy the unconstitutional prison conditions.
. . .
Although the evidence may be less than perfectly
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<1> "Between 1987 and 2007, California's population of ages 15
through 44 - the age cohort with the highest risk for
incarceration - grew by an average of less than 1% annually,
which is a pace much slower than the growth in prison
admissions." (2009-2010 Budget Analysis Series, Judicial and
Criminal Justice, Legislative Analyst's Office (January 30,
2009).)
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clear, it appears to the Court that in order to
alleviate the constitutional violations California's
inmate population must be reduced to at most 120% to
145% of design capacity, with some institutions or
clinical programs at or below 100%. We caution the
parties, however, that these are not firm figures and
that the Court reserves the right - until its final
ruling - to determine that a higher or lower figure is
appropriate in general or in particular types of
facilities.
. . .
Under the PLRA, any prisoner release order that we
issue will be narrowly drawn, extend no further than
necessary to correct the violation of constitutional
rights, and be the least intrusive means necessary to
correct the violation of those rights. For this
reason, it is our present intention to adopt an order
requiring the State to develop a plan to reduce the
prison population to 120% or 145% of the prison's
design capacity (or somewhere in between) within a
period of two or three years.<2>
The final outcome of the panel's tentative decision, as well as
any appeal that may be in response to the panel's final
decision, is unknown at the time of this writing.
This bill does not appear to aggravate the prison overcrowding
crisis outlined above.
COMMENTS
---------------------------
<2> Three Judge Court Tentative Ruling, Coleman v.
Schwarzenegger, Plata v. Schwarzenegger, in the United States
District Courts for the Eastern District of California and the
Northern District of California United States District Court
composed of three judges pursuant to Section 2284, Title 28
United States Code (Feb. 9, 2009).
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1. Stated Need for This Bill
The author states:
Current law is very specific as to what documents may
be used as identification in a pawn transaction, which
include 1) a passport of the United States; 2) a
driver's license issued by any state, or Canada; 3) an
identification card issued by any state; 4) an
identification card issued by the United States; and 5)
a passport from any other country in addition to
another item of identification bearing an address.
This bill would add a matr?cula consular as an
acceptable form of identification for secondhand pawn
transactions.
2. The "Matricula Consular"; Use to Verify Identification for
Purposes of a Sale to a Secondhand Dealer or Coin Dealer
The Matricula Consular is an identification card issued by the
Government of Mexico through its consulate offices. The
official purpose of the card is to demonstrate that the bearer
is a Mexican national living outside of Mexico. It includes an
official Government of Mexico issued ID number and bears a
photograph and address of the Mexican National to whom it is
issued.<3>
In 2002, the Mexican Consulate began to issue the high-security
identification card to Mexican Nationals. The Matricula
Consular contains both visible and embedded state-of-the-art
security features. The identification cards are printed on
green security paper with the official Mexican seal, which is
printed in a special security pattern. The back of the card
includes a copper-colored hologram "Advantage Seal" and the
Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE) seal appears over the
holder's picture and changes colors from green to brown when
held by the assigned holder. While using a florescent light
lamp, "SRE" can be seen all over the front of the identification
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<3> See Wikipedia.org.
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card. The Matricula Consular also includes an infrared band on
the upper back.
The invisible security features can be seen with a special
decoder provided by the Mexican Consulate. The decoder is a
plastic slipcover that fits over the identification card to read
the embedded information. The invisible security features
include "Mexico" printed on the left side of the card near the
photograph. "Matricula Consular - Consular ID Card" is printed
at the bottom of the card. "SRE" is printed three times on the
right side of the card. The holder's name and date of birth is
diagonally printed over the picture. The holder's name and
identification number can be read on the left side of the green
line on the back of the identification card. Finally, when held
at an angle and with the decoder, "SRE" can be seen printed five
times in specified locations on the back side of the
identification card.
Matricula Consular cards are accepted identification by a number
of businesses, including many banks. As explained in a 2004
article on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Web site:
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. . . (A) growing number of U.S. banks accept
alternative forms of identification to help taxpaying
immigrants open bank accounts and secure other banking
services; these include the Individual Taxpayer
Identification Number (ITIN) and foreign government
issued identification, such as the Mexican Matricula
Consular card. The USA PATRIOT Act allows financial
institutions to accept both forms of identification,
enabling insured financial institutions to serve
unbanked immigrants who live and work in the United
States.
. . . According to the Mexican government, an
estimated 4 million Matricula cards have been issued in
the United States.
As an example of the effectiveness of using this form of
identification, Wells Fargo opened more than 400,000 new
accounts for Mexican immigrants, using the Matricula
Consular card between November 2001 and May 2004. . .
According to the Mexican government, 178 banks in the
United States accept the Matricula Consular card to open
bank accounts; 86 of these institutions are in the
Midwest.<4>
According to the sponsor of this bill, the "Matricula Consular
is accepted as valid identification in 377 cities, 163 counties
and 33 states, as well as by 178 financial institutions and
1,180 police departments in the United States. Additionally, 12
states recognize the card as one of the acceptable proofs of
identity to obtain a driver's license. Police and sheriff
departments support matriculas for community policing purposes
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<4> Linking International Remittance Flows to Financial
Services: Tapping the Latino Immigrant Market Michael A.
Frias Community Affairs Officer, Chicago Region, FDIC
( http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/examinations/supervisory/insi
ghts/ .)
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and crime prevention."<5>
The use of a Matricula Consular as a reliable form of
identification, however, has been questioned. In 2003 testimony
before the House of Representatives, the Assistant Director of
the Office of Intelligence for the FBI stated in part:
. . . The crucial element in the acceptance of any
consular ID card is the ability to verify the actual
true identity of the bearer of the card. . . .
The U.S. Government has done an extensive amount of
research on the Matricula Consular, to assess its
viability as a reliable means of identification. The
Department of Justice and the FBI have concluded that
the Matricula Consular is not a reliable form of
identification, due to the non-existence of any means
of verifying the true identity of the card holder. . .
.<6>
As explained above, this bill would permit a secondhand dealer
or coin dealer to use a Matricula Consular to verify a seller's
identification if the document 1) is currently valid or has been
issued within five years; 2) contains a photograph or
description, or both, of the person named on it; 3) is signed by
the person; 4) bears a serial or other identifying number; and
5) specifically with respect to a Matricula Consular, is
submitted "in addition to another item of identification bearing
an address."
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<5> Letter from the Collateral Loan & Secondhand Dealers
Association of California dated February 27, 2008, on file in
the Committee offices.
<6> Testimony of Steve McCraw, Assistant Director of The
Office of Intelligence, FBI, Before the House Judiciary
Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims on
Consular ID Cards (June 26, 2003).
AB 99 (De Le?n)
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SHOULD A MATRICULA CONSULAR, WHEN PROVIDED WITH another item of
identification bearing an address, BE SUFFICIENT TO verify the
identification of a seller or pledger of property to a
secondhand dealer or a coin dealer?
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