BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1906|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1906
Author: Cook (R), et al
Amended: 4/6/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/15/10
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Hancock, Leno, Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-1, 6/28/10
AYES: Cox, Alquist, Corbett, Denham, Leno, Price, Walters,
Wolk, Yee
NOES: Kehoe
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 69-1, 4/26/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Additional grand juries: County of San
Bernardino
SOURCE : County of San Bernardino
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the presiding judge or
judge appointed to supervise the grand jury in the County
of San Bernardino to order and direct the impanelment of an
additional civil grand jury.
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes the presiding judge in
any county or city and county, or the judge appointed by
the presiding judge to supervise the grand jury, to impanel
an additional grand jury to serve for a period of one year
CONTINUED
AB 1906
Page
2
upon the request of the Attorney General or the district
attorney or upon his/her own motion. Existing law
authorizes the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of the
County of Los Angeles, or the judge appointed by the
presiding judge to supervise the grand jury, to impanel up
to two additional grand juries, who may serve for a period
of one year from the date of impanelment.
This bill authorizes the County of San Bernardino to
impanel an additional civil grand jury.
This bill authorizes the presiding judge or the judge
appointed by the presiding judge to supervise the civil
grand jury and discharge the grand jury at any time within
the set term.
This bill provides that no more than one additional civil
grand jury could be impaneled at the same time.
This bill authorizes the civil grand jury to inquire into
matters of oversight, conduct investigations, issue
reports, and make recommendations, but shall not have any
jurisdiction to issue indictments.
Background
The functions of a county grand jury were summarized in
McClatchy Newspapers v. Superior Court (1988) 44 Cal.3d
1162, 1170 as follows: "The California grand jury has
three basic functions: to weigh criminal charges and
determine whether indictments should be returned [Pen. Code
Sec. 917]; to weigh allegations of misconduct against
public officials and determine whether to present formal
accusations requesting their removal from office [Pen. Code
Sec. 922; Gov. Code Sec. 3060 et seq.]; and to act as the
public's 'watchdog' by investigating and reporting upon the
affairs of local government [Pen. Code Secs. 919, 925 et
seq.]. Of these functions, the watchdog role is by far the
one most often played by the modern grand jury in
California."
At least one grand jury is to be drawn and summoned at
least once a year in each county (Section 23 of Article I
of the California Constitution), and one additional grand
CONTINUED
AB 1906
Page
3
jury may be summoned pursuant to Section 904.6 of the Penal
Code. However, this additional grand jury may only be a
criminal grand jury. (See 76 Op. Atty. Gen. 181 (1993)
(No. 93-505).) SB 2753 (Royce), Chapter 1297, Statutes of
1988, specified that if a grand jury exists pursuant to
Section 904.6 of the Penal Code [PEN], then one grand jury
must hear civil concerns.
According to the author's office, San Bernardino County has
a great need for the work of an additional civil grand
jury, because one civil grand jury is inadequate. The
Legislature has a history of enacting statutes authorizing
specific counties to impanel additional grand juries. In
1972, Ventura County was authorized to impanel an
additional grand jury under PEN Section 904.7; this statute
was repealed by its own terms in 1976. In 1976, San Mateo
County (PEN Section 904.7), Contra Costa County (PEN
Section 904.8), and Marin County (PEN Section 904.9) each
were authorized to impanel an additional grand jury. These
statutes were repealed by AB 607 (Cannella), Chapter 464,
Statutes of 1991, which authorized all counties to impanel
one additional grand jury. (PEN Section 904.6) In 1993,
the Attorney General clarified that this additional grand
jury can only hear criminal cases. (See 76 Op. Atty. Gen.
181 (1993) (No. 93-505).) SB 796 (Runner), Chapter 82,
Statutes of 2007, authorized superior court judges in Los
Angeles County to impanel additional juries, creating a
maximum of three juries in order to alleviate the
overburdening of the existing grand jury. On the other
hand, AB 1854 (Garrick), 2007-08 Session, a bill that would
have authorized San Diego County to appoint an additional
grand jury, died in the Senate Public Safety Committee.
This bill authorizes San Bernardino County to impanel one
additional civil grand jury for a term determined by the
presiding judge or judge appointed by the presiding judge
to supervise the civil grand jury. Additionally, this bill
provides a limitation on such civil grand juries so that
only one additional grand jury would be impaneled at any
given time.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
CONTINUED
AB 1906
Page
4
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Grand jury authorization Potentially significant;
non-reimbursable Local
costs
The provisions of this bill are permissive, and do not
constitute a state mandate on the County of San Bernardino.
Impaneling grand juries, and their related costs, are a
county responsibility unless otherwise provided for in
statute. All costs incurred by impaneling an additional,
optional civil grand jury will be borne by San Bernardino
County.
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/29/10)
County of San Bernardino (source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author writes: "Grand Juries
can examine city governments, city redevelopment agencies,
special districts, and other local government entities as
well. However, most Grand Juries are so pressed for time
they do not stray farther than the steps of county
government, which prohibits other local entities from
reaping the benefits of the grand jury's recommendation. ?
The heavy caseload in San Bernardino necessitates the
ability to impanel an additional Civil Grand Jury when
deemed appropriate. Increasing the number of Grand Juries
will increase the capability to conduct thorough
investigations into civil ? proceedings as it has done for
Los Angeles County. ? Alternatives, such as establishing an
Ethics Commission, are much more expensive and infeasible
during this time of strained budgets. AB 1906 provides the
best solution to a difficult problem."
The bill's sponsor, the County of San Bernardino, argues
that "[t]he grand jury is charged with the distinguished
and arduous role of 'watchdog' of public office, with the
potential to uncover substantive opportunities for
CONTINUED
AB 1906
Page
5
improvements in public operations each year. Grand jury
responsibilities associated with overseeing San Bernardino
county, the largest geographical county, with 18,000
employees and two million residents, is difficult under
current conditions. Foremen of recent grand juries have
described their involvedness as 'impossible to do a
thorough investigation of this massive operation,'
'laborious and exhaustive' and requiring time spent during
'evenings and off-days.'"
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto,
Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng,
Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller,
Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby,
Portantino, Ruskin, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada
NOES: Tom Berryhill
NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Bass, Charles Calderon,
Fuller, Furutani, V. Manuel Perez, Salas, Saldana, John
A. Perez, Vacancy
RJG:mw 6/29/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED