BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1168 (Cedillo)
Hearing Date: 05/10/2010 Amended: 05/06/2010
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Public Safety
7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: This bill permits the presiding judge of the Los
Angeles County Superior Court to, upon the request of a City
Attorney of any city in Los Angeles County with a population of
more than 3,000,000, to impanel an additional grand jury, as
specified. This bill provides that all costs to the county and
court incurred by impaneling the grand jury will be reimbursed
by the requesting City Attorney. The provisions of this bill
will sunset on January 1, 2014.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12
2012-13 Fund
Impanel Grand Jury **Potentially significant costs to
City Attorney** Local
**Potentially significant Court costs;
reimbursed by City Attorney** General
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STAFF COMMENTS:
This bill allows the presiding judge of the Los Angeles County
Superior Court to, upon receiving a request from a City
Attorney, as specified, impanel an additional grand jury for the
purposes of inquiring into misdemeanor offenses involving
environmental, consumer protection, workplace safety, labor,
fraud, or corruption violations and unfair business practices.
If a grand jury is impaneled, this bill specifies new powers for
the City Attorney requesting the grand jury. This bill also
requires the requesting City Attorney to reimburse both the
county and the court for all costs they incur related to
impaneling the grand jury. The current estimated for the cost of
a grand jury in Los Angeles County is $600,000; the Los Angeles
City Attorney's office has an annual budget of $85,000,000, from
which any costs would be paid.
The California Constitution requires that counties have one
regular grand jury a year. The grand jury has two functions,
one criminal and one civil. While counties differ slightly,
generally the grand jury's civil function includes investigating
local government agencies for misconduct. This includes auditing
operations, accounts and records of officers and departments
that are under investigation. The criminal function generally
includes investigating and hearing evidence to determine whether
the evidence is sufficient for the matter to be taken to trial.
Under current law, a county may request to have an additional
grand jury for criminal purposes. Therefore, if a county
impanels a second grand jury, the regular grand jury takes on
the civil functions and the additional grand jury takes on the
criminal. SB 796 (Runner) Ch. 82, Stats. 2007, granted the
presiding judge of Los Angeles County Superior Court the
authority to impanel up to two additional grand juries. This
bill provides that the additional grand jury it allows is not
authorized to inquire into matters that the regular grand jury
is inquiring into at the time of its impanelment.