BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1763
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 25, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1763 (Davis) - As Amended: April 11, 2012
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill allows the Attorney General (AG) to convene a grand
jury in cases involving fraud or theft that occurs in more than
one county and where all potential charges are against a single
defendant or multiple defendants acting in concert, and could
not otherwise be brought in a single county. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Specifies this special grand jury may be impaneled in the
Counties of Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, or San
Francisco, at the AG's discretion. A special grand jury
impaneled under this section shall serve for a term of 18
months unless dismissed earlier by the AG. Upon notice by the
AG to the grand jury coordinator or presiding judge of the
county where the special grand jury is impaneled, the special
grand jury's term can be extended by up to six months.
2)Provides that the special grand jury may indict a person or
persons for crimes that occurred in counties other than where
the special grand jury is impaneled and that the indictment
shall then be submitted to the appropriate court in any of the
counties where any of the charges could otherwise have been
properly brought.
3)As in the case of any other grand jury convened by the AG, the
Superior Court of the county in which the grand jury is
convened shall submit a statement of costs for state
reimbursement.
4)Establishes the AG's Special Grand Jury fund in the State
Treasury and requires each defendant convicted of the charges
AB 1763
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brought by a special grand jury pay a fine of $500 into that
fund to be used upon appropriation of the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown, potentially moderate costs, in excess of $150,000 to
reimburse counties, per existing law, for special grand jury
expenses, such as selecting and training jurors and juror per
diem and mileage. (The reimbursements arguably should be to
the courts; the author will work on this language while the
bill is on the Suspense File.)
2)Significant cost pressure on the Administrative Office of the
Courts to identify and provide adequate facility space for
additional grand juries.
3)Unknown, minor revenue increase to the AG from the proposed
$500 conviction fee.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to the author and sponsor, the state
AG, in an effort to combat widespread financial abuses in
the mortgage industry, the AG is engaged in the
investigation of significant financial crimes of statewide
scope and impact. Existing county grand jury authority to
investigate these crimes, however, is ill-suited to these
cases as crimes of a financial nature often occur in
multiple jurisdictions, and thus are often beyond the
scope of single-county grand juries. AB 1763 gives the AG
the option of a statewide grand jury to investigate
multi-jurisdictional financial crimes in a manner not
possible under current law.
According to the AG's Office, "The vast majority of criminal
charges in California, however, are brought not by using the
grand jury, but rather by preliminary hearings in court. This
is because most crimes involve acts of bodily violence or
crimes like the simple theft of tangible property: crimes that
can easily be charged with the testimony of a single officer.
In contrast, preliminary hearings are not as well-suited for
financial crimes due to the short timelines that attend the
preliminary hearing process. Additionally, for crimes where
the fraud victims are all over the state and where the
defendant committed the crime in each respective victim's
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county, separate preliminary hearings or grand juries must be
convened in each county, with separate charges brought
therein.
"AB 1763 would remedy this by allowing for the Attorney
General to convene a special grand jury for the investigation
and indictment for financial crimes involving victims in
multiple jurisdictions where under current law charges must be
brought in multiple counties to encompass all victims. This
legislation will provide the Attorney General's Office with an
important tool to fight mortgage fraud."
2)Support includes the California District Attorneys Association
and the California Nurses Association.
3)There is no known opposition .
4)Identical legislation , SB 1474 (Hancock) is pending in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081