BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1763
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1763 (Davis)
As Amended May 25, 2012
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Knight, Cedillo, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Hagman, Mitchell, Skinner | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| | | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Ammiano, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
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SUMMARY : Allows the Attorney General (AG) to convene a grand
jury in cases of theft or fraud where the same defendant or
defendants committed the offense in multiple counties.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the AG to convene a special grand jury for cases
involving fraud or theft that occurs in more than one county
and where all potential charges could not otherwise be brought
in a single county and were conducted by a single defendant or
multiple defendants acting in concert.
a) Specifies the AG may convene the special grand jury with
or without the consent of the district attorney in the
county chosen.
b) Authorizes the AG to issue subpoenas, prepare
indictments, and perform all other things incident thereto
to the same extent as the district attorney of the county
may do.
c) Specifies that upon request of the AG, a grand jury
convened by the AG pursuant to this subdivision may submit
confidential information obtained by that grand jury,
including, but not limited to, documents and testimony to a
second grand jury that has been impaneled at the request of
the AG pursuant to this subdivision in any other county
where venue for an offense or offenses shown by evidence
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presented to the first grand jury is proper.
d) Specifies this special grand jury may be impaneled in
the Counties of Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego,
or San Francisco, at the Attorney General's discretion.
When impaneling a special statewide grand jury, the AG
shall use an existing regularly impaneled grand jury to
serve as the special statewide grand jury and make
arrangements with the grand jury coordinator in the
applicable county, or with the presiding judge or whoever
is charged with scheduling the grand jury hearings, in
order to ensure orderly coordination and use of the grand
jurors' time for both regular grand jury duties and special
statewide grand jury duties. Whenever the AG impanels a
special statewide grand jury, the prosecuting attorney
representing the AG shall inform the special statewide
grand jury at the outset of the case that the special grand
jury is acting as a special statewide grand jury with
statewide jurisdiction.
2)Establishes the AG's Special Grand Jury fund in the State
Treasury and requires each defendant convicted of the charges
brought by a special grand jury pay a fine of $500 into that
fund to be used upon appropriation of the Legislature.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that one or more grand juries shall be drawn and
summoned at least once a year in each county.
2)Provides that in any county, or city and county, the presiding
judge of the superior court, or the judge appointed by the
presiding judge to supervise the grand jury may, upon the
request of the AG or the district attorney, or upon his or her
own motion, order and direct the impanelment of one additional
grand jury.
3)States that in any county having a population of more than
370,000 but less than 400,000, as established by the
Government Code, the presiding judge of the superior court,
upon application by the district attorney, may order and
direct the drawing and impanelment at any time of one
additional grand jury.
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4)Provides that the presiding judge may select persons at random
from the list of trial jurors in civil and criminal cases and
shall examine them to determine if they are competent to serve
as grand jurors. When a sufficient number of competent
persons have been selected, they shall constitute the
additional grand jury.
5)States that in no event shall more than one additional grand
jury be impaneled pursuant to this section at the same time.
6)Provides that whenever an additional grand jury is impaneled
pursuant to this section, it shall inquire into any matters
that are subject to grand jury inquiry and shall have the sole
and exclusive jurisdiction to return indictments, except for
any matters that the regular grand jury is inquiring into at
the time of its impanelment.
7)States that if an additional grand jury is also authorized by
another section, the county may impanel the additional grand
jury authorized by this section, or by the other section, but
not both.
8)Requires that in all counties there shall be at least one
grand jury drawn and impaneled in each year.
9)Provides that any person summoned as a grand juror, who
willfully and without reasonable excuse fails to attend, may
be attached and compelled to attend and the court may also
impose a fine not exceeding $50. States that if the grand
juror was not personally served, the fine shall not be imposed
until an order to show cause has been offered to the grand
juror to be heard.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, unknown moderate costs, potentially 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.
Cost pressure on the Administrative Office of Courts to identify
and provide adequate facility space for additional grand juries.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "The existing methods of
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indicting large-scale financial crimes under existing California
statutes are inadequate. For example, deadlines required by the
preliminary hearing process are too short to allow for an
adequate presentation of the extensive documentary evidence that
typically accompanies a major financial criminal investigation.
Additionally under existing law, a grand jury has authority only
over crimes occurring within its county of jurisdiction. This
is a serious impediment to prosecutions of crimes that occur
over multiple jurisdictions.
"AB 1763 would grant authority to the Attorney General to
impanel a grand jury with state-wide jurisdiction for the
investigation and indictment of multi-jurisdictional financial
crimes involving multiple victims."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0003823