BILL NUMBER: SB 1277	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Strickland

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2012

   An act to amend Section 631 of the Penal Code, relating to crimes.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1277, as introduced, Strickland. Invasion of privacy.
   Under existing law, a person who intentionally taps or makes an
unauthorized connection with a telegraph or telephone wire, line,
cable, or instrument or who willfully and without the consent of all
parties to the communication, reads or attempts to read or learn the
contents or meaning of a message, report, or communication while the
communication is in transit, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable
by a fine or imprisonment, or both.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 631 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   631.  (a)  Any   A  person who, by means
of  any   a  machine, instrument, or
contrivance, or in  any other   another 
manner, intentionally taps, or makes  any  an
 unauthorized connection, whether physically, electrically,
acoustically, inductively, or otherwise, with  any 
 a  telegraph or telephone wire, line, cable, or instrument,
including the wire, line, cable, or instrument of  any
  an  internal telephonic communication system, or
who willfully and without the consent of all parties to the
communication, or in  any   an 
unauthorized manner, reads, or attempts to read, or to learn the
contents or meaning of  any   a  message,
report, or communication while the  same  
communication  is in transit or passing over  any
  a  wire, line, or cable, or is being sent from,
or received at  any   a  place within this
state; or who uses, or attempts to use, in any manner, or for any
purpose, or to communicate in any way,  any 
information so obtained, or who aids, agrees with, employs, or
conspires with  any   a  person or persons
to unlawfully do, or permit, or cause to be done any of the acts or
things mentioned above in this section, is punishable by a fine not
exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by
imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by
imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or by both
a fine and imprisonment in the county jail or pursuant to subdivision
(h) of Section 1170. If the person has previously been convicted of
a violation of this section or Section 632, 632.5, 632.6, 632.7, or
636, he or she is punishable by a fine not exceeding ten thousand
dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not
exceeding one year, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of
Section 1170, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
   (b) This section shall not apply (1) to  any 
 a  public utility engaged in the business of providing
communications services and facilities, or to the officers, employees
or agents thereof, where the acts otherwise prohibited herein are
for the purpose of construction, maintenance, conduct or operation of
the services and facilities of the public utility, or (2) to the use
of  any   an  instrument, equipment,
facility, or service furnished and used pursuant to the tariffs of a
public utility, or (3) to  any   a 
telephonic communication system used for communication exclusively
within a state, county, city and county, or city correctional
facility.
   (c) Except as proof in an action or prosecution for violation of
this section, no evidence obtained in violation of this section shall
be admissible in  any   a  judicial,
administrative, legislative, or other proceeding.
   (d) This section shall become operative on January 1, 1994.