BILL NUMBER: SB 1474 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 29, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hancock
(Coauthors: Senators DeSaulnier, Leno, and Pavley)
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act relating to the Attorney General.
An act to amend Section 923 of the Penal Code, relating to grand jury
proceedings.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1474, as amended, Hancock. Attorney General.
Grand jury proceedings: Attorney General: powers and duties.
Existing law authorizes the Attorney General to convene the grand
jury to investigate and consider certain criminal matters. The
Attorney General is authorized to take full charge of the
presentation of the matters to the grand jury, issue subpoenas,
prepare indictments, and do all other things incident thereto to the
same extent as the district attorney may do. Existing law authorizes
the Attorney General to empanel a special grand jury to investigate,
consider, or issue indictments for specified activities relating to
Medi-Cal fraud.
This bill also would authorize the Attorney General to convene a
special grand jury, as prescribed, for cases involving fraud or theft
of public moneys, impairment of the collection of public money,
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 charges that could reasonably result in a sentencing enhancement
for aggravated white collar crime. The bill would establish the
Attorney General's Special Grand Jury Fund in the State Treasury and
would require each defendant convicted of charges brought by a
special grand jury to pay a fine of $500 into that fund, to be
deposited into the General Fund and used upon appropriation of the
Legislature.
The California Constitution provides that the Attorney General is
the chief law enforcement officer of the state with the duty to see
that the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced.
Existing law requires the Attorney General to prosecute and defend
all causes to which the state or state officers in their official
capacities are parties.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would enhance the ability of the Attorney General to
enforce state law.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 923 of the Penal
Code is amended to read:
923. (a) Whenever the Attorney General considers that the public
interest requires, he or she may, with or without the concurrence of
the district attorney, direct the grand jury to convene for the
investigation and consideration of those matters of a criminal nature
that he or she desires to submit to it. He or she may take full
charge of the presentation of the matters to the grand jury, issue
subpoenas, prepare indictments, and do all other things incident
thereto to the same extent as the district attorney may do.
(b) Whenever the Attorney General considers that the public
interest requires, he or she may, with or without the concurrence of
the district attorney, petition the court to impanel a special grand
jury to investigate, consider, or issue indictments for any of the
activities subject to fine, imprisonment, or asset
forfeiture under Section 14107 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
He or she set forth in subdivision (c). The petition
may be presented under seal and shall set forth, in general terms,
the grounds justifying the request as set forth in subdivision (c).
The court shall grant the petition if the petition generally
demonstrates the Attorney General's be lief that a crime
addressed under subdivision (c) has been committed. The Attorney
General may take full charge of the presentation of the matters
to the grand jury, issue subpoenas, prepare indictments, and do all
other things incident thereto to the same extent as the district
attorney may do. If the evidence presented to the grand jury
shows the commission of an offense or offenses for which
jurisdiction would be in a county other than the county where the
grand jury is impaneled, the Attorney General, with or without the
concurrence of the district attorney in the county with jurisdiction
over the offense or offenses, may petition the court to impanel a
special grand jury in that county. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, upon request of the Attorney General, a grand jury
convened by the Attorney General 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 Attorney
General pursuant to this subdivision in any other county where venue
for an offense or offenses shown by evidence presented to the first
grand jury is proper. All confidentiality provisions governing
information, testimony, and evidence presented to a grand jury shall
be applicable except as expressly permitted by this subdivision. The
Attorney General shall inform the grand jury that transmits
confidential information and the grand jury that receives
confidential information of any exculpatory evidence, as required by
Section 939.71. The grand jury that transmits information to another
grand jury shall include the exculpatory evidence disclosed by the
Attorney General in the transmission of the confidential information.
The Attorney General shall inform both the grand jury transmitting
the confidential information and the grand jury receiving that
information of their duties under Section 939.7. A special grand jury
convened pursuant to this subdivision shall be in addition to the
other grand juries authorized by this chapter or Chapter 2
(commencing with Section 893).
(c) The following activities are subject to indictment by a
special grand jury impaneled pursuant to subdivision (b):
(1) Activities subject to fine, imprisonment, or asset forfeiture
under Section 14107 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(2) Activities that involve, in whole or in part, fraud or theft
that result in the direct or indirect loss of one hundred thousand
dollars ($100,000) or more in public money. For purposes of this
subdivision, "public money" means fees or taxes of any kind collected
by a state governmental agency or political subdivision of the
state, or collected by a county or city governmental agency in the
state.
(3) Fraud or theft that occurs in more than one county and where
all the potential charges against a defendant, or defendants acting
in concert, cannot otherwise be brought in a single county.
(4) An activity that could result, upon conviction of potential
charges reasonably contemplated by the Attorney General to be
included in the proposed indictment, in a sentencing enhancement
under Section 186.11.
(d) A special grand jury requested by the Attorney General
pursuant to subdivision (b) may be impaneled in the Counties of
Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, or San Francisco, at the
Attorney General's discretion. A special grand jury impaneled under
this section shall serve for a term of 18 months unless dismissed
earlier by the Attorney General. Upon notice by the Attorney General
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.
(e) For special grand juries impaneled pursuant to subdivision
(b), and notwithstanding Section 1200 or 1401 of the Evidence Code,
the Attorney General may establish a foundation for documentary
evidence in order to introduce that evidence to the special grand
jury for consideration, if the documents were acquired through a
grand jury subpoena or a court-approved search warrant, and a law
enforcement officer or investigator testifies that the documents were
obtained in that manner.
(1) For documents that were obtained by a grand jury subpoena and
which the Attorney General seeks to introduce under this subdivision,
a law enforcement officer or investigator shall inform the grand
jury if the custodian of records for the documents supplied an
affidavit attesting to the manner in which the records were
maintained. The absence of an affidavit, however, shall not preclude
their introduction for the grand jury to consider.
(2) For documents that were obtained by a court-approved search
warrant and which the Attorney General seeks to introduce under this
subdivision, a law enforcement officer or investigator shall describe
the manner in which the documents were kept at the site of the
search warrant. The testifying law enforcement officer or
investigator may obtain this information from another officer or
investigator that was present at the search warrant site when the
documents were obtained. The manner in which the documents were kept
at the site where they were obtained shall have no bearing on the
Attorney General's ability to introduce the documents to the grand
jury.
(3) A law enforcement officer or investigator testifying in order
to establish the foundation for documentary evidence under this
subdivision shall either have five years of law enforcement
experience or have completed a training course certified by the
Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training that includes
training in investigation and reporting of cases at preliminary
hearings or for grand juries.
(f) For special grand juries impaneled pursuant to subdivision
(b), where the Attorney General, in his or her discretion, reasonably
believes there are more than 10 victims of a crime attributable to
the same defendant, or defendants acting in concert, and indictable
by a special grand jury pursuant to subdivision (b), the victims need
not testify to the special grand jury in order for the prosecutor to
establish a count or charge in the indictment if a peace officer or
investigator, certified in the same manner as in paragraph (3) of
subdivision (e), testifies with respect to the dollar loss amount
suffered by each victim and any other related information with
respect to each victim. Nothing in this subdivision shall prevent the
prosecutor from calling some or all of the victims to testify for
the grand jury.
(g) For special grand juries impaneled pursuant to subdivision
(b), the Attorney General may issue subpoenas for documents and
witnesses located anywhere in the state in order to obtain evidence
to present to the special grand jury. The special grand jury may hear
all evidence in the form of testimony or physical evidence presented
to them, irrespective of the location of the witness or physical
evidence prior to subpoena. The special grand jury impaneled pursuant
to subdivision (b) may indict a person or persons with charges for
crimes that occurred in counties other than where the special grand
jury is impaneled. 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.
(h) Notwithstanding Section 944, an indictment found by a special
grand jury and endorsed as a true bill by the special grand jury
foreperson, may be presented to the appropriate court, as set forth
in subdivision (g), solely by the prosecutor within five court days
of the endorsement of the indictment. For indictments presented to
the court in this manner, the prosecutor shall also file with the
court or court clerk, at the time of presenting the indictment, an
affidavit signed by the special grand jury foreperson attesting that
all the jurors who voted on the indictment heard all of the evidence
presented by the prosecutor, and that a proper number of jurors voted
for the indictment pursuant to Section 940.
(i) If a defendant makes a timely and successful challenge to the
Attorney General's right to convene a special grand jury by clearly
demonstrating that the charges brought are not addressed by
subdivision (c), the court shall dismiss the indictment without
prejudice to the Attorney General, who may bring the same or other
charges against the defendant at a later date via another special
grand jury properly convened, or a regular grand jury, or by any
other procedure available.
(j) Unless otherwise set forth in this section, a law applying to
a regular grand jury impaneled pursuant to Section 23 of Article I of
the California Constitution shall apply to a special grand jury
unless the application of the law to a special grand jury would
substantially interfere with the execution of one or more of the
provisions of this section. If there is substantial interference, the
provision governing the special grand jury will govern.
(c)
(k) Upon certification by the Attorney General, a
statement of the costs directly related to the impanelment and
activities of the grand jury pursuant to subdivision (b) from the
presiding judge of the superior court where the grand jury was
impaneled shall be submitted for state reimbursement of the costs to
the county. To be reimbursed, the costs shall be itemized, and
be no more than what would be charged to a regularly impaneled grand
jury convened by the county pursuant to Section 23 of
Article I of the California Constitution, unless an alternative
payment arrangement is agreed upon by the county and the Attorney
General.
(l) A defendant convicted on charges brought by a special grand
jury pursuant to this section shall pay a fine of five hundred
dollars ($500), which shall be assessed by the court and transmitted
to the Attorney General's Special Grand Jury Fund, which is hereby
established in the State Treasury, to be used upon appropriation of
the Legislature.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would enhance the ability of the Attorney
General to enforce state law.