BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 1256 (Bloom) - Civil law: entry and exit of facilities.
Amended: June 24, 2014 Policy Vote: Judiciary 5-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1256 would revise existing statutory "invasion
of privacy" tort provisions to expand both physical and
constructive invasion of privacy torts and would enact a new
civil cause of action based on the unlawful acts of any person,
except a parent or guardian acting toward his or her minor
child, to physically obstruct, intimidate, or otherwise
interfere with any person who is attempting to enter or exit a
school or health facility, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
Potential minor state trial court costs to the extent this
bill results in additional civil proceedings.
Non-reimbursable local costs for prosecution by district or
city attorneys, offset to a degree by penalty revenues.
Potential future cost pressure in excess of $150,000
(General Fund) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to
evaluate complaints, investigate allegations, and pursue new
causes of action, offset to a degree by penalty revenues.
*Trial Court Trust Fund
Background: Existing law makes a person liable for "physical
invasion of privacy" for knowingly entering onto the land of
another person or otherwise committing a trespass in order to
physically invade the privacy of another person with the intent
to capture any type of visual image, sound recording, or other
physical impression of that person engaging in a personal or
familial activity, and the physical invasion occurs in a manner
that is offensive to a reasonable person. (Civil Code (CC)
�1708.8(a).)
Existing law makes a person liable for "constructive invasion
of privacy" for attempting to capture, in a manner highly
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offensive to a reasonable person, any type of visual image,
sound recording, or other physical impression of another person
engaging in a personal or familial activity under circumstances
in which the plaintiff had a reasonable expectation of privacy,
through the use of a visual or auditory enhancing device,
regardless of whether there was a physical trespass, if the
image or recording could not have been achieved without a
trespass unless the visual or auditory enhancing device was
used. (CC �1708.8(b).)
Proposed Law: This bill would revise existing statutory
"invasion of privacy" tort provisions to expand both physical
and constructive invasion of privacy torts and would enact a new
civil cause of action based on the unlawful acts of any person,
except a parent or guardian acting toward his or her minor
child, to physically obstruct, intimidate, or otherwise
interfere with any person who is attempting to enter or exit a
school or health facility, as specified. Specifically, this
bill:
Makes a person liable for physical or constructive
invasion of privacy under an expanded definition of
"personal or familial activity" and, instead, provide that
"private, personal, or familial activity" includes, but is
not limited to:
o Intimate details of a plaintiff's personal
life under circumstances in which the plaintiff has a
reasonable expectation of privacy.
o Interaction with the plaintiff's family or
significant others under circumstances in which the
plaintiff has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
o If and only after the defendant has been
convicted of disruptive entry on school grounds
without lawful business, any activity that occurs when
minors are present at any school building or upon any
school ground, street, sidewalk or public way adjacent
thereto.
o Any activity that occurs on a residential
property under circumstances in which the plaintiff
has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
o Other aspects of the plaintiff's private
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affairs or concerns under circumstances in which the
plaintiff has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Provides that it is unlawful for any person, except a
parent or guardian acting toward his or her minor child, to
commit any of the following acts:
o By force, threat of force, or physical
obstruction that is a crime of violence, to
intentionally injure, intimidate, interfere with, or
attempt to injure, intimidate, or interfere with, any
person attempting to enter or exit a school or health
facility, as specified.
o By nonviolent physical obstruction, to
intentionally injure, intimidate, interfere with, or
attempt to injure, intimidate, or interfere with, any
person attempting to enter or exit a school or health
facility, as specified.
Authorizes a person to bring a civil action to enjoin
the violation, seek compensatory and punitive damages or
injunctive relief, and the cost of suit and reasonable
attorney's and expert witness' fees.
Authorizes the AG or a district or city attorney to
bring a civil action to enjoin a violation, as specified.
Provides that the bill's provisions shall not be
construed to impair the right to engage in any
constitutionally protected activity, including but not
limited to speech, protest, or assembly; or to restrict,
inhibit, prevent, or bring a chilling effect upon any
actions by a person that are reasonable under the
circumstances to protect, secure, provide safety to, or
prevent illness in any child or adult in a facility.
Provides that the adoption of this bill is an exercise
of the police power of the state for purposes of protecting
the health, safety, and welfare of the people of
California, and would require that the provisions be
liberally construed to effectuate that purpose.
Staff Comments: The DOJ has indicated potentially significant
ongoing costs for additional resources should the AG bring civil
actions to enjoin violations of the bill's provisions. The DOJ
indicates the Civil Rights Enforcement Section (CRES) of the
Civil Law Division would require two Deputy Attorneys General,
two special agents, and one legal secretary on an ongoing basis.
Annual ongoing costs to support these five positions are
estimated at $942,000 (General Fund). At the time of this
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analysis, staff is pending documentation related to the
projected workload and number of cases anticipated to be handled
to support these additional resources.
While the bill does not mandate the AG handle these cases, the
AG anticipates increased workload to evaluate complaints,
investigate allegations, and/or litigate the civil actions for
equitable and legal relief, and for civil penalties. As a
result, while the number of civil actions to be litigated is
unknown, the new workload resulting from the provisions of this
bill could result in future cost pressure in excess of $150,000
annually.
To the extent this bill results in new causes of action would
result in costs to the courts, which the Judicial Council are
estimated to be minor. Local attorneys would incur
non-reimbursable costs for prosecution, offset to a degree by
penalty revenues.