BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1027
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1027 (Hill)
As Amended June 24, 2014
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :34-0
BUSINESS & PROFESSIONS 11-0 JUDICIARY
10-0
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|Ayes:|Bonilla, Jones, |Ayes:|Wieckowski, Wagner, |
| |Dickinson, Eggman, | |Alejo, Chau, Dickinson, |
| |Gordon, Hagman, Holden, | |Garcia, Gorell, |
| |Mullin, Skinner, Ting, | |Maienschein, Muratsuchi, |
| |Wilk | |Stone |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Prohibits private persons and companies from
soliciting, requiring or accepting a fee or other consideration
for the removal, modification, correction or to refrain from
publishing or otherwise disseminating a law enforcement booking
photo published or disseminated through a print or electronic
medium, and would also provide a private right of action for
damages equaling the greater of $1,000 or actual damages, along
with costs, reasonable attorney's fees and any other legal or
equitable relief. Specifically, this bill :
1)Prohibits any person engaged in publishing or otherwise
disseminating a booking photograph through a print or
electronic medium from soliciting, requiring, or accepting the
payment from a subject individual of a fee or other
consideration to remove, modify, correct or to refrain from
publishing or otherwise disseminating that booking photograph.
2)Authorizes a public entity to charge or collect a reasonable
administrative fee to correct a booking photograph.
3)Provides that each payment solicited or accepted in violation
of this bill constitutes a separate violation.
4)Provides that, in addition to any other sanctions, penalties,
or remedies provided by law, a subject individual may bring a
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civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction against
any person in violation of the provisions of this bill for
damages in an amount equal to the greater of $1,000 per
violation or the actual damages suffered by him or her as a
result, along with costs, reasonable attorney's fees, and any
other legal or equitable relief.
5)Provides that the jurisdiction of a civil action brought
pursuant to the provisions of this bill shall also include the
county in which the subject individual resides at the time of
the violation.
6)Defines the terms "booking photograph", "subject individual",
"person" and "public entity".
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of this bill. This bill would prohibit the practice
of commercial Web sites publicly posting booking photographs
obtained from law enforcement in order to solicit money for
their removal from California residents. This bill would also
create a private right of action for each violation, including
damages equaling the greater of actual damages or $1,000, plus
costs, reasonable attorney's fees, and any other legal or
equitable relief. This bill is author-sponsored.
2)Author's statement. According to the author, "[t]he
development of online mug shot Web sites has transformed the
dissemination of arrest information from being about serving
the public good, to being about making a profit. There are
over 80 mug shot Web sites, ? that collect millions of mug
shots and post them online, regardless of whether a person was
ever actually charged or convicted. The Web sites charge
hefty fees to remove a person's mug shot. The fees range from
$99 to over $400 per mug shot removal. But just because one
Web site is paid to remove a mug shot, it doesn't mean that
all the other Web sites will also remove the photo. Despite
what these companies claim, there is no way to completely
remove a mug shot from the Internet. The companies' mere
purpose is to make money from vulnerable individuals."
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3)The online mugshot removal industry. The current online
mugshot removal industry is primarily comprised of two types
of Web sites: publishing and removal. Publishing sites
collect and post the booking photos and arrest records for
thousands of individuals from across the country and make them
searchable by name, arrest location, or residence. One site
has over 616,000 booking photographs of Californians alone.
Removal sites offer to delete the booking photograph and
arrest records on a specific Web site or group of Web sites
for a fee ranging from under a $100 to $400 per booking
photograph.
4)Mugshot disclosure practices in California. Current law, as
interpreted by the California Attorney General, grants
California law enforcement agencies the discretion to decide
whether or not to disclose booking photographs under the
California Public Records Act.
While disclosure practices vary, most California counties do not
disclose booking photographs in bulk or by default, but on a
case-by-case basis balancing privacy with the danger the
arrestee poses to the public and the needs of ongoing
investigations. Only the counties of Amador, Madera, Sutter,
Tehama, and Tuolumne are known to make complete arrest
records, including booking photographs, publicly available
without request on their Web sites. However, the majority of
booking photographs of California residents on these sites are
actually taken from out-of-state law enforcement agencies as a
result of arrests originating in those other states.
This bill would not restrict the ability of local law
enforcement agencies to exercise their discretion to retain or
release mugshot photos, nor their ability to correct such
photos. Instead, this bill would grant subject individuals a
private right of action to sue private Web site operators for
damages and costs if the operator asks for accepts or requires
money from the subject to take a photo down or refrain from
publishing. By doing so, the author hopes to cut into the
profitability of the business model and reduce the prevalence
of the tactic.
Analysis Prepared by : Brandon Bjerke and Hank Dempsey / B.,
P. & C.P. / (916) 319-3301
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FN:
0004116