Criminal Justice

Significant criminal justice Senate legislation enacted this year included SB 75 (Dunn) providing $1.3 million to the Department of Justice to cover the costs of DNA collection kits for local law enforcement pursuant to Proposition 69; SB 532 (Torlakson) creating a new crime for the willful discharge of a BB device in a grossly negligent manner; SB 585 (Kehoe) requiring a person subject to a protective order to immediately surrender a firearm and file a receipt relative to the disposition of the firearm with the court; SB 603 (Ortiz) requiring the Commission on the Status of Women to convene an advisory committee that would be responsible for reporting, as specified, to the Legislature and specified agencies on the implementation of the Reproductive Rights Law Enforcement Act and the effectiveness of the plan developed by the Attorney General; SB 1021 (Bowen) creating a new public offense for operating an unsafe motor vehicle with bodily injury or great bodily injury; SB 1062 (Bowen) adding sexual assault to California’s Confidential Address Program for Victims of Domestic Violence and Stalking; SB 1184 (Cedillo) making the penalty of attempted murder of a custody assistant; SB 1222 (Ackerman) expanding the list of crimes that may be used to establish a pattern of criminal gang activity to include possessing a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded firearm; SB 1239 (Hollingsworth) requiring firearms dealers to redact personal information about buyers and sellers of firearms in private party transfers, as specified; SB 1261 (McClintock) requiring the Department of Justice to create a separate online report containing specified statistics broken down according to law enforcement agency; SB 1299 (Speier) strengthening the law covering the possession of chemicals used to make methamphetamine or PCP; SB 1308 (Battin) extending the provisions prohibiting the offering of bribes to or the accepting of bribes by a member of the Legislature to any member of the legislative body of a local agency, school district, or special district; SB 1318 (Cedillo) providing that a person who engages in drug commerce within 1,000 feet of a rehabilitation center or homeless shelter is to serve a one-year enhancement of sentence; SB 1349 (Soto) increasing the penalties for specified cockfighting-related offenses; SB 1390 (Poochigian) requiring the Department of Justice to include information regarding identify theft arrests in DOJ’s annual crime report; SB 1402 (Kuehl) ensuring that all victims of rape are afforded equal protection under the law by eliminating the current additional reporting requirement for marital rape; SB 1454 (Torlakson) enacting “Matt’s Law” as a result of the death of Matthew Carrington, a 21-year old student at Chico State who died from injuries suffered in a fraternity initiation hazing ritual, thereby creating misdemeanor/felony penalties against those who engage in hazing; SB 1491 (Kuehl) prohibiting a victim service provider form being required to reveal the personally identifying information of its clients or potential clients as a part of applying for or receiving grants or financial assistance for its services; SB 1500 (Speier) establishing the Methamphetamine Deterrence Program in the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs; SB 1538 (Scott) increasing the penalty for persons who are prohibited from owning a firearm to knowingly provide false or incomplete information to a firearm dealer in attempting to purchase a firearm, from a misdemeanor to a felony; SB 1578 (Lowenthal) establishing the tethering of a dog to a stationary object, except as specified, as an infraction or misdemeanor, depending on the offense; SB 1626 (Ashburn) clarifying the court’s authority to grant deferred entry of judgment for juveniles; SB 1668 (Bowen) exempting from disclosures to third parties the sensitive information provided by child death review teams; SB 1714 (Margett) requiring a judge to accept a facsimile copy of the signature of the Attorney General, district attorney, or specified designee in support of an application for an order authorizing a wiretap; SB 1735 (Cox) making it a wobbler for someone to drive down the wrong side of the road while fleeing a peace officer; SB 1743 (Bowen) extending the confidentiality of domestic violence victims’ and stalking victims’ names and addresses during the process of obtaining their new names; SB 1756 (Migden) extending the suspended license of a person convicted of a first time driving under the influence without injury to 10 months, allowing a person to obtain the restricted license for travel to and from the program for the entire length of time he/she is participating in a drinking driver treatment program; and SB 1806 (Figueroa) creating penalties for leaving an animal in a vehicle.

Assembly criminal justice legislation enacted of note included AB 44 (Cohn) making it a crime to obstructing the use of a wireless communication device to prevent the use of the device to summon law enforcement assistance; AB 64 (Cohn) making possession or sale of at least 100, rather than 1,000, audio recordings, punishable as an alternate felony/misdemeanor; AB 105 (Cohn) providing that the Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board to allow more than one reimbursement for relocation of one victim per crime if necessary for the personal safety or emotional wellbeing of the victim; AB 525 (Chu) strengthening the law concerning reporting of instances of child abuse; AB 618 (Leno) creating a licensing category for mobile narcotic treatment programs; AB 1160 (Lieber) ensuring that defendants do not play upon bias in attempting to win acquittal or to seek a lesser charge; AB 1333 (Frommer) making it a misdemeanor criminal offense to improperly discard grease or incompletely remove grease from a grease trap or interceptor; AB 1688 (Niello) grating powers of arrest, as specified, to illegal dumping enforcement officers in order to enforce illegal dumping and littering; AB 1850 (Mountjoy) making it a misdemeanor for a person to knowingly drive a motor vehicle while a person is riding in a trunk of that vehicle and an infraction for a person to ride in a trunk; AB 1942 (Nava) requiring the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to develop guidelines and training for use by law enforcement officers to address issues related to child safety when a caretaker parent or guardian is arrested; AB 2043 (Assembly Banking and Finance Committee) allowing specific business entities that are the victims of identity theft to take advantage of the debt relief protection currently available only to natural persons who are victimized by identity theft; AB 2051 (Cohn) establishing training for peace officers and services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims of domestic violence; AB 2111 (Haynes) permitting the completion of a handgun transfer where the handgun has been removed from the Department of Justice’s “not unsafe” handgun roster only because the fee required for it to be maintained on the list was not paid, as specified; AB 2129 (Spitzer) requiring a person who has been served with a protective order to relinquish any firearm within 24 hours regardless of whether the person was present in court when the order was served; AB 2135 (Vargas) allowing recovery of emergency response costs necessitated by false police reports; AB 2139 (Garcia) requiring law enforcement officers who respond to an intimate violence situation to tell the victim that they may ask the officer to request an emergency protection order; AB 2174 (Villines) providing that the court may order a person charged with a misdemeanor driving under the influence offense to be personally present at arraignment, plea, or sentencing; AB 2190 (Benoit) increasing the penalties for drivers engaging in reckless and motor vehicle speed contests; AB 2225 (Mountjoy) adding activation of the Emergency Alert System (Amber Alert System) to the definition of emergency for which an individual making a knowingly false report is guilty of a misdemeanor; AB 2253 (Hancock) allowing the impoundment and, in specific instances, forfeiture of a motor vehicle when the registered owner has multiple convictions for misdemeanor illegal dumping of waste matter; AB 2367 (La Suer) changing numerous indeterminate sentences to determinate sentences in various code sections; AB 2413 (Spitzer) creating a pilot program to allow victims of crime to be reimbursed for child care expenses incurred as a result of the crime; AB 2521 (Jones) allowing the Department of Justice to create a centralized Internet list of exempt federal firearms licensees; AB 2586 (Parra) allowing the courts to consider a treatment program, in lieu of incarceration, as a condition of probation in cases involving military veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or psychological problems stemming from their military service; AB 2612 (Plescia) creating a new alternative infraction/misdemeanor offense for the unauthorized taking of 25 copies of the current issue of a free newspaper when the purpose is to recycle the papers for cash or other payment, sell or barter the newspapers, deprive others of the opportunity to read or enjoy the newspaper, or harm a business competitor; AB 2695 (Goldberg) extending the sunset date to January 1, 2010, for the $400 fee imposed on a person convicted of domestic violence to support domestic violence centers, the Domestic Violence Restraining Order Reimbursement Fund, and the Domestic Violence Training and Education Fund; AB 2705 (Spitzer) allowing law enforcement officers to provide victims of crime with a “Victim’s Rights Card” in jurisdictions which adopt this by resolution; AB 2728 (Klehs) providing that any possession of an assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle in violation of existing law, is a public nuisance; AB 2752 (Spitzer) making it an infraction for a person under 21 years of age to drive with a measurable alcohol concentration; AB 2850 (Spitzer) strengthening Proposition 69, the DNA Fingerprint, Unsolved Crime and Innocence Protection Act of 2004; AB 2858 (Leno) ensuring that public safety officials are given meaningful notice and an opportunity to provide input in critical proceedings concerning mentally incapacitated defendants; AB 2861 (Ridley-Thomas) increasing the penalties for a person who fails to abate a lead hazard after receiving an order from an enforcement agency; AB 2869 (Leno) clarifying that the Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board is required to award compensation to a person seeking reimbursement for the funeral and burial expenses of a victim that has died as a result of a crime without respect to any felony status of the victim; AB 2886 (Frommer) creating new crimes related to identity theft for persons previously convicted and for persons who sell the personal identifying information of another person; AB 2923 (Calderon) allowing a court to suspend or delay the driving privilege of a person convicted of graffiti or vandalism; AB 2986 (Mullin) adding specific additional information to the requirements for a doctor to prescribe a controlled substance, and requiring electronic monitoring of Schedule IV drugs; AB 2945 (Spitzer) extending to specified multijurisdictional law enforcement task forces the current exemption from the open meeting act available to a multijurisdictional drug law enforcement task force for the purpose of meeting in closed session regarding an ongoing investigation; AB 3017 (Mullin) creating a non-exhaustive list of costs associated with a change in venue fro a criminal trial which must be reimbursed to the receiving county by the transferring county; and AB 3045 (Koretz) requiring proof of installation of an ignition interlock device before a person can get a restricted license if the court has ordered a device.

Vetoed legislation of note included SB 59 (Lowenthal) requiring reporting of theft or loss of handguns; SB 171 (Alquist) requiring the electronic recording of all custodial interrogations relating to homicides and all violent felony offenses; SB 308 (Simitian) allowing a county board of supervisors, upon the adoption of a resolution, to impose a fee of up to $2 to be paid at the time of recording of real estate instruments, to be placed in the Elder and Dependent Adult Financial Abuse Prevention Trust Fund; SB 768 (Simitian) enacting the Identity Information Protection Act of 2006; SB 1544 (Migden) setting up statewide standards for the identification of suspects by witnesses by requiring double blind requested lineups in most cases and prohibiting show-up identifications; SB 1745 (Kuehl) providing that it is against the public policy of the state to discriminate against a person in employment because he/she is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, as defined; AB 1147 (Leno) clarifying the definition of marijuana contained in the Uniformed Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp; AB 1832 (Bermudez) declaring it is in the best interest of the People of the State of California for courts to utilize continuous remote alcohol monitoring systems in ensuring the terms and conditions of probation or parole are met; AB 1873 (Torrico) allowing the safe surrender of a baby up to 30 days old, rather than 72 hours, under the Safely Surrendered Baby Program; AB 2075 (Cohn) specifying that provisions proscribing child abuse and crimes of domestic violence may be joined in the same accusatory pleading under separate counts; AB 2646 (Daucher) requiring the training for county coroner deputies to deal with hospice cases; and SB 2714 (Torrico) providing that handgun ammunition may not be delivered by a seller to a purchaser via a common carrier or contract carrier pursuant to a retail transaction.