Bill Text: CA SB1434 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 1434 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Location information: warrants.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2012-09-30 - In Senate. Consideration of Governor's veto pending. [SB1434 Detail]

Download: California-2011-SB1434-Amended.html

BILL NUMBER: SB 1434	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 9, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Leno

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to  amend Section 496 of   add Chapter
3.6 (commencing with Section 1546) to Title 12 of Part 2 of 
the Penal Code, relating to  property crime  
location information  .



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1434, as amended, Leno.  Receiving stolen property.
  Location information: warrants.  
   Existing law authorizes a court or magistrate to issue a warrant
for the search of a place and the seizure of property or things
identified in the warrant where there is probable cause to believe
that specified grounds exist. Existing law also provides for a
warrant procedure for the acquisition of stored communications in the
possession of a provider of electronic communication service or a
remote computing service.  
   This bill would prohibit a government entity, as defined, from
obtaining the location information of an electronic device without a
warrant issued by a duly authorized magistrate unless certain
exceptions apply, including in an emergency or when requested by the
owner of the device. The bill would prohibit the use of information
obtained in violation of these provisions from being used in a civil
or administrative hearing. The bill would require a provider to
prepare and publish a report containing specified information
relating to requests for location information on the Internet, in a
searchable format, on or before March 1 of each year.  
   Under existing law, a person who buys or receives property that
has been stolen or that has been obtained in a manner constituting
theft or extortion, knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained,
or who conceals, sells, withholds, or aids in concealing, selling,
or withholding property from the owner, knowing the property to be so
stolen or obtained, is guilty of either a misdemeanor or a felony,
as prescribed. Under existing law, a swap meet vendor, as defined, or
a person whose principal business is dealing in, or collecting,
merchandise or personal property, and every agent, employee, or
representative of that person, who buys or receives property of a
value in excess of $950 that has been stolen or obtained in a manner
constituting theft or extortion, under circumstances that should
cause the person, agent, employee, or representative to make
reasonable inquiry to ascertain that the person from whom the
property was bought or received had the legal right to sell or
deliver it, without making a reasonable inquiry is guilty of a
misdemeanor or a felony, as specified. If the value of the property
is less than $950, the crime is a misdemeanor. Existing law
authorizes treble damages, as well as costs of suit and reasonable
attorney's fees, for anyone harmed by these crimes. 

   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.    Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section
1546) is added to Title 12 of Part 2 of the   Penal Code
  , to read:  
      CHAPTER 3.6.  LOCATION PRIVACY


   1546.  For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall apply:
   (a) "Electronic communication service" means a service that
provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or
electronic communications.
   (b) "Electronic device" means a device that enables access to, or
use of, an electronic communication service, remote computing
service, or location information service.
   (c) "Government entity" means a state or local agency, including,
but not limited to, a law enforcement entity or any other
investigative entity, agency, department, division, bureau, board, or
commission, or an individual acting or purporting to act for or on
behalf of a state or local agency.
   (d) "Location information" means information, concerning the
location of an electronic device that, in whole or in part, is
generated, derived from, or obtained by the operation of an
electronic device.
   (e) "Location information service" means the provision of a global
positioning service or other mapping, locational, or directional
information service.
   (f) "Owner" means the person or entity recognized by the law as
having the ultimate control over, or having the legal title, claim,
or right to, an electronic device.
   (g) "Provider" means a commercial entity offering an electronic
communication service, remote computing service, or location
information service.
   (h) "Remote computing service" means the provision of computer
storage or processing services by means of an electronic
communications system.
   (i) "User" means a person or entity that uses an electronic
device.
   1546.1.  (a) No government entity shall obtain the location
information of an electronic device without a warrant issued by a
duly authorized magistrate using procedures established pursuant to
Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1523).
   (b) No warrant entered under this section shall authorize
obtaining location information of an electronic device for a period
longer than is necessary to achieve the objective of the
authorization, nor in any event longer than 30 days, commencing on
the day of the initial obtaining of location information, or 10 days
after the issuance of the warrant, whichever comes first.
   (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a government entity may
obtain location information in any of the following circumstances:
   (1) In order to respond to the user's call for emergency services.

   (2) With the informed, affirmative consent of the owner or user of
the electronic device concerned.
   (3) Pursuant to a request by a government entity that asserts that
the government entity reasonably believes that an emergency
involving immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to the
owner or user requires the immediate access to location information
and there is insufficient time to obtain a warrant. The government
entity seeking the location information pursuant to this paragraph
shall file with the appropriate court a written statement setting
forth the facts giving rise to the emergency no later than 48 hours
after seeking disclosure.
   1546.2.  (a) Unless disclosure of information pertaining to a
particular request or set of requests is specifically prohibited by
law, a provider shall prepare a report including all of the following
information, to the extent it can be reasonably determined:
   (1) The number of federal and state warrants for location
information and the number of requests for location information made
with the informed consent of the user as described in paragraph (2)
of subdivision (c) of Section 1546.1 or emergency requests received
by the provider pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of
Section 1546.1 received by the provider from January 1 to December
31, inclusive, of the previous year.
   (2) The total number of disclosures made by the provider pursuant
to Section 1546.1, from January 1 to December 31, inclusive, of the
previous year.
   (3) For each category of demand or disclosure, the provider shall
include all of the following information:
   (A) The number of times location information has been disclosed by
the provider.
   (B) The number of times no location information has been disclosed
by the provider.
   (C) The number of times the provider contests the demand.
   (D) The number of users whose location information was disclosed
by the provider.
   (b) A report containing all the information required by this
section shall be made publicly available on the Internet, in a
searchable format, on or before March 1 of each year.
   1546.3.  Except as proof of a violation of this section, no
evidence obtained in violation of this section shall be admissible in
a civil or administrative proceeding.  
  SECTION 1.   Section 496 of the Penal Code is
amended to read:
   496.  (a) (1) A person who buys or receives property that has been
stolen or that has been obtained in a manner constituting theft or
extortion, knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained, or who
conceals, sells, withholds, or aids in concealing, selling, or
withholding property from the owner, knowing the property to be so
stolen or obtained, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county
jail for not more than one year, or imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170. However, if the district attorney or
the grand jury determines that this action would be in the interests
of justice, the district attorney or the grand jury, as the case may
be, may, if the value of the property does not exceed nine hundred
fifty dollars ($950), specify in the accusatory pleading that the
offense shall be a misdemeanor, punishable only by imprisonment in a
county jail not exceeding one year.
   (2) A principal in the actual theft of the property may be
convicted pursuant to this section. However, no person may be
convicted both pursuant to this section and of the theft of the same
property.
   (b) (1) A swap meet vendor, as defined in Section 21661 of the
Business and Professions Code, and a person whose principal business
is dealing in, or collecting, merchandise or personal property, and
every agent, employee, or representative of that person, who buys or
receives property of a value in excess of nine hundred fifty dollars
($950) that has been stolen or obtained in a manner constituting
theft or extortion, under circumstances that should cause the person,
agent, employee, or representative to make reasonable inquiry to
ascertain that the person from whom the property was bought or
received had the legal right to sell or deliver it, without making a
reasonable inquiry, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county
jail for not more than one year, or imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170.
   (2) A swap meet vendor, as defined in Section 21661 of the
Business and Professions Code, and a person whose principal business
is dealing in, or collecting, merchandise or personal property, and
an agent, employee, or representative of that person, who buys or
receives any property of a value of nine hundred fifty dollars ($950)
or less that has been stolen or obtained in a manner constituting
theft or extortion, under circumstances that should cause the person,
agent, employee, or representative to make reasonable inquiry to
ascertain that the person from whom the property was bought or
received had the legal right to sell or deliver it, without making a
reasonable inquiry, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
   (c) A person who has been injured by a violation of subdivision
(a) or (b) may bring an action for three times the amount of actual
damages, if any, sustained by the plaintiff, costs of suit, and
reasonable attorney's fees.
   (d) Notwithstanding Section 664, an attempt to commit an act
prohibited by this section, except an offense specified in the
accusatory pleading as a misdemeanor, is punishable by imprisonment
in a county jail for not more than one year, or by imprisonment
pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.