Bill Text: CA SB233 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 233 (Prior Session Legislation)

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

Bill Title: Immunity from arrest.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-07-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 141, Statutes of 2019. [SB233 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SB233-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate April 23, 2019

Amended IN Senate April 11, 2019

Amended IN Senate March 11, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 233

Introduced by Senator Wiener
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Quirk)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Carrillo and Friedman)

February 07, 2019

An act to repeal and add Section 782.1 of the Evidence Code, and to add Section 647.3 to the Penal Code, relating to crime.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 233, as amended, Wiener. Immunity from arrest.

Existing law criminalizes various aspects of sex work, including soliciting anyone to engage in, or engaging in, lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place, loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, or maintaining a public nuisance. Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act (CUCSA), also criminalizes various offenses relating to the possession, transportation, and sale of specified controlled substances.

This bill would prohibit the arrest of a person for a misdemeanor violation of the CUCSA or specified sex work crimes, if that person is reporting a crime of sexual assault, human trafficking, stalking, robbery, assault, kidnapping, threats, blackmail, extortion, burglary, or another violent crime. The bill would also state that possession of condoms in any amount does not provide a basis for probable cause for arrest for specified sex work crimes.

Existing law specifies a procedure by which condoms may be introduced as evidence in a prosecution for various crimes, including soliciting or engaging in lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place, soliciting or engaging in acts of prostitution, loitering in or about a toilet open to the public for the purpose of engaging in or soliciting a lewd, lascivious, or unlawful act, or loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution.

This bill, instead, would prohibit introducing the possession of a condom as evidence in the prosecution of a violation of soliciting or engaging in lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place if the offense is related to prostitution, soliciting or engaging in acts of prostitution, loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, or for maintaining a public nuisance.

The California Constitution includes the Right to Truth-In-Evidence, which requires a ²/₃ vote of the Legislature to pass a bill that would exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified.

Because this bill would exclude from a criminal action evidence about a person’s liability for an act of prostitution that is otherwise admissible, it requires a ²/₃ vote of the Legislature.

Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 782.1 of the Evidence Code is repealed.

SEC. 2.

Section 782.1 is added to the Evidence Code, to read:

782.1.

The possession of a condom is not admissible as evidence in the prosecution of a violation of subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 647 of the Penal Code if the offense is related to prostitution, or Section 372 or 653.22 of the Penal Code.

SEC. 3.

Section 647.3 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

647.3.

(a) A person who is reporting a crime of sexual assault, human trafficking, stalking, robbery, assault, kidnapping, threats, blackmail, extortion, burglary, or another violent crime shall not be arrested for either of the following:

(1) A misdemeanor violation of the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 11000) of the Health and Safety Code).

(2) A violation of subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 647 if the offense is related to an act of prostitution, or of Section 372 or 653.22.

(b) Possession of condoms in any amount shall not provide a basis for probable cause for arrest for a violation of subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 647 if the offense is related to an act of prostitution, or of Section 372 or 653.22.