BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2113
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Date of Hearing: May 7, 2002
Counsel: Fredericka McGee
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Carl Washington, Chair
AB 2113 (Bogh) - As Amended: April 10, 2002
As Proposed to be Amended in Committee
SUMMARY : Makes it an alternate misdemeanor/felony for a
governmental employee to assist in the procurement of a false
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) identification document and
makes certain changes to the procedure relative to duplicate and
renewal licenses. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that a government employee who assists another person
in obtaining a driver's license or other official
identification document when the employee knows that such a
person is not entitled to the license or document is guilty of
an alternate misdemeanor/felony, punishable by up to one year
in county jail and a fine of up to $1,500 or 16 months, 2 or 3
years in state prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
2)Requires the DMV to compare the likeness of an applicant who
is required to appear for a renewal driver's license to all
photographs and information regarding that person in the DMV's
files.
3)Requires any individual whose license or identification (ID)
card is lost, destroyed or mutilated to apply in person for
his or her duplicate driver's license or ID card.
4)Requires the DMV to compare the likeness of an applicant for a
duplicate driver's license or ID card to all photographs and
information regarding that person in the DMV's files.
5)Affirms the authority of the DMV to use its existing
procedures when DMV information regarding a license applicant
is inconsistent with the likeness of the applicant.
6)Contains an urgency clause.
EXISTING LAW :
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1)Provides that any person who manufactures or sells a
fraudulent DMV driver's license is guilty of a misdemeanor,
punishable by up to a $500 fine. (Vehicle Code Section
14610.1.)
2)Provides that any person who alters a certified copy of an
official record is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by six
months in county jail; a fine up to $1,000; or both
imprisonment and fine. (Penal Code Section 115.3.)
3)Provides that a person who manufactures, sells, or transfers
documents falsely purported to be a government-issued ID card
or driver's license is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by
imprisonment in the county jail for one year and/or by a fine
of not more than $1,000 for a first-time conviction and not
more than $5,000 for a subsequent conviction. (Penal Code
Section 529.5.)
4)Provides that any person who possesses a document falsely
purported to be a government-issued ID card or driver's
license knowing that it is not a government-issued document is
guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than
$1,000 and not more than $2,500. [Penal Code Section
529.5(c).]
5)Provides that it is an alternate felony/misdemeanor for a
person to willfully obtain personal identifying information,
as defined, of another person and use another individual's
personal identifying information and obtain, or attempt to
obtain, credit, goods, or services in the name of the other
person without the consent of that person. (Penal Code
Section 530.5.)
6)Provides that any person who knowingly accesses and without
permission alters, damages, deletes, destroys or otherwise
uses any data, computer, computer system, or computer network
in order to: (a) devise or execute any scheme to defraud or
extort; or, (b) wrongfully control or obtain money, property
or data is guilty of an alternate misdemeanor/felony. A
misdemeanor violation is punishable by up to one year in
county jail; a $5,000 fine; or both. A felony violation is
punishable by 16 months, 2 or 3 years in state prison; a
$10,000 fine; or both. [Penal Code Sections 502(c)(1) and 502
(d)(1).]
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7)Provides that any person who knowingly and without permission
accesses or causes to be accessed any computer, computer
system, or computer network is punishable as follows:
a) For a first violation resulting in no injury, an
infraction with a fine not to exceed $1,000;
b) For any violation resulting in a victim expense not
greater than $5,000, or for a second or subsequent
violation, a misdemeanor, punishable up to one year on
county jail, a $5,000 fine, or both; and,
c) For any violation resulting in a victim expense greater
than $5,000, an alternate misdemeanor/felony. A
misdemeanor violation is punishable up to one year in
county jail; by a $5,000 fine; or both. A felony violation
is punishable by 16 months, 2 or 3 years in state prison; a
$10,000 fine; or both. [Penal Code Sections 502(c)(7),
502(d)(3)(A)-(C).]
1)Provides an alternate felony/misdemeanor for every person who
commits an assault on the president, vice-president, governor,
judicial officer, secretary or director of any state or
federal executive agency or department, any person holding
elective office, sheriff, prosecutor, public defender, peace
officer or the immediate family members of any such person.
Provides that any person who attempts to commit murder against
any of the above persons shall serve 15 years to life in state
prison. (Penal Code Section 217.1.)
2)Provides that any person who uses a weapon of mass destruction
(WMD) in a form that may cause widespread damage, disabling
illness, or injury in human beings shall be punished by life
imprisonment. [Penal Code Section 11418(b)(1).]
3)Provides that any person who uses a WMD in a form that may
cause widespread damage to and disruption of the water or food
supply shall be punished by 4, 8, or 12 years in state prison.
[Penal Code Section 11418(b)(2).]
4)Provides that any person who carries or places an explosive or
destructive device on any vessel, aircraft, car, vehicle that
transports passengers for hire, or in any baggage checked with
a common carrier, is guilty of a felony, punishable by two,
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four, or six years in state prison. (Penal Code Section
12303.1.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "[t]here needs
to be stiffer penalties for governmental employees who assist
others in obtaining fraudulent documents which could help a
person commit an act of terrorism. This bill provides those
penalties. Current law does not provide adequate safeguards
to ensure a person requesting duplicate documents is, in fact,
the person to whom those documents belong. Comparing
photographs is a necessary action in providing protection and
reducing fraud."
2)Background : In the early 1990's, the number of identity theft
complaints to government, business and consumer groups greatly
increased. In 1997, California was one of the first states to
create the crime of identity theft. Prior to that time, law
enforcement agencies had considered the creditor the victim
and not the person whose identity had been stolen. Following
the September 11th terrorist attacks, there an effort was
initiated to ensure that the DMV has stringent guidelines for
issuing renewal or duplicate permits
3)DMV Fraud Program : On October 16, 2000, in response to news
stories of allegations of fraud in obtaining drivers'
licenses, the DMV Director conducted a thorough review of all
security procedures to identify measures intended to eliminate
driver license/ID card fraud. DMV began a zero tolerance
policy for this type of crime. Under this policy, DMV
implemented the following steps:
a) Every customer requesting a duplicate license or ID card
will be required to provide a specified photograph ID or
his or her prior photograph will be retrieved by a DMV
technician for comparison purposes (this bill codifies
these new procedures);
b) Records of those targeted by identity thieves will be
flagged and protected, and those customers will receive
immediate notification from DMV; and,
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c) Effective October 14, 2000, all new social security
numbers presented to the DMV will be verified through a
link with the Social Security Administration (SSA). In
addition, all existing licenses in the DMV database will be
verified with the SSA. No new or duplicate license will be
issued without verification of a valid social security
number. (DMV identifies an average of 3,850 Social
Security numbers each day that do not match the names of
the applicants.)
Anti-fraud interdictions at field offices have resulted in 861
arrests over a seven-month period last year. During the
interdictions, DMV technicians refer suspicious documents to a
DMV investigator who inspects the documents, interviews the
presenter of the documents, and may make arrests. According
to the Los Angeles Times , an Orange County civil rights group
accused the DMV of unfairly targeting Latino immigrants in the
investigation of identity theft. (Yi, Daniel and Reza, H.G.,
"Latino Group Faults DMV on Fraud Program", Los Angeles Times ,
April 6, 2001.)
1)Conspiracy Charges : Currently, the crime of identity theft
can be prosecuted as either a misdemeanor or felony. By
creating an alternate misdemeanor/felony, this bill increases
the punishment for DMV employees. This bill proposes that a
conspiracy involving DMV documents be punishable as an
alternate misdemeanor/felony against a defendant who is not a
DMV employee, officer or consultant. The penalty would be the
same for similar conduct committed by a DMV employee, officer,
or consultant.
Pursuant to Penal Code Section 182, a defendant who conspires to
commit a similar act would be guilty of either a misdemeanor
or felony depending upon how the underlying offense is
charged. If the identity theft were charged as a misdemeanor,
the DMV employee/defendant would also be charged with a
misdemeanor crime of conspiracy. As a result, the penalty
would be the same whether it is charged under the general
provision of conspiracy or the more specific provision
relative to identity theft that is proposed in this bill.
Generally, activities considered to be terrorist acts are
charged as felonies under several different provision in the
Penal Code. If a public employee issued a fraudulent DMV
identification document in furtherance of conspiring to commit
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a terrorist act, he or she could be charged with felony
conspiracy.
2)Proposed Amendments : The author plans to amend this bill in
Committee to change the proposed penalty to an alternate
misdemeanor/felony and remove the 10-year enhancement where
the fraudulent drivers' license may assist a person in a
terrorist activity. (See attached mock up.)
3)Related Legislation : AB 1155 (Dutra) is currently pending in
the Senate Committee on Public Safety, makes it an alternate
felony/misdemeanor for a DMV employee to knowingly assist
another person in obtaining a drivers' license, ID card,
vehicle registration or other official DMV document that will
be used to commit identity theft.
AB 1754 (Leslie), currently pending in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, creates a new alternate
misdemeanor/felony, with a fine of up to $50,000, for a
non-DMV employee, officer or consultant to conspire to obtain
DMV documents for the purpose of committing identity theft.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, Inc.
California Police Chiefs Association
Los Angeles County Probation Officers Union
Riverside County Sheriff Larry D. Smith
Riverside Sheriff's Association
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
Opposition
Friends Committee on Legislation
Analysis Prepared by : Fredericka McGee / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744