Bill Text: CA SB1272 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

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

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Bill Title: Crimes: intercepting telephone communications.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-06-20 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 27, Statutes of 2022. [SB1272 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SB1272-Introduced.html

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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1272

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Introduced by Senator Becker

February 18, 2022

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An act to amend Section 632.7 of the Penal Code, relating to crimes.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1272, as introduced, Becker. Crimes: intercepting telephone communications.

Existing law prohibits intercepting or recording any telephone communication, as specified, without the consent of all parties. Existing law exempts specified communication intercepts including those in a correctional institution and those required for utility maintenance purposes. A violation of these provisions is punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony.

This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these provisions.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 Section 632.7 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

632.7.

 (a) Every person who, without the consent of all of the parties to a communication, intercepts or receives and intentionally records, or assists in the interception or reception and intentional recordation of, a communication transmitted between two cellular radio telephones, a cellular radio telephone and a landline telephone, two cordless telephones, a cordless telephone and a landline telephone, or a cordless telephone and a cellular radio telephone, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the person has been convicted previously of a violation of this section or of Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6, or 636, the person shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

(b) This section shall not apply to any of the following:

(1) Any public utility engaged in the business of providing communications services and facilities, or to the officers, employees, or agents thereof, where the acts otherwise prohibited are for the purpose of construction, maintenance, conduct, or operation of the services and facilities of the public utility.

(2) The use of any instrument, equipment, facility, or service furnished and used pursuant to the tariffs of the public utility.

(3) Any telephonic communication system used for communication exclusively within a state, county, city and county, or city correctional facility.

(c) As used in this section, each of the following terms have the following meaning:

(1) “Cellular radio telephone” means a wireless telephone authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to operate in the frequency bandwidth reserved for cellular radio telephones.

(2) “Cordless telephone” means a two-way, low power communication system consisting of two parts, a “base” unit which connects to the public switched telephone network and a handset or “remote” unit, that are connected by a radio link and authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to operate in the frequency bandwidths reserved for cordless telephones.

(3) “Communication” includes, but is not limited to, communications transmitted by voice, data, or image, including facsimile.