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AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 24, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

ASSEMBLY BILLNo. 1247

CHAPTER 206

Statutes of 2021

[ Approved by Governor September 22, 2021. Filed with Secretary of State September 22, 2021. ]

Introduced by Assembly Member Chau

February 19, 2021

An act to add Section 801.7 to the Penal Code, relating to criminal procedure.

Vote: majority Appropriation: no Fiscal committee: no Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law establishes various crimes relating to computer services and systems, including, among others, knowingly and without permission accessing or causing to be accessed any computer, computer system, or computer network. Existing law requires that prosecution for a felony violation of these crimes be commenced within 3 years after the commission of the offense.

This bill would instead require the prosecution for a felony violation of those computer-related crimes to be commenced within 3 years after discovery of the commission of the offense, or within 3 years after the offense could have reasonably been discovered, and would require the filing of a criminal complaint within 6 years of the commission of the offense. The bill would apply that 3-year statute of limitations to crimes that are committed on or after January 1, 2022, and to crimes for which the statute of limitations that was in effect prior to January 1, 2022, has not run as of January 1, 2022.

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

SECTION 1.

Section 801.7 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

801.7.

(a) Notwithstanding Section 801 or any other law, prosecution for a felony offense described in Section 502 shall be commenced within three years after discovery of the commission of the offense, or within three years after the offense could have reasonably been discovered, provided, however, that in any case a complaint shall not be filed more than six years after the commission of the offense.

(b) This section applies to crimes that are committed on or after January 1, 2022, and to crimes for which the statute of limitations that was in effect prior to January 1, 2022, has not elapsed as of January 1, 2022.