Brown Signs Bill Protecting Reporters' Phone Logs
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill requiring state officials to give journalists five days' notice before they issue subpoenas for telephone records.
Brown signed SB558 on Thursday that was drafted by Democratic state Sen. Ted Lieu of Torrance. The legislation was introduced after it was disclosed that the U.S. Department of Justice had retrieved telephone logs of Associated Press journalists.
California has a strong shield law for journalists, which already requires that law enforcement agencies give five days' notice to news organizations for subpoenas served on the newsgathering organization or the reporter.
But Lieu says the Justice Department probe shows that investigators can bypass that law by secretly subpoenaing telephone or Internet companies.
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