California Bill Requires Warrant for Location Information

A bill that requires law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant for location information has been passed by the California legislature.  It is unclear if Governor Jerry Brown will sign the bill, SB 1434.

 The bill bans searches of location information collected on cell phones and other devices without a warrant.  It also limits the time that the warrant is valid to  no “longer than is necessary to achieve the objective” of the warrant and, in no case, longer than 30 days.

Backers of the bill sought to include a requirement that cell phone providers report how often and why they were turning over location information, but the reporting provision was taken out of the bill.

The bill defines location information as information “concerning the location of an electronic device, including both the current location and any prior location of the device, that, in whole or in part, is generated, derived from, or obtained by the operation of an electronic device.”

The bill exempts from the warrant requirement if the purpose of obtaining location information is to respond to the user’s call for emergency services, if the governmental entity has obtained “informed, affirmative consent” of the device owner or legal guardian, or if there is an emergency involving “immediate danger of death or serious physical injury.”