By Shaun Rundle, Legislative & Region Affairs Representative.
Several dozen pieces of law enforcement legislation have been assigned to Assembly and Senate Public Safety Committees. Once introduced, bills must wait 30 days before first being heard in policy committee. CPOA’s Law & Legislation Committee will review these bills this week, which cover topics such as hate crimes, drugged driving, immigration enforcement, school resource officers and more. If the Law & Legislation Committee decides to take a position on the bill, I will lobby these bills and convey our position at the Capitol.
Thus far 2017 has seen a resurgence of public safety topics that failed 2015-2016 legislation covered. The bills also represent topics that CPOA had both supported and opposed last legislation session. Data and agency technology reporting, DUI testing, and felony crimes are among these hot topics.
Below is a list of bills that have been assigned to either Senate or Assembly Public Safety committees. If you have any comments on these bills, please contact Shaun Rundle at srundle@cpoa.org or 916-520-2248.
AB 2 (Obernolte R) Hate crimes: peace officers.
This bill would add the status as a peace officer to the list of actual or perceived characteristics necessary to determine whether a criminal act qualifies as a hate crime.
AB 6 (Lackey R) Driving under the influence: drug testing.
Would authorize an officer to use a preliminary oral fluid screening test that indicates the presence or concentration of a drug or controlled substance as a further investigatory tool in order to establish reasonable cause to believe the person was driving a vehicle in violation of certain prohibitions against driving under the influence of drugs.
AB 41(Chiu D) DNA evidence.
Would require law enforcement agencies to report information regarding rape kit evidence, within 120 days of the collection of the kit, to the Department of Justice through a database established by the department. The bill would require that information to include, among other things, the number of kits collected, if biological evidence samples were submitted to a DNA laboratory for analysis, and if a probative DNA profile was generated. The bill would additionally require a public DNA laboratory, or a law enforcement agency contracting with a private laboratory, to provide a reason for not testing a sample every 120 days the sample is untested, except as specified.
SB 21 (Hill D) Law enforcement agencies: surveillance: policies.
Would, beginning July 1, 2018, require each law enforcement agency, as defined, to submit to its governing body at a noticed hearing, open to the public, a proposed plan for the use of all surveillance technology and the information collected, as specified. The bill would require that the law enforcement agency submit an amendment to the surveillance plan, pursuant to the same open meeting requirements, for each new type of surveillance technology sought to be used. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
SB 54 (De León D) Law enforcement: sharing data.
Current law provides that when there is reason to believe that a person arrested for a violation of specified controlled substance provisions may not be a citizen of the United States, the arresting agency shall notify the appropriate agency of the United States having charge of deportation matters. This bill would repeal those provisions. This bill contains other related provisions and other current laws.
SB 75 (Bates R) Violent felonies.
This bill would additionally define, among other crimes, the offenses of vehicular manslaughter, human trafficking involving a minor, assault with a deadly weapon, solicitation of murder, rape under various specified circumstances, and grand theft of a firearm as violent felonies for purposes of imposing specified sentence enhancements.