June 23, 2016

California Agriculture Cargo Theft Crime Prevention Program

AB 2805 (Olsen) – Support
As Amended on March 17, 2016

Assembly Bill 2805 by Assembly Member Kristen Olsen will create the California Agriculture Cargo Theft Crime Prevention Program.  This program would provide a proactive solution to aid law enforcement, protect businesses, and deter future theft. 

This measure creates a task force charged with developing and adopting standards for detecting and tracking cargo theft.  The task force would be compromised of members from diverse law enforcement groups and businesses from the following participating counties: Butte, Colusa, Fresno, Glenn, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Merced, Sacramento, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Yolo and Yuba.

AB 2805 provides a comprehensive, cross jurisdictional approach to addressing the problem of cargo theft of agricultural commodities and addresses some of the impediments facing law enforcement by providing better coordination and cooperation between various jurisdictions.

AB 2805 passed out of the Assembly Agriculture Committee (7-0), passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee (7-0), passed off of the Assembly Floor (76-0) and is set to be heard in the Senate Public Safety Committee on June 28th.

Law Enforcement: Immigration

SB 1289 (Lara) – Oppose
As Amended on May 31, 2016

Senate Bill 1289 by Senator Ricardo Lara would prohibit local law enforcement agencies and local governments from contracting with for-profit entities to detain immigrants.

While the objective of the bill is to reduce the probability of individuals whose immigration status is in question from being held in custody, the bill does not accomplish this goal.  Instead, SB 1289 could result in individuals being held in other states like Arizona and Texas because California would be prohibited from contracting with these types of facilities that are located in the state.  CSAC opposes any legislation that would limit a county’s authority to contract with a facility that detains offenders whether they are immigrants, felons, or misdemeanants. 

SB 1289 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee (5-2), passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee (5-2), passed off of the Senate Floor (24-14) and is set to be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on June 28th.

Vehicle: Violations

SB 881 (Hertzberg) – Oppose
As Amended on May 2, 2016

Senate Bill 881 by Senator Robert Hertzberg would eliminate the courts ability to suspend a driver’s license for failure to pay on specific court ordered debt. CSAC has serious concerns with the approach of SB 881, which does not address the complexity of the current collections system, but instead takes away a tool the courts use to collect the fines and fees they are mandated by law to collect.

This measure does not address the fact that individuals will still have burdensome court ordered debt that they cannot afford to pay.  With that said, CSAC understands the importance of creating a penalty fee system that provides a reasonable process for individuals to satisfy their financial obligations ordered by the court. In light of this, CSAC is partnering with the Judicial Council for a federal grant that looks at developing a system focusing on an individual’s ability to pay and alternatives for court imposed debt.

SB 881 passed out of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee (11-0), passed out of the Senate Public Safety Committee (6-1), passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee (5-2), passed off of the Senate Floor (32-7), passed out of the Assembly Transportation Committee (11-4) and is now set to be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on June 28th.

Telecommunications: Warren 911 Emergency Assistance Act: Notification of Rural Outages

SB 1250 (McGuire) – Support
As Amended on June 20, 2016

Senate Bill 1250 by Senator Mike McGuire as amended would require telecommunications carriers to report rural 911 outages to state and local public safety agencies. The Federal Communications Commission established requirements for reporting telecommunications service disruptions and failures based on specified reporting thresholds. However, when there is a major disruption in service in rural communities, the federal reporting threshold that requires a telecommunications carrier to contact state and local public safety organizations is generally not triggered. These disruptions and outages can have disastrous effects on public safety in a rural community.

SB 1250 passed out of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee (7-0), passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee (6-1), passed off of the Senate Floor (29-4) and is set to be heard in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee on June 29th.

California Disaster Assistance Act: Inland Regional Center

SB 1385 (Leyva) – Support
As Amended on March 29, 2016

Senate Bill 1385 by Senator Connie Leyva as amended would make the December 2, 2015 San Bernardino County terrorist attack eligible for a 100 percent reimbursement of eligible costs through the California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA).

CDAA is the primary funding mechanism available for local governments to recover costs associated with disaster events, which the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) oversees. The CDAA, typically, has been used in response to natural disasters and, in most cases, the state provides 75% reimbursement for eligible costs and local government is responsible for the remaining 25%. However, under existing law, the state share can increase to 100% reimbursement for eligible costs in some cases. 

SB 1385 passed out of the Senate Governmental Organization Committee (10-0), passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee (7-0), passed off of the Senate Floor (39-0) and is now set to be heard in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee on June 30th.

Jails: Body Scanner Searches

AB 1705 – Support
As Amended on June 8, 2016

AB 1705 by Assembly Member Freddie Rodriguez as amended would authorize law enforcement to use body scanners to search a person who has been arrested and taken into custody for weapons or contraband eliminating reliance on invasive pat down or full clothing searches. The recent amendments clarify that officers avoid knowingly performing a body scanner search on a pregnant woman and requires that the officer performing the search is of the same sex as the offender.

AB 1705 passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee (5-1), passed off of the Assembly Floor (60-4) and is set to be heard in the Senate Public Safety Committee on June 28th.

Jail Industry Authority

AB 2012 (Bigelow) – Support
As Proposed to be Amended

AB 2012 by Assembly Member Frank Bigelow as amended would allow the Board of Supervisors in Los Angeles, Tuolumne, Ventura, Stanislaus, Sacramento, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Tulare and San Joaquin counties to authorize the sheriff to create a jail industry authority program. Contra Costa and Sonoma counties currently have Jail Industry Authority programs. A Jail Industry Authority program uses inmate labor to create a product or provide a service that has value for a public or private client and that compensates inmates with pay, privileges, or other benefits.

AB 2012 passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee (7-0), passed off of the Assembly Floor (77-0), passed out of the Senate Public Safety Committee (7-0) and is waiting to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Proposition 47: Sentence Reduction

AB 2765 (Weber) – Support
As Amended on May 19, 2016

Assembly Bill 2765 by Assembly Member Shirley Weber, as amended would extend the time period for individuals to petition for resentencing of specified felonies under Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act (Act) from November 4, 2017 to November 4, 2022, or at a later date upon showing of good cause. Extending the timeline for petitioning the courts for resentencing provides an opportunity for all former offenders impacted by Proposition 47 to benefit from the resentencing provision.

AB 2765 passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee (5-2), passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee (14-6), passed off of the Assembly Floor (58-19) and set to be heard in the Senate Public Safety Committee on June 28th.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems

SB 807 (Gaines) – Support
As Amended on June 21, 2016

SB 807 by Senator Ted Gaines would provide civil immunity to any emergency responder who damages a drone in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations.

The recent amendments clarify that the immunity in SB 807 is in addition to any other immunity provided to a public entity or public employee under law. This measure is a critical piece of legislation to keep rogue unmanned aircraft systems from interfering with the most effective response to time-sensitive crises.

SB 807 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee (7-0), passed off of the Senate Floor (37-0), passed out of the Assembly Business & Consumer Protection Committee (11-0) and is set to be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on June 28th.

SB 868 (Jackson) – Support
As Amended on May 31, 2016

Senate Bill 868 by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson as amended would establish a regulatory framework for unmanned aircraft technology and operations in California. The increased use of unmanned aircraft technology in recent years offers a variation of benefits, but also presents a series of challenges for state and local government regulatory authorities. The lack of clear regulations with this technology has led to multiple problems with the interference with first responders, firefighting efforts, near-collisions with aircrafts, and invasions of privacy. SB 868 takes a critical step in addressing these issues by establishing the State Remote Piloted Aircraft Act. 

SB 868 creates a comprehensive set of practical and intelligent drone regulations that provide a balance between protecting public safety and privacy, and encouraging innovation and technology.  This measure is carefully drafted to protect local and state regulating authority for remotely piloted aircrafts or unmanned aircraft systems as long as the ordinances are consistent with the State Remote Piloted Aircraft Act.

SB 868 passed out of the Senate Public Safety Committee (5-2), passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee (5-2), passed off of the Senate Floor (25-12) and failed passage in the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee (3-4).

Local Law Enforcement: Supplemental Services

SB 872 (Hall) – Support
As Amended on May 19, 2016

Senate Bill 872 by Senator Isadore Hall would allow a city council or county board of supervisors to offer a contract for law enforcement services to a private school, college or university, if that private school, college or university requests it. This measure offers private schools, colleges and universities another option that can improve the public safety of students while on their campuses.

SB 872 passed out of the Senate Public Safety Committee (7-0), passed off of the Senate Floor (38-0) and is set to be heard in the Assembly Local Government Committee on June 29th.

Construction Contracts: Indemnity

SB 885(Wolk) – Oppose
As Amended on June 16, 2016

Senate Bill 885 by Senator Lois Wolk would eliminate the ability of a public agency to contract with engineers and architects, known as design professionals, for upfront legal defense costs against claims related to a project’s design work.   This bill would reverse the 2010 compromise that created Civil Code 2782.8 which establishes an unreasonable defense liability requirement for design professionals. 

SB 885 creates an exception to long-standing and wide-reaching California indemnity law for one specific industry that happens to have an unsecured risk.  This new process will inevitably tie up public works projects and their funding in the legal system until an official judgment is made, increasing a backlog of differed maintenance and slowing investment in new infrastructure projects. CSAC encourages counties to determine how this would impact local public works projects and oppose.  

SB 885 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee (6-0), passed off of the Senate Floor (26-4) and is set to be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on June 28th.

H.E.A.T Watch Program

SB 1064 (Hancock) – Support
As Amended on May 31, 2016

Senate Bill 1064 by Senator Loni Hancock, as amended would extend the operation of Alameda County’s H.E.A.T. Watch pilot program indefinitely and expand its application to Los Angeles County. The bill declares that Alameda and Los Angeles counties, contingent upon local funding, may establish a project to divert commercially sexually exploited minors from incarceration into support services. It also permits Alameda and Los Angeles counties to plan, create, and implement the tools necessary to identify, treat, and rehabilitate commercially sexually exploited children.

SB 1064 passed out of the Senate Public Safety Committee (6-0), passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee (7-0), passed off of the Senate Floor (37-0) and is set to be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on June 28th.

False Advertising: Substantiation of Claims: County Counsel

SB 1130 (Wieckowski) – Request for Signature
As Enrolled on June 20, 2016

Senate Bill 1130 by Senator Bob Wieckowski would amend California’s False Advertising Law by adding county counsels to the list of public attorneys that can request substantiation of an advertising claim before filing a lawsuit.

Current law does not provide county counsels with the authority to ask advertisers to substantiate their advertising claims before filing a lawsuit as it does public attorneys. As a result, county counsels are not as well positioned as other public attorneys to evaluate, litigate and seek indemnity for false and misleading advertising. SB 1130 would therefore facilitate the correction of false advertising claims and assist in eliminating unnecessary lawsuits.

SB 1130 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee (5-2), passed off of the Senate Floor (24-11), passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee (7-2), passed off of the Assembly Floor (48-27) and is enrolled and awaiting the Governor’s action.

County Jail Milestone Credits

AB 1597 (Stone, M) – Support
As Enrolled June 17, 2016

AB 1597 by Assembly Member Mark Stone would provide county jails the ability to expand their existing performance milestone credit earning programs to all prisoners. This expansion would include allowing those convicted of a misdemeanor and those felons who have not yet been convicted to participate in earning milestone credits that could be applied upon conviction.  “Milestone credits” are additional credits an offender can earn for completing education programs in county jail.

AB 1597 passed out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee (5-0), passed off of the Assembly Floor (54-17), passed out of the Senate Public Safety Committee (6-1), passed off of the Senate Floor (32-7) and is enrolled and awaiting the Governor’s action.