State police reform bills advance, in leaner form
SACRAMENTO — Legislation to create a statewide system for stripping California police officers of their badges when they commit professional misconduct, a priority for activists since last year’s racial justice protests, appears poised to pass in the statehouse after lawmakers scaled back the bill this week.
The Assembly approved SB2 by state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena, Los Angeles County) on Friday, two days after taking amendments to raise the threshold for when officers would lose their licenses and changing the composition of an advisory board that would weigh in on those decisions. The measure must return to the Senate for final ratification before advancing to Gov. Gavin Newsom for consideration.
The latest modifications to the bill, which had already been narrowed, reflect a broader winnowing of the most ambitious proposals this session to overhaul policing practices in the state.
AB26 by Assembly Member Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, which was sent to the governor’s desk on Wednesday, originally would have dis
qualified police officers who fail to intervene when their colleagues use excessive force, but now merely establishes new standards for what departments must include in their use-offorce policies.
Another measure aimed to raise the minimum age for officers from 18 to 25, unless they earned a bachelor’s degree. But AB89, by Assembly Member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, was changed to set a minimum qualifying age of 21 and to develop a curriculum of law enforcement-related courses that prospective officers could take instead of completing a bachelor’s degree. It is currently pending in the Senate.
“It is still tough, even with the stated commitment of legislative leadership and the very clear demands of change in the public,” said Peter Bibring, an expert on policing legislation for ACLU California Action, which has lobbied in favor of numerous bills in recent years including the officer decertification and intervention measures. “There is still a fight and police associations still have extraordinary sway with many legislators.”
California is one of four states without a system to decertify officers who are found guilty of misbehavior and to prevent them from shuttling between law enforcement agencies.
Bradford introduced the bill last year, following the murder of George Floyd, but it foundered under intense opposition from law enforcement groups, and bitter disagreements over how the process should work continued this year.
Under SB2, police officers could lose their license to serve in law enforcement for “serious misconduct,” including using excessive force, committing sexual assault, displaying bias and participating in a law enforcement gang. The state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training would investigate the allegations, and a civiliancontrolled advisory board would review the findings and make a
recommendation about whether to decertify the officer.
Another whole provision making it easier to sue an officer for a wrongful death has been stripped out of the bill, while amendments made by a committee last week would allow the commission to suspend officers’ licenses, not just revoke them entirely, and require members of the advisory board to undergo training.
Among the changes adopted by the Assembly on Wednesday, twothirds of the commission would have to vote to strip an officer of his or her badge, rather than a simple majority. A requirement that two members of the advisory board be victims of excessive force or people whose family members have been killed by police was softened to a recommendation.
A spokesperson for Bradford said those
amendments were brokered by the governor’s office to address major concerns from law enforcement groups, including that the process might be biased against them. A representative for Newsom declined to comment.
Major law enforcement groups have pulled back on lobbying the Legislature against the bill, but if it becomes law, additional battles could take place as the officer standards commission crafts regulations, including a definition of serious misconduct.
Abdul Pridgen, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, said in a statement that his organization appreciates the work that went into the final version, but still has “some concerns with the undefined and broad sections” of the measure.
“Moving forward, we will work to make sure this law is implemented in a way that provides due process and effectively removes officers for serious misconduct,” he said.
Bibring, who is also a senior attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, said advocates who have pushed for a decertification process were “disappointed about some of the increased hurdles” and that communities directly affected by police violence would no longer be guaranteed a voice on the advisory board. But he said the coalition remained supportive of the proposal and would continue to engage in the regulatory phase to ensure the decertfication process is “full and robust.”
“The framework that the bill sets forth is still very strong,” he said.