Bill seeking records of police abuse advances

A bill requiring police agencies in California to turn over records about excessive uses of force, discriminatory behavior and other patterns of official abuse survived a party-line Assembly Appropriations Committee vote Thursday.

The committee vote was likely the penultimate hurdle the police disclosure bill, Senate Bill 16, must face before it goes to a final vote on the Senate floor in early September.

The legislation expands an earlier police transparency measure, SB 1421, passed three years ago, which for the first time opened internal records in California when officers’ uses of force resulted in serious injuries.

The new proposal has been supported by a broad coalition of criminal justice reform, free speech, media groups, organized labor and grassroots organizations. Some individual cities and counties, including Oakland and Los Angeles, also support the bill.

Many law enforcement organizations, including the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the San Francisco Police Officers Association, as well as cities represented by the League of California Cities, opposed the bill, citing concerns about the administrative burden of producing such records and the dangers of disclosing of “unfounded” police abuse complaints.

SB 16 passed out of committee with 11 Democrats voting in favor and four Republicans opposed.

Committee Democrats unanimously approved the bill, but they were divided about a provision that would have lowered the threshold for mandated disclosure of police files about excessive uses of force.

The bill was amended to limit mandated record releases to police abuse complaints with “sustained findings” in official conduct reviews. Earlier versions of the bill would have required a less stringent criteria and would have disclosed a larger number of complaints about police officers’ uses of force.

The amendment makes official findings against officers or agencies key to disclosure under SB 16.

The bill, which was authored by State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, is scheduled to go to the Senate floor for a final vote by the Sept. 10 end of this legislative session.