Bill Text: CA AB459 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Peace officers: Attorney General: reports.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-08-15 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB459 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB459-Amended.html
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Amended
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Senate
July 03, 2024 |
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Amended
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Senate
June 10, 2024 |
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Senate
September 13, 2023 |
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Amended
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Assembly
April 13, 2023 |
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Amended
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March 23, 2023 |
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Amended
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March 16, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 459
| Introduced by Assembly Member Kalra (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Haney) |
February 06, 2023 |
An act to amend Section 12525.5 of the Government Code, relating to law enforcement.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 459, as amended, Kalra.
Peace officers: Attorney General: reports.
Existing law requires each state and local agency that employs peace officers to annually report to the Attorney General data on all stops conducted by the agency’s peace officers, and requires that data to include specified information, including the time, date, and location of the stop, and the reason given to the person stopped at the time of the stop. Existing law also makes all stop data and reports public records.
This bill would revise these provisions to require each state and local agency that employs peace officers to report stop data to the Attorney General, as described above, by March 1, as specified. The bill would require those agencies to report semiannually reporting if reporting issues or unresolved errors are identified in their submissions,
as specified. By imposing new duties on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would specify that any stop data reported by a state or local agency in an open text or narrative field only be made available from the reporting agency and not from the Attorney General. The bill would also require the Attorney General to provide all state and local agency stop data to public or private entities, as specified, for the study of racial and identity profiling by law enforcement. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill
would make legislative findings to that effect.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The data reported under the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 (Chapter 466 of the Statutes of 2015) provides important information about the state of policing in California.
(b) Despite existing prohibitions that law enforcement agencies shall not include personally identifiable information of individuals stopped or unique identifying information of the officers in their reports, this information continues to be included in open text and narrative fields.
(c) Over 4,500,000 reports were submitted to the Department of Justice in 2022. Unlike the local law enforcement agencies, the Department of Justice is uniquely situated in that it is the repository of all reports statewide, resulting in it maintaining millions of reports. Over the next decade, the Department of Justice is anticipated to receive tens of millions of reports.
(d) The Department of Justice lacks resources to review and redact the millions of reports in its possession to ensure that stopped individuals’ personally identifiable information or officers’ unique identifying information is not released to the public.
(e) For similar types of sensitive information, the Legislature has balanced the public’s right to know with the risk of disclosure of personally
identifiable information by limiting the disclosure of such information from the Department of Justice to the public, while authorizing research, educational, and similar institutions to receive sensitive information to conduct research in support of public policy.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that the full reports, including open text and narrative fields, remain publicly available from the reporting agencies, which are already responsible for reviewing and redacting any personally identifiable information or unique identifying information hat that may have been included in open text and narrative fields before the reports are transmitted to the
Department of Justice and released to the public.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that portions of the reports, specifically, open text and narrative fields that potentially contain personally identifiable information, be available to the public solely from the reporting agencies and not from the Department of Justice.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that portions of reports, specifically, open text and narrative fields that potentially contain personally identifiable information, be treated like criminal history and similarly sensitive information. It is the intent of the Legislature that such portions maintained by the Department of Justice be made available to stakeholders and researchers, in order for stakeholders and researchers to make recommendations and
develop best practices for discussion and implementation of reforms that will improve public safety in California.
SEC. 2.
Section 12525.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:12525.5.
(a) (1) Each state and local agency that employs peace officers shall preserve and report to the Attorney General data on all stops conducted by that agency’s peace officers. Each agency’s final stop reports shall be submitted by March 1 for the preceding calendar year.(2) If reporting issues or unresolved errors are identified in an agency’s submission to the Attorney General, the agency shall submit semiannually for the following calendar year. The Attorney General shall provide notice to the agency by October 1, with the semiannual requirement taking effect as of January 1.
(3) Semiannual agency
reports required pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be submitted by September 1 and March 1 of each year. The final reports on all stops conducted from January 1 to June 30 shall be submitted by September 1, and the final reports on all stops conducted from July 1 to December 31 shall be submitted by March 1.
(b) The reporting shall include, at a minimum, the following information for each pedestrian, traffic, or any other type of stop:
(1) The time, date, and location of the stop.
(2) The reason for the stop.
(3) The reason given to the person stopped at the time of the stop.
(4) The result of the
stop, such as, no action, warning, citation, property seizure, or arrest.
(5) If a warning or citation was issued, the warning provided or violation cited.
(6) If an arrest was made, the offense charged.
(7) The perceived race or ethnicity, gender, and approximate age of the person stopped, provided that the identification of these characteristics shall be based on the observation and perception of the peace officer making the stop, and the information shall not be requested from the person stopped. For motor vehicle stops, this paragraph only applies to the driver, unless any actions specified under paragraph (8) apply in relation to a passenger, in which case the characteristics specified in this paragraph shall also be
reported for that passenger.
(8) Actions taken by the peace officer during the stop, including, but not limited to, the following:
(A) Whether the peace officer asked for consent to search the person, and, if so, whether consent was provided.
(B) Whether the peace officer searched the person or any property, and, if so, the basis for the search and the type of contraband or evidence discovered, if any.
(C) Whether the peace officer seized any property and, if so, the type of property that was seized and the basis for seizing the property.
(c) If more than one peace officer performs a stop, only one officer
is required to collect and report to the officer’s agency the information specified under subdivision (b).
(d) (1) State and local law enforcement agencies shall not report the name, address, social security number, or other unique personal identifying information of persons stopped, searched, or subjected to a property seizure, for purposes of this section. Law enforcement agencies are solely responsible for ensuring that personally identifiable information of the individual stopped or any other information that is exempt from disclosure pursuant to this section is not transmitted to the Attorney General in an open text or narrative field.
(2) Notwithstanding any other law, the data reported shall be available to the public, except for the badge number or
other unique identifying information of the peace officer involved. Any data reported in an open text or narrative field shall only be made available by the reporting agency and not from the Attorney General. However, the
(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2), the Attorney General shall provide all data reported, including open text or narrative fields, to public or private entities for educational, advocacy, or research purposes relating to studying racial and identity profiling by law enforcement. The
(A) The Attorney General shall not provide data to a public or private entity under this paragraph unless the entity agrees to all of the following:
(i) The entity shall not disclose any personally identifying information of individuals stopped or unique identifying information of the peace officer involved and shall keep that information confidential.
(ii) The entity may only use the data for the purposes for which it was shared.
(iii) The entity shall ensure that any publication of the data is done in a manner to prevent the release of personally identifying information and unique identifying information.
(B) The Attorney General shall issue regulations governing how the data is provided to the
public and private entities.
(3)
(4) Notwithstanding any other law, the Department of Justice shall not be liable for the disclosure by another entity of personally
identifiable information of the individual stopped, unique identifying information of the peace officer, or any other information exempt from disclosure pursuant to this section.
(e) Not later than January 1, 2018, the Attorney General, in consultation with stakeholders, including the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA) established pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (j) of Section 13519.4 of the Penal Code, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and community, professional, academic, research, and civil and human rights organizations, shall issue regulations for the collection and reporting of data required under subdivision (b). The regulations shall specify all data to be reported, and provide standards, definitions, and technical specifications to ensure uniform reporting practices
across all reporting agencies. To the best extent possible, the regulations should be compatible with any similar federal data collection or reporting program.
(f) Except for the restrictions specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d), all data and reports made pursuant to this section are public records within the meaning of Section 7920.530 and are open to public inspection pursuant to Sections 7922.500 to 7922.545, inclusive, 7923.000, and 7923.005.
(g) (1) For purposes of this section, “peace officer,” as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, is limited to members of the California Highway Patrol, a city or county law enforcement agency, and California state or university educational institutions. “Peace
officer,” as used in this section, does not include probation officers and officers in a custodial setting.
(2) For purposes of this section, “stop” means any detention by a peace officer of a person, or any peace officer interaction with a person in which the peace officer conducts a search, including a consensual search, of the person’s body or property in the person’s possession or control.
(h) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2024.
SEC. 3.
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 2 of this act, which amends Section 12525.5 of the Government Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:In order to ensure that stopped individuals’ personally identifiable information and officers’ unique identifying information is not
released to the public, it is necessary to limit access to open text and narrative field stop data reported by state and local agencies to the Attorney General.
