BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1390|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1390
Author: Blumenfield (D)
Amended: 7/23/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 7/8/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Maldonado,
Padilla, Simitian, Wyland
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 7/14/09
AYES: Leno, Benoit, Cedillo, Hancock, Huff, Steinberg,
Wright
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-1, 6/2/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : School safety: school security and police
departments
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires a school security department
, or school police department, as specified, to notify
within 24 hours, in electronic format, the appropriate
county or city law enforcement authorities having
jurisdiction where the incident occurred, of any act
committed by a pupil or nonpupil on a schoolsite in which
the student allegedly possessed, sold or otherwise
furnished a firearm, where this act is verified by an
CONTINUED
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employee of the school district and is not otherwise
authorized, as specified, or possessed an explosive.
ANALYSIS : Current law authorizes any school district to:
(1) establish a security department under the supervision
of a chief of security or a police department under the
supervision of a chief of police. Current law further
delineates minimum qualifications and conditions of
employment, such training approved by the Commission on
Peace Officer Standards and Training relating directly to
the role of school police reserve officers; (2) employ
personnel to ensure the safety of school district personnel
and pupils and the security of the real and personal
property of the school district; and (3) assign a school
police reserve officer who is deputized to a schoolsite to
supplement the duties of school police personnel. Current
law states legislative intent that a school district police
or security department is supplementary to city and county
law enforcement agencies and is not vested with general
police powers.
Current law also:
1. Requires the principal of a school or the principal's
designee to notify the appropriate law enforcement
authorities of the county or city in which the school is
situated of any acts a pupil may have violated, as
follows: (a) assault with a deadly weapon likely to
result in great bodily injury. Notification is to occur
prior to the suspension or expulsion; (b) possession,
use, selling of a controlled substance, within one
school day after suspension or expulsion; (c) offering,
arranging or negotiating to sell a controlled substance,
alcohol or any intoxicant, within one school day after
suspension or expulsion; and (d) acts that may involve
possession or sale of a controlled substance, a
violation of the Gun Free Zone (within 1,000 of a
school), or possession of a dirk, dagger, ice pick,
knife with a blade over 2 inches, folding knife, razor,
taser, stun gun, BB or pellet gun, or spot marker gun.
2. Imposes a maximum fine of $500 for willful failure to
report any violations described above, to be paid by the
principal or principal's designee who is responsible for
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the failure.
3. Provides that a principal, the principal's designee, or
any other person reporting a known or suspected act
described above is not civilly or criminally liable as a
result of making the report unless it can be proven that
a false report was made deliberately.
4. Requires the principal or the principal's designee
reporting a criminal act committed by a school age
individual with exceptional needs to ensure that copies
of the special education and disciplinary records of the
pupil are transmitted (to the extent permitted by the
federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) for
consideration by the appropriate authorities to whom he
or she reports the criminal activity.
This bill requires a school security department, or school
police department, as specified, to notify within 24 hours,
in electronic format, the appropriate county or city law
enforcement authorities having jurisdiction where the
incident occurred, of any act committed by a pupil or
nonpupil on a schoolsite in which the person allegedly
possessed, sold or otherwise furnished a firearm, where
this act is verified by an employee of the school district
and is not otherwise authorized, as specified, or possessed
an explosive.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/25/09)
Los Angeles Attorney's Office (source)
California district Attorney's Association
Crime Victims United of California
Los Angeles School Police Department
Los Angeles Unified School District
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/25/09)
California Public Defenders Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
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prompt, accurate and transparent reporting of
school-related crimes is a critical first step toward the
development of effective early warning, prevention and
intervention strategies for at-risk youth. This is
particularly important in large urban settings where school
police and city police departments share some concurrent
responsibilities and one or both may be involved in the
investigation of a school incident depending on the nature
of the crime. To effectively address school crime,
districts must first acknowledge it exists (transparency)
and principals and school police must cross report all
serious crime to local law enforcement at the earliest
possible stage to assist in early intervention strategies.
The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office states, "Prompt,
accurate and transparent reporting of school related crimes
is a critical first step toward the development of
effective early warning, prevention and intervention
strategies for at-risk youth. This is particularly
important in large urban settings where school police and
city police departments share some concurrent
responsibilities and one or both may be involved in the
investigation of a school incident depending on the nature
of the crime. To effectively address school crime,
districts must first acknowledge it exists (transparency)
and principals and school police must cross report all
serious crime to local law enforcement at the earliest
possible stage to assist in early intervention strategies.
"In large jurisdictions, where district security/police
respond to calls for service on campus and have
investigative and arrest powers, principals often mistake
school police as the appropriate law enforcement authority
within the meaning of Education Code 48902. Frequently,
this is not the case and local law enforcement agencies are
left out of the loop.
"Clarifying and strengthening mandates for school police to
report serious crime to local law enforcement agencies
allows for immediate analysis of crime data by both the
school police and county or municipal law enforcement
agencies. This would lead to immediate identification of
patterns and behaviors and identity opportunities to work
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collaboratively on effective prevention and intervention
strategies."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Public Defenders
Association states, "Requiring a report when a firearm is
either seized or surrendered might indeed discourage
students from surrendering or reporting the presence of a
firearm at school. Schools already have the discretion, in
appropriate situations, to contact law enforcement. In
fact, research shows that the drastic limitation on the
school officials' discretion to respond to incidents
-'zero-tolerance policies' -have done damage to youth and
contributed to 'the school to prison pipeline.'"
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan,
Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Nielsen
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Block, Duvall
DLW:do 8/25/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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