BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2013-2014 Regular Session B
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AB 1598 (Rodriguez) 8
As Amended May 23, 2014
Hearing date: June 17, 2014
Government, Health and Safety, and Penal Codes
JRD:sl
EMERGENCY RESPONSE SERVICES:
ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation: None
Support: American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO; Association for Los Angeles
Sheriffs; Los Angeles Police Protective League;
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
Opposition:California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 79 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD FIRE, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES AGENCIES
BE REQUIRED TO ESTABLISH STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES AND TRAINING,
AS SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
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The purpose of this legislation is to require fire, law
enforcement, and emergency medical services agencies to jointly
establish standard operating procedures and coordinated training
programs for active shooter incidents.
Existing law establishes Peace Officers Standards of Training
(POST) within the Department of Justice. (Penal Code § 13500.)
Existing law authorizes POST, for the purpose of raising the
level of competence of local law enforcement officers, to adopt
rules establishing minimum standards related to physical, mental
and moral fitness and training that shall govern the recruitment
of any peace officers in California. (Penal Code § 13510(a).)
Existing law requires POST, on or before July 1, 2005, to
develop and disseminate guidelines and standardized training
recommendations for all law enforcement officers, supervisors,
and managers whose agency assigns them to perform, supervise, or
manage Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operations. The
guidelines and standardized training recommendations shall be
available for use by law enforcement agencies that conduct SWAT
operations. (Penal Code § 13514.1(a).)
Existing law requires POST to establish training standards that
include recommendations from the Emergency Response Training
Advisory Committee, involving the responsibility of first
responders to terrorism incidents. Allows every police chief
and sheriff, the Commissioner of the Highway Patrol, and other
general law enforcement agency to determine the members of his,
her, or its agency to receive the emergency response to
terrorism incidents training developed by POST. (Penal Code §
13519.12.)
Existing law requires the Curriculum Development Advisory
Committee (CDAC) to, among other things, provide advice on the
development of terrorism awareness course curricula and response
training. (Government Code § 8588.12(a).)
Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services (CalOES)
to contract with the California Fire Fighter Joint
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Apprenticeship Program to develop a fire service specific course
of instruction on the responsibilities of first responders to
terrorism incidents. (Government Code § 8588.11.)
Existing law establishes Emergency Medical Services Authority
(EMSA) which is responsible for the coordination and integration
of all state agencies concerning emergency medical services.
(Health & Safety Code § 1797.1.)
Existing law requires EMSA to establish training standards that
include the criteria for the curriculum content recommended by
CDAC, involving the responsibilities of first responders to
terrorism incidents and to address the training needs of those
identified as first responders. (Health & Safety Code §
1797.116(a).)
Existing law establishes Interdepartmental Committee on
Emergency Medical Services (ICEMS) which is required to advise
EMSA on the coordination and integration of all state activities
concerning emergency medical services. (Health & Safety Code §
1797.132.)
Existing law requires the State Fire Marshall to establish
training standards that include recommendations from the
Emergency Response Training Advisory Committee, involving the
responsibility of first responders to terrorism incidents and to
address the training needs of those identified as first
responders. (Health & Safety Code § 13159.1.)
This bill would require the CDAC to consult with POST.
This bill would require that the EMSA training standards include
criteria for coordinating between different responding entities.
This bill would require the ICEMS to consult with POST regarding
emergency medical services integration and coordination with
peace officer training.
This bill would require POST's guidelines and training standards
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to address tactical casualty care and coordination with
emergency medical services providers.
This bill would define a "terrorism incident" to include, but
not be limited to, an active shooter incident.
This bill would define, an "active shooter incident" as an
incident where an individual is actively engaged in killing or
attempting to kill people in a confined area.
This bill makes various legislative findings and declarations
regarding active shooter incidents.
This bill provides that it is the intent of the Legislature to
do the following:
Require development of collaborative protocols and
relationships between local and state first response
entities, including law enforcement agencies, fire
departments, and emergency medical services providers and
agencies, in order that those entities shall act
effectively and in concert to address active shooter
incidents across California.
Require first response entities to seek collaborative
training opportunities, including, but not limited to,
table top or simulation exercises, to assess plan
implementations, and to include other entities that may be
involved in active shooter incidents in those trainings,
such as schools, city or county personnel, and private
businesses.
Require basic and ongoing training for law enforcement
agency personnel, fire department personnel, emergency
medical services personnel, and the personnel for other
first responders include, as appropriate, training and
education on active shooter incidents, tactical casualty
care, and interagency coordination.
This bill states that it is further the intent of the
Legislature that each first response entity, in collaboration
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with other law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and
emergency medical service providers and agencies, develop
protocols for responding to active shooter incidents.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation
relating to conditions of confinement. On May 23, 2011, the
United States Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity within two
years from the date of its ruling, subject to the right of the
state to seek modifications in appropriate circumstances.
Beginning in early 2007, Senate leadership initiated a policy to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate the
prison overcrowding crisis through new or expanded felony
prosecutions. Under the resulting policy, known as "ROCA"
(which stands for "Receivership/ Overcrowding Crisis
Aggravation"), the Committee held measures that created a new
felony, expanded the scope or penalty of an existing felony, or
otherwise increased the application of a felony in a manner
which could exacerbate the prison overcrowding crisis. Under
these principles, ROCA was applied as a content-neutral,
provisional measure necessary to ensure that the Legislature did
not erode progress towards reducing prison overcrowding by
passing legislation, which would increase the prison population.
In January of 2013, just over a year after the enactment of the
historic Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, the State of
California filed court documents seeking to vacate or modify the
federal court order requiring the state to reduce its prison
population to 137.5 percent of design capacity. The State
submitted that the, ". . . population in the State's 33 prisons
has been reduced by over 24,000 inmates since October 2011 when
public safety realignment went into effect, by more than 36,000
inmates compared to the 2008 population . . . , and by nearly
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42,000 inmates since 2006 . . . ." Plaintiffs opposed the
state's motion, arguing that, "California prisons, which
currently average 150% of capacity, and reach as high as 185% of
capacity at one prison, continue to deliver health care that is
constitutionally deficient." In an order dated January 29,
2013, the federal court granted the state a six-month extension
to achieve the 137.5 % inmate population cap by December 31,
2013.
The Three-Judge Court then ordered, on April 11, 2013, the state
of California to "immediately take all steps necessary to comply
with this Court's . . . Order . . . requiring defendants to
reduce overall prison population to 137.5% design capacity by
December 31, 2013." On September 16, 2013, the State asked the
Court to extend that deadline to December 31, 2016. In
response, the Court extended the deadline first to January 27,
2014 and then February 24, 2014, and ordered the parties to
enter into a meet-and-confer process to "explore how defendants
can comply with this Court's June 20, 2013 Order, including
means and dates by which such compliance can be expedited or
accomplished and how this Court can ensure a durable solution to
the prison crowding problem."
The parties were not able to reach an agreement during the
meet-and-confer process. As a result, the Court ordered
briefing on the State's requested extension and, on February 10,
2014, issued an order extending the deadline to reduce the
in-state adult institution population to 137.5% design capacity
to February 28, 2016. The order requires the state to meet the
following interim and final population reduction benchmarks:
143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and,
137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016.
If a benchmark is missed the Compliance Officer (a position
created by the February 10, 2016 order) can order the release of
inmates to bring the State into compliance with that benchmark.
In a status report to the Court dated May 15, 2014, the state
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reported that as of May 14, 2014, 116,428 inmates were housed in
the State's 34 adult institutions, which amounts to 140.8% of
design bed capacity, and 8,650 inmates were housed in
out-of-state facilities.
The ongoing prison overcrowding litigation indicates that prison
capacity and related issues concerning conditions of confinement
remain unresolved. While real gains in reducing the prison
population have been made, even greater reductions may be
required to meet the orders of the federal court. Therefore,
the Committee's consideration of ROCA bills -bills that may
impact the prison population - will be informed by the following
questions:
Whether a measure erodes realignment and impacts the
prison population;
Whether a measure addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a bill corrects a constitutional infirmity or
legislative drafting error;
Whether a measure proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy; and,
Whether a bill addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy.
COMMENTS
1. Need for Legislation
According to the author:
In November 2013, a gunman entered Terminal 3 at Los
Angeles International Airport (LAX) and opened fire. A
TSA officer died and several others were wounded. In the
hours after the shooting, many travelers said they were
not told what was happening. Many waited for hours on
airport roadways, not knowing when they would be let back
into terminals. Streets near the airport were closed, so
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travelers who wanted to leave were forced to walk long
distances.
In response to the shooting incident, LAX created a
response team designed to assist travelers during
emergency operations. Local and federal officials have
evaluated the incident to determine whether further
improvements are needed in regards to immediate and
effective local response during an attack. For example,
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics and firefighters
will be protected by armed law enforcement teams to
rapidly enter potentially dangerous areas during active
shooting incidents to treat victims and get them en route
to hospital trauma centers. With the changes, the
department joins a growing number of fire agencies that
are borrowing battlefield tactics of military medics to
improve the odds of saving victims.
Although active shooter incidences are not a frequent
event, they do occur and California first responders need
to work together to minimize response times and to work
together as a coordinated unit so that casualties are
reduced and minimized. It is general law enforcement
policy to secure a crime scene prior to allowing
emergency medical responders on the scene. By requiring
cooperative training and planning, law enforcement and
emergency responders can more quickly secure a scene and
permit lifesaving medical care to be provided to the
injured.
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2. Active Shooter Incidents
As stated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an
active shooter is "an individual actively engaged in killing or
attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area."
(Active Shooter/Mass Casualty Incidents, Federal Bureau of
Investigation [as
of Mar. 4, 2014].) Over the course of a decade and a half, the
number of those shot and killed in active shooter incidents has
increased 150% across the country. (Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney
General, address to the Int'l. Assn. of Chiefs of Police Annual
Conf. (Oct. 21, 2013).) The FBI provides the following
additional statistics information about active shooter incidents
in the United States:
Active-shooter incidents often occur in small- and
medium-sized communities where police departments are
limited by budget constraints and small workforces.
The average active-shooter incident lasts 12 minutes.
Thirty-seven percent last less than five minutes.
Overwhelmingly, the offender is a single shooter (98
percent), primarily male (97 percent). In 40 percent of
the instances, they kill themselves.
Two percent of the shooters bring IEDs as an additional
weapon.
In 10 percent of the cases, the shooter stops and walks
away. In 20 percent of the cases, the shooter goes mobile,
moving to another location.
Forty-three percent of the time, the crime is over
before police arrive. In 57 percent of the shootings, an
officer arrives while the shooting is still underway.
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The shooter often stops as soon as he hears or sees law
enforcement, sometimes turning his anger or aggression on
law enforcement.
Patrol officers are most likely responding alone or with
a partner. When responding alone, 75 percent had to take
action.
A third of those officers who enter the incident alone
are shot by the intruder.
(Katherine W. Schweit, J.D., Addressing the Problem of the
Active Shooter (May 7, 2013) Federal Bureau of Investigation <
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-
bulletin/2013/May/active-shooter> [as of Mar. 4, 2014]
(internal citations omitted).)
3. Effect of Legislation
According to one news account, after the shooting incident at
the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) that resulted in the
death of a Transportation Security Administration officer in
November 2013, "Evacuated passengers sat on street curbs for
hours in the sun. Traffic jams and several airport roadways
that were blocked by police restricted people's ability to move.
Many camped out on lawns of hotels or waited in lobbies."
(Aguilar, LAX emergency response team will tend to passengers in
future emergencies, Southern California Public Radio (Dec. 31,
2013).) Partly in response to the November 2013 shooting, LAX
formed the Airport Response Team, the first formalized employee
team that the airport can deploy on the ground to communicate
with the public and offer care and information on what to do and
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where to go during emergencies. (Id.)
The intent of AB 1598 is to help coordinate response
efforts to active shooter incidents statewide.
Specifically, the author states,
AB 1598 was introduced to require that training
performed by P.O.S.T., the California Emergency
Services Agency (Cal EMSA) and the Office of Emergency
Services (OES) be coordinated with each other.
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