Amended in Assembly June 20, 2013

Amended in Assembly June 11, 2013

Amended in Senate May 14, 2013

Amended in Senate April 29, 2013

Amended in Senate April 16, 2013

Amended in Senate April 1, 2013

Senate BillNo. 458


Introduced by Senator Wright

(Coauthor: Senator Yee)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bradford, Brown, Hall, Jones-Sawyer, V. Manuel Pérez, Rendon, and Ting)

February 21, 2013


An act to add Section 186.34 to the Penal Code, relating to gangs.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 458, as amended, Wright. Gangs: statewide database.

Existing law, the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act, makes it unlawful to engage in criminal gang activity, including actively participating in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and willfully promoting, furthering, or assisting in any felonious criminal conduct by members of the gang.

This bill would require, prior to a local law enforcement agency designating, or submitting a document to the Attorney General’s office for the purpose of designating, a person as a gang member, associate, or affiliate in a shared gang database, as defined, the local law enforcement agency to provide written notice to the person and his or her parent or guardian of the designation and the basis for the designation if the person is under 18 years of age. The bill would authorize the person or his or her parent or guardian to submit written documentation contesting the designation and would require the local law enforcement agency to provide written verification of its decision within 60 days.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 186.34 is added to the Penal Code, to
2read:

3

186.34.  

(a) For purposes of this section, “shared gang
4database” shall mean any database that allows access for any local
5law enforcement agency and contains personal, identifying
6information in which a person may be designated as a suspected
7gang member, associate, or affiliate, or for which entry of a person
8in the database reflects a designation of that person as a suspected
9gang member, associate, or affiliate.

10(b) To the extent a local law enforcement agency elects to utilize
11a shared gang database, as defined in subdivision (a), prior to a
12local law enforcement agency designating a person as a suspected
13gang member, associate, or affiliate in a shared gang database, or
14submitting a document to the Attorney General’s office for the
15purpose of designating a person in a shared gang database, or
16otherwise identifying the person in a shared gang database, the
17local law enforcement agency shall, if the person is under 18 years
18of age, provide written notice to the person and his or her parent
19or guardian of the designation and the basis for the designation.

20(c) Subsequent to the notice described in subdivision (b), the
21person to be designated as a suspected gang member, associate,
22or affiliate, or his or her parent or guardian, may submit written
23documentation to the local law enforcement agency contesting the
24designation. The local law enforcement agency shall review the
25documentation, and if the agency determines that the person is not
26a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate, the agency shall
27remove the person from the database. The local law enforcement
28agency shall provide the person and his or her parent or guardian
P3    1with written verification of the agency’s decision within 60 days
2of submission of the written documentation contesting the
3designation.

4(d) The person to be designated as a suspected gang member,
5associate, or affiliate, or his or her parent or guardian, shall be able
6to request information as to whether the person has been designated
7as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate.

8(e) The local law enforcement agency shall not disclose the
9location of the person to be designated as a suspected gang
10member, associate, or affiliate to his or her parent or guardian if
11the agency determines there is credible evidence that the
12information would endanger the health or safety of the minor.

13(f) A shared gang databasebegin delete maintained pursuant toend deletebegin insert, as defined
14inend insert
thisbegin delete sectionend deletebegin insert section, end insert shall retain records related to the gang
15activity of the individuals in the database as follows:

16(1) A record that has not been modified by the addition of new
17criteria to determine gang profile for a five-year period shall be
18purged. Individuals who are in custody shall be subject to the same
19purge policy under this paragraph.

20(2) A record created by an agency shall not be purged pursuant
21to paragraph (1) if that record has been substantially modified by
22another end user agency. For the purpose of this subdivision,
23substantially modified meansbegin delete that gang member criteria is renewed
24or addedend delete
begin insert the addition of new gang member criteriaend insert to the subject’s
25record or the subject has a new arrest recordbegin insert with a gang nexusend insert in
26his or her record.

27(g) begin deleteNothing end deletebegin insertExcept as expressly allowed by this section, nothing end insert
28in this section shall require a local law enforcement agency to
29disclose any information protected under Section 1040 or 1041 of
30the Evidence Code or Section 6254 of the Government Code.



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