BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 458| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 458 Author: Wright (D), et al. Amended: 9/6/13 Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/9/13 AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Block, De León, Knight, Liu, Steinberg SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/6/13 AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg SENATE FLOOR : 37-0, 5/16/13 AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Monning, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Price, Vacancy, Vacancy ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 66-10, 9/10/13 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Gangs: statewide database SOURCE : Youth Justice Coalition DIGEST : This bill requires a local law enforcement agency to provide written notice to a minor and his/ her parent or guardian prior to designating that minor as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate in a shared gang database, as CONTINUED SB 458 Page 2 specified. Assembly Amendments (1) authorize the person or his/her parent or guardian to submit written documentation contesting a designation and requires the local law enforcement agency to provide written verification, as specified, of its decision within 60 days; (2) require a shared gang database to retain records consistent with specified federal criminal intelligence systems; and (3) add a number of technical and clarifying amendments. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Defines a "criminal street gang" as any ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons having as one of its primary activities the commission of one or more enumerated offenses, having a common name or identifying sign or symbol, and whose members engage in a pattern of gang activity. 2. Provides that any person who actively participates in a criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity and who promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious conduct by members of the gang, is guilty of an alternate felony-misdemeanor. 3 Provides that any person who is convicted of a felony committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in criminal conduct by gang members, shall receive a sentence enhancement. This bill: 1. Defines, for the purposes of this bill, "shared gang database" to mean any database that: A. Allows access for any local law enforcement agency. B. Contains personal, identifying information in which a person may be designated as a suspected gang member, CONTINUED SB 458 Page 3 associate, or affiliate or for which entry of a person in the database reflects a designation of that person as suspected gang member, associate or affiliate. C. Is subject to federal criminal intelligence system operating policies. 2. Requires a local law enforcement agency, to the extent it chooses to use a shared gang database, prior to the agency designating a minor as a gang member, associate, or affiliate in a shared gang database or submitting a document to the Attorney General's office for the purpose of designating a minor in a shared gang database, to provide written notice to the minor and his/her parent or guardian of the designation and its basis, except when providing notification would compromise an active criminal investigation or compromise the health and safety of the minor. 3. Authorizes a person designated as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate, or his/her parent or guardian, subsequent to the notice described above, to submit written documentation to the local law enforcement agency contesting the designation. Requires the local law enforcement agency to review the documentation and to remove the person from the database if the agency determines that the person is not a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate and to provide the person and his/her parent or guardian with written verification of the agency's decision within 60 days of the submission of the document contesting the designation. 4. Provides that the person designated as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate, or his/her parent or guardian, is able to request information as to whether the person has been designated as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate; and requires the local law enforcement agency to provide that information unless doing so would compromise an active criminal investigation or compromise the health or safety of the minor. 5. Prohibits the local law enforcement agency from disclosing the location of the person designated as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate to his/her parent or guardian if the agency determines there is credible evidence that the information would endanger the health or safety of the minor. CONTINUED SB 458 Page 4 6. Requires a shared gang database to retain records related to the gang activity of the individuals in the database consistent with specified federal criminal intelligence system operating policies. 7. Provides that nothing in this bill requires a local law enforcement agency to disclose any protected information, as specified. Background The CalGang database, which is housed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), is accessed by law enforcement officers in 58 counties, and contains personal, identifying information such as age, race, photographs, tattoos, criminal associates, addresses, vehicles, criminal histories, and activities. According to the Youth Justice Coalition report, Tracked and Trapped: Youth of Color, Gang Databases and Gang Injunctions (December 2012), approximately 200,000 persons are listed on the CalGang database, with approximately 12% of those listed aged 19 years or younger. In addition to the CalGang database, the DOJ's Web site indicates 11 regional databases maintained by local law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Sonoma, San Diego, Kern, Fresno, San Jose, Santa Barbara, and Orange County. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, potentially state-reimbursable ongoing local law enforcement costs in excess of $150,000 (General Fund) per year to notify minors and parents prior to designation in a shared gang database. SUPPORT : (Verified 9/10/13) Youth Justice Coalition (source) Advancement Project All of Us or None American Civil Liberties Union American Friends Service Committee CONTINUED SB 458 Page 5 Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence California Catholic Conference California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement California Public Defenders Association Californians United for a Responsible Budget Children's Defense Fund - California Coalition Against Gun Violence Congress of Racial Equality of California Friends Committee on Legislation of California Gay-Straight Alliance Network Legal Services for Prisoners with Children National Juvenile Justice Network The W. Haywood Burns Institute ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, this bill is a modest step to require local law enforcement departments to notify parents/guardians when youth under the age of 18 are added to a gang database. It also provides for a process to inquire if a juvenile is on the databases, to ensure accuracy and to remove a name. It adopts the current DOJH guidelines to clean out the data base every five years with appropriate exceptions. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 66-10, 9/10/13 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada NOES: Dahle, Donnelly, Gray, Grove, Harkey, Jones, Mansoor, Salas, Waldron, Wilk NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines, John A. Pérez, Vacancy, Vacancy JG:d 9/11/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE CONTINUED SB 458 Page 6 **** END **** CONTINUED