BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 953 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 953 (Weber) As Amended June 1, 2015 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------| |Public Safety |5-2 |Quirk, |Melendez, Lackey | | | |Jones-Sawyer, Low, | | | | |Santiago, Thurmond | | | | | | | |----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |12-5 |Gomez, Bonta, |Bigelow, Chang, | | | |Calderon, Daly, |Gallagher, Jones, | | | |Eggman, |Wagner | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Eduardo Garcia, | | | | |Gordon, Holden, | | | | |Quirk, Rendon, | | | | |Weber, Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: Modifies the definition of "racial profiling;" requires local law enforcement agencies to report specified information on AB 953 Page 2 stops to the Attorney General's office; and establishes the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA). Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires, beginning March 1, 2018, each state and local agency that employs peace officers to annually report to the Attorney General's office data on all stops, as specified, conducted by that agency's peace officers for the preceding calendar year. 2)Requires the reporting to include the following information for each stop: a) The reason for the stop; b) The result of the stop, such as no action, warning, citation, property seizure, or arrest; c) If a warning or citation was issued, the warning provided or violation cited; d) If an arrest was made, the offense charged; e) The perceived race or ethnicity, gender, and approximate age of the person stopped. The identification of these characteristics shall be based on the observation and perception of the peace officer making the stop. For auto stops, this requirement applies only to the driver unless actions taken by the officer apply in relation to a passenger, in which case his or her characteristics shall also be reported. f) Actions taken by the officer during the stop, including, but not limited to, the following: i) Whether the officer asked for consent to search the person, and if so, whether consent was provided; AB 953 Page 3 ii) Whether the 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; and iii) Whether the officer seized any property and, if so, the type of property that was seized, and the basis for seizing the property. 3)Provides that if more than one peace officer performs a stop, only one officer is required to collect and report the necessary information. 4)Prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from reporting the name, address, social security number, or other unique personal identifying information of persons stopped, searched, or subjected to a property seizure. 5)States that, notwithstanding any other law, the data reported shall be made available to the public to the extent which release is permissible under state law, with the exception of badge number, or other unique identifying information of the officer involved. 6)Requires the Attorney General, to issue regulations for the collection and reporting of the required data by January 1, 2017. The Attorney General should consult with specified stakeholders in issuing the regulations. 7)Mandates that the regulations specify all data to be reported, and provide standards, definitions, and technical specifications to ensure uniform reporting practices. To the extent possible, the regulations should also be compatible with any similar federal data collection or reporting program. AB 953 Page 4 8)Requires each state and local law enforcement agency to publicly report the data on an annual basis beginning on July 1, 2018. The report should be posted on the law enforcement agency's Web site, and in the event the agency does not have a Web site, it shall be posted on the Department of Justice (DOJ) Web site. 9)Requires retention of the reported data for at least five years. 10)Mandates that the Attorney General annually analyze the data collected and report its findings from the first analysis by January 1, 2019. Reports are to be posted on the DOJ Web site. 11)Specifies that all data and reports made under these provisions are public records, as specified, and are open to public inspection. 12)Limits the definition of a "peace officer" for purposes of this section to "members of the California Highway Patrol, a city or county law enforcement agency, except probation officers and officers in a custodial setting, and California state or university educational institutions." 13)Defines "stop" for purposes of this section, as "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." 14)Revises the content of the DOJ annual report on criminal statistics to report the total number of each of the following citizen complaints: AB 953 Page 5 a) Citizen complaints against law enforcement personnel; b) Citizen complaints alleging criminal conduct of either a felony or misdemeanor; c) Citizen complaints alleging racial or identity profiling, disaggregated by the specific type of racial or identity profiling alleged. 15)Specifies that the statistics on citizen complaints must identify their dispositions as being sustained, exonerated, not sustained, unfounded, as specified. 16)Revises legislative findings and declarations regarding racial and identity profiling. 17)Renames "racial profiling" as "racial or identity profiling" and redefines it as "consideration of or reliance on, to any degree, actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability in deciding which persons to subject to a stop or in deciding upon the scope and substance of law enforcement activities following a stop. The activities include, but are not limited to, traffic or pedestrian stops, or actions during a stop, such as, asking questions, frisks, consensual and nonconsensual searches of a person or any property, seizing any property, removing vehicle occupants during a traffic stop, issuing a citation, and making an arrest." 18)Requires any peace officer who has a sustained complaint of racial or identity profiling that is sustained to participate in training to correct racial and identity profiling at least every six months for two years. 19)Mandates the Attorney General establish RIPA beginning July 1, 2016, for the purpose of eliminating racial and identity AB 953 Page 6 profiling, and improving diversity and racial sensitivity in law enforcement. 20)Provides that RIPA shall include the following members: a) The Attorney General, or a designee; b) The President of the California Public Defenders Association, or a designee; c) The President of the California Police Chiefs Association, or a designee; d) The President of the California State Sheriffs' Association, or a designee; e) The President of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, or a designee; f) The President of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, or a designee; g) The Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, or designee; h) The Chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, or designee; i) The Chair of the California Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, or designee; AB 953 Page 7 j) The Chair of the California Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Legislative Caucus, or designee; aa) A university professor who specializes in policing, and racial and identity equity; bb) Two representatives of civil or human rights tax-exempt organizations who specialize in civil and human rights and criminal justice; cc) Two representatives of community organizations specializing in civil or human rights and criminal justice and who work with victims of racial and identity profiling; dd) Two clergy members who specialize in addressing and reducing racial and identity bias toward individuals and groups or practices; and, ee) Up to two other members that the Attorney General may prescribe. 21)Tasks RIPA with the following: a) Analyzing data reported, as specified; b) Analyzing law enforcement training on racial and identity profiling; c) Work in partnership with state and local law enforcement agencies to review and analyze racial and identity profiling policies and practices; AB 953 Page 8 d) Issuing an annual report the first of which shall be issued by January 1, 2018, and posting the reports on its Internet Web site; and, e) Holding at least three annual public meetings to discuss racial and identity profiling and potential reforms, as specified. EXISTING LAW: 1)Prohibits a law enforcement officer from engaging in racial profiling. 2)Defines "racial profiling," as "the practice of detaining a suspect based on a broad set of criteria which casts suspicion on an entire class of people without any individualized suspicion of the particular person being stopped." 3)Requires that the course of basic training for law enforcement officers include adequate instruction on racial and cultural diversity in order to foster mutual respect and cooperation between law enforcement and members of all racial and cultural groups. 4)Requires the DOJ to present to the Governor, on or before July 1st, an annual report containing the criminal statistics of the preceding calendar year. 5)Mandates that the annual report contain statistics showing all of the following: a) The amount and the types of offenses known to the public authorities; AB 953 Page 9 b) The personal and social characteristics of criminals and delinquents; c) The administrative actions taken by law enforcement, judicial, penal, and correctional agencies or institutions, including those in the juvenile justice system, in dealing with criminals or delinquents; d) The administrative actions taken by law enforcement, prosecutorial, judicial, penal, and correctional agencies, including those in the juvenile justice system, in dealing with minors who are the subject of a petition or hearing in the juvenile court to transfer their case to the jurisdiction of an adult criminal court or whose cases are directly filed or otherwise initiated in an adult criminal court; and, e) The number of citizens' complaints received by law enforcement agencies, as specified. The statistics must indicate the total number of these complaints, the number alleging criminal conduct of either a felony or misdemeanor, and the number sustained in each category. The report shall not contain a reference to any individual agency but shall be by gross numbers only. 6)Requires state and local law enforcement agencies to report statistical data to the DOJ at those times and in the manner that the Attorney General prescribes. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)Significant reimbursable mandated costs (GF), in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, by requiring the collection of very specific additional information by local law enforcement personnel, and the reporting of this information by local law enforcement agencies to the DOJ. AB 953 Page 10 2)Significant costs to the California Highway Patrol to update their California Automated Reporting System, in the $1 million range (Motor Vehicle Account). In addition, the additional time required to document the additional data points will result in the need for additional officers, or the current service provided will be reduced. CHP made over four million public contacts in 2013-14. 3)Significant cost to the DOJ in the range of $2 million in 2015-16, $10 million in 2016-17, and $9 million every year thereafter. 4)Cost to the Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) is absorbable if POST can update this definition the next time it updates its racial profiling curriculum. COMMENTS: According to the author, "AB 953 will help eliminate the harmful and unjust practice of racial and identity profiling, and improve the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve. AB 953 promotes equal protection and prevents unreasonable searches and seizures. "Peace officers risk their lives every day, and the people of California greatly appreciate their hard work and dedication to public safety. At the same time, a recent poll shows that 55% of Californians and 85% of African-Americans in California believe that 'blacks and other minorities do not receive equal treatment in the criminal justice system. Racial and identity profiling significantly contributes to this lack of confidence in our justice system. "Racial and identity profiling occurs when law enforcement personnel AB 953 Page 11 stop, search, seize property from, or interrogate a person without evidence of criminal activity. Studies show that profiling often occurs due to unconscious biases about particular demographic identities. "AB 953 would prevent profiling by, among other things, clarifying and modernizing California's current prohibition against profiling to better account for the ways in which profiling occurs, establishing a uniform system for collecting and analyzing data on law enforcement-community interactions, and establishing an advisory board that investigates profiling patterns and practices and provides recommendations on how to curb its harmful impact." Analysis Prepared by: Sandy Uribe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0000738