BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 953
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
953 (Weber)
As Amended August 31, 2015
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |45-27 |(June 3, 2015) |SENATE: |26-13 |(September 9, |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY: Modifies the definition of "racial profiling;"
requires local law enforcement agencies to report specified
information on stops to the Attorney General's office; and
establishes the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board
(RIPA).
The Senate amendments:
1)Delay implementation of reporting requirements by law
enforcement agencies based on the size of the agency.
2)Delete the requirements that each state and local law
enforcement agency publicly report its data on the Internet
and retain that information for five years.
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3)Delete the requirement that the Attorney General analyze the
data submitted by law enforcement agencies.
4)Clarify that it is not racial profiling for an officer to
consider or rely on characteristics listed in a specific
suspect description.
5)Delete the requirement that an officer who is the subject of a
complaint of profiling participate in additional training.
6)Change the composition of the RIPA, as specified.
7)Impose additional regulations and limitations on RIPA, 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 Department of Justice (DOJ) to present to the
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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;
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.
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AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill:
1)Required, 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)Required 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;
ii) Whether the officer searched the person or any
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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)Provided that if more than one peace officer performs a stop,
only one officer is required to collect and report the
necessary information.
4)Prohibited 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)Stated 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)Required 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)Mandated 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.
8)Required 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
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Web site, it shall be posted on the DOJ Web site.
9)Required retention of the reported data for at least five
years.
10)Mandated 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)Specified that all data and reports made under these
provisions are public records, as specified, and are open to
public inspection.
12)Limited 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)Defined "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)Revised the content of the DOJ annual report on criminal
statistics to report the total number of each of the following
citizen complaints:
a) Citizen complaints against law enforcement personnel;
b) Citizen complaints alleging criminal conduct of either a
felony or misdemeanor;
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c) Citizen complaints alleging racial or identity
profiling, disaggregated by the specific type of racial or
identity profiling alleged.
15)Specified that the statistics on citizen complaints must
identify their dispositions as being sustained, exonerated,
not sustained, unfounded, as specified.
16)Revised legislative findings and declarations regarding
racial and identity profiling.
17)Renamed "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)Required 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)Mandated the Attorney General establish RIPA beginning July
1, 2016, for the purpose of eliminating racial and identity
profiling, and improving diversity and racial sensitivity in
law enforcement.
20)Provided that RIPA shall include the following members:
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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;
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
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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)Tasked 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;
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.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
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1)Data collection, reporting, retention, and training: Major
future one-time and ongoing costs, potentially in the millions
to tens of millions of dollars annually, once fully phased in,
to local law enforcement agencies for data collection,
reporting, and retention requirements specified in the bill.
Additional costs for training on the process would likely be
required. There are currently 482 cities and 58 counties in
California. To the extent local agency expenditures qualify
as a reimbursable state mandate, agencies could claim
reimbursement of those costs (General Fund). While costs
could vary widely, for context, the Commission on State
Mandates' statewide cost estimate for Crime Statistics Reports
for the DOJ reflects eligible reimbursement of over $13.6
million per year for slightly over 50 percent of local
agencies reporting.
2)DOJ impact: Major one-time and ongoing costs of $2.6 million
in 2015-16, $5.9 million in 2016-17, and $5.1 million (General
Fund) annually thereafter, for resources to create the
database to collect and retain the data, complete data
collection and reporting requirements. Minor, absorbable
impact to aggregate and post annual reports received to its
website.
3)RIPA: One-time costs of $1.7 million in 2015-16, and $3
million (General Fund) in 2016-17 and 2017-18 to establish and
oversee activities of the Board. Ongoing costs of $1.5
million annually (General Fund) for activities including
analyzing data, issuing annual reports, reviewing policies and
procedures, and holding at least three annual public meetings.
4)CHP impact: Potentially significant one-time costs of about
$1 million (Motor Vehicle Account) to modify its existing
database, create the program to generate the report, and train
personnel. Ongoing increase in workload costs potentially in
the range of $250,000 to $500,000 (Motor Vehicle Account) for
data collection and reporting activities. Data for 2013-14
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from the CHP indicates approximately 3.1 million enforcement
actions potentially subject to the data collection and
reporting provisions of this bill.
5)CSU/UC police impact: Potentially significant ongoing
non-reimbursable costs to California State University police
and University of California police officers - the CSM has
determined CSU and UC use of campus police is a discretionary
act, and therefore any mandated costs are not subject to state
reimbursement.
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 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,
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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:
0001810