Amended in Assembly May 18, 2016

Amended in Assembly April 25, 2016

Amended in Assembly April 14, 2016

Amended in Assembly April 6, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 17, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1957

Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk

February 12, 2016

An act to add Section 6254.31 to the Government Code, relating to public records.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1957, as amended, Quirk. Public records: body-worn cameras.

The California Public Records Act requires that public records be open to inspection at all times during the office hours of a state or local agency and that every person has a right to inspect any public record, except as specifically provided. The act further requires that a reasonably segregable portion of a public record be available for inspection by any person requesting the public record after deletion of the portions that are exempted by law. Existing law exempts from the disclosure requirements records of complaints to, or investigations conducted by, or records of intelligence information or security procedures of, law enforcement agencies, including the Attorney General and state or local police agencies.

This bill would authorize the governing board of a law enforcement agency, in closed session, to review the footage from a body-worn camera when a peace officer who was wearing the camera is involved begin delete in end delete begin insert in, or was a witness to, end insert an incident that results in great bodily injury begin insert to, end insert or death begin delete of end delete begin insert of, end insert a person other than the peace officer. The bill would begin delete require the judge, if there is a prosecution of the peace officer after an investigation, end delete begin insert require, if there is an investigation into an allegation of misconduct by the peace officer, and the investigation leads to criminal prosecution of the peace officer within 60 days after the commencement of the investigation, the judge end insert to determine the protocol for release of the footage from a body-worn camera. The bill would begin delete require a end delete begin insert require, if there is no investigation into an allegation of misconduct by the peace officer, or if there is an investigation, but the investigation does not lead to criminal prosecution of the peace officer within 60 days of the commencement of the investigation, the end insert state or local law enforcement agency begin insert employing the peace officer end insert to make available, upon request, footage from a begin delete law enforcement end delete body-worn camera 60 days after the commencement of begin delete an investigation into an allegation of misconduct by the peace officer based on use of force resulting in great bodily injury or death of a person other than the peace officer. end delete begin insert the investigation. end insert The bill would also prohibit the public begin delete release end delete begin insert release, as specified, end insert of footage that relates to crimes of domestic violence, crimes that include minors, or that includes statements of a witness at the scene of a crime, subject to a specified exception.

By increasing the duties of local law enforcement, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

Section 6254.31 is added to the Government
Code, to read:

6254.31.  

(a) Before the end of the business day following the
date on which the incident occurs, the governing body of the law
enforcement agency, in closed session, may review the footage
from a body-worn camera when the peace officer who was wearing
the camera is involved begin delete in end delete begin insert in, or was a witness to, end insert an incident that
results in great bodily injury begin insert to, end insert or the death begin delete of end delete begin insert of, end insert a person other
than the peace officer.

(b)  begin delete If, after reviewing the footage as authorized in subdivision
(a), there is an investigation that leads to prosecution of the peace
officer, the judge shall review the end delete begin insert If there is an investigation into
an allegation of misconduct by a peace officer based on the peace
officer’s use of force, which resulted in great bodily injury to, or
the death of, a person other than the peace officer, and that
investigation leads to criminal prosecution of the peace officer
within 60 days after the commencement of the investigation, the
judge shall review the footage from any end insert body-worn camera begin delete footage end delete
begin insert worn by the peace officer involved, or by a peace officer who was
a witness to the incident, end insert and determine the release protocol,
including, but not limited to, whether the footage is released, to
whom, and if redaction is required.

(c) Except as provided in subdivision (d), begin insert and end insert notwithstanding
Section 6254, begin delete a end delete begin insert if there is not an investigation into an allegation
of misconduct by a peace officer based on the peace officer’s use
of force, which resulted in great bodily injury to, or the death of,
a person other than the peace officer, or if there is an investigation,
but the investigation does not lead to criminal prosecution of the
peace officer within 60 days after the commencement of the
investigation, the end insert state or local law enforcement agency begin insert employing
the peace officer end insert shall make available, upon request pursuant to
this chapter, begin insert the end insert footage from a begin delete law enforcement end delete body-worn camera
begin insert worn by the peace officer involved, or by a peace officer who was
a witness to the incident, within end insert 60 days after the commencement
of begin delete an investigation into an allegation of misconduct by the peace
officer based on use of force resulting in great bodily injury or
death of a person other than the peace officer depicted in the
footage. This subdivision shall only apply where the investigation
does not result in charges of misconduct against the officer. end delete begin insert the
investigation. end insert

(d) Footage of body-worn cameras that relates to crimes of
domestic violence, crimes that include minors, or that includes
statements of a witness at the scene of a crime shall not be released
for public viewing begin insert pursuant to subdivision (c) end insert if the public interest
in nondisclosure, or the privacy interests of any person depicted
in the footage clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure
and it is not feasible to redact the portion of the recording that
shows domestic violence, minors, or statements of a witness from
the footage.

SEC. 2.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution for certain
costs because, in that regard, the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district under this act would result
from a legislative mandate that is within the scope of paragraph
(7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California
Constitution.

However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that
this act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement
to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

SEC. 3.  

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of
this act, which adds Section 6254.31 to the Government Code,
furthers, within the meaning of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b)
of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution, the purposes
of that constitutional section as it relates to the right of public
access to the meetings of local public bodies or the writings of
local public officials and local agencies. Pursuant to paragraph (7)
of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California
Constitution, the Legislature makes the following findings:

By expanding public access to footage obtained from begin delete a law
enforcement body-worn camera, end delete begin insert body-worn cameras, end insert this bill
furthers the purpose of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section
3 of Article I of the California Constitution.