BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2524
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2524 (Irwin) - As Amended March 14, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue its
mandatory criminal justice statistics reports quarterly through
the OpenJustice Web Portal, and transition to digital collection
AB 2524
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of all data by January 1, 2018. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires DOJ to post, on the OpenJustice Web Portal, quarterly
criminal justice statistics relating to officer involved
incidents, with the demographics of the individuals involved
and a description of the incident; case clearance rates;
juvenile delinquency; the disposition of civilian complaints;
the demographics of victims and individuals charged in
homicides; the incidents and demographics targeted by hate
crimes; the incidents and demographics of "stop and frisk"
detentions; the incidents and demographics of potential
profiling incidents; administrative actions taken by law
enforcement, prosecutorial, judicial, penal, and correctional
agencies; and other data leading to the apprehension,
prosecution, and treatment of the criminals and delinquents.
2)Requires DOJ to transition to digital data collection of all
data by January 1, 2018.
3)Eliminates the option of law enforcement agencies to use paper
cards or forms by and limits submission by electronic means
for statistical/demographic data required by DOJ regarding
shooting of or by a police officer, or the use of force
against or by a police officer.
4)Requires DOJ to add prosecutorial administrative actions to
its criminal justice statistics collection and summaries.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Unknown reimbursable state mandate costs, by: 1) requiring
local agencies to submit only by electronic means, and 2)
transitioning to digital submission of all data to DOJ by
January 1, 2018. DOJ reports that 40 percent of all law
enforcement agencies currently submit required data through
electronic means. The state may have to reimburse these
agencies for any costs they incur to meet this requirement, as
the option of submitting data through cards or forms is
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removed. However, the cost to the other 60 percent will be
reimbursable. If the largest 15 counties submit annual mandate
claims in excess of $10,000, the cost to the state will exceed
$150,000; however, there are over 400 local law enforcement
agencies in California.
2)DOJ costs could be in the tens of thousands of dollars to
reconcile data four times per year to prepare quarterly
reports. Some of these costs are offset by savings realized
by transferring data entry costs to local law enforcement
agencies.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "AB 2524 will bring the
state's data collection into the 21st century by requiring
local law enforcement agencies to submit all currently
required statistical reports digitally. Despite the fact that
electronic reporting provides for more accurate and efficient
data submission, as many as 60% of local agencies still submit
required data to the California DOJ on paper. The OpenJustice
Data Act will direct all agencies to transition into digital
reporting, which will allow for more frequent updates to
statistics contained within the Web portal."
2)Background. Current law requires DOJ to maintain a data set,
updated annually, that contains the number of crimes reported,
number of clearances and clearance rates in California as
reported by individual law enforcement agencies for
required-to-be-reported crimes. The data set shall be made
available through a prominently displayed hypertext link on
the Department's Internet Web site or through the Department's
OpenJustice data portal.
DOJ is required to annually interpret and present crime
statistics as required to be reported by law enforcement and
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other agencies and information, to the Governor, Legislature,
and those in charge or concerned with of the apprehension,
prosecution, and treatment of the criminals and delinquents.
3)Comments. Various provisions of the Government and Penal
Codes require DOJ to collect, analyze, and report on criminal
justice statistics. Each individual law enforcement agency
must report criminal justice statistics to DOJ so DOJ can both
aggregate the data to present a statewide overview and to
present data on each individual law enforcement agency.
On September 30, 2010, the Commission of State Mandates (CSM)
adopted Parameters and Guidelines (mandate reimbursement
rules) for various statutes that impose "Crime Statistics
Report for the Department of Justice." CSM determined that the
requirements that local law enforcement agencies provide
various criminal statistics to DOJ is a reimbursable state
mandate. However, the mandate is suspended annually through
the Budget Act; by not funding the mandate in the Budget, the
requirement is suspended on an annual basis. Therefore, AB
2524 "builds" on a requirement (to provide statistical data)
that is suspended every year by not funding it.
4)Support. According to Attorney General Kamala Harris, "The
bill will enable Californians to review the statistical
information most important to them in context, using dynamic,
interactive tools, rather than rely on preselected,
prepackaged summaries. AB 2524 will truly democratize public
safety data, significantly strengthening trust in law
enforcement.
5)Opposition: According to the California State Sheriff's
Association, "While we appreciate your desire to increase
efficiency and the use of technology, we are concerned that
this bill represents a significant unfunded mandate on law
enforcement agencies. It has been reported that at least 60%
of agencies do not report electronically and enacting this
bill will create massive cost pressures to acquire technology,
secure storage space, and train staff on the new requirements
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imposed by this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081