BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2830
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Date of Hearing: April 19, 2016
Counsel: David Billingsley
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
AB
2830 (Salas) - As Amended March 17, 2016
SUMMARY: Includes correctional officers who are employed by a
city or county in facilities that have arranged to house inmates
in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation and juveniles in the custody of the Division of
Juvenile Justice, within the Peace Officer Bill of Rights.
(POBOR)
EXISTING LAW:
1)States that for purposes of the (POBR), the term "public
safety officer" means peace officers listed in specified
sections of the Penal Code. (Gov. Code, § 3301.)
2)Finds and declares that the rights and protections provided to
peace officers under POBR constitute a matter of statewide
concern. (Gov. Code, § 3301.)
3)Finds and declares that effective law enforcement depends upon
the maintenance of stable employer-employee relations between
public safety employees and their employers. (Gov. Code, §
3301.)
4)States that in order to assure that stable relations are
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continued throughout the state, and to further assure that
effective services are provided to all people of the state, it
is necessary that this chapter be applicable to all public
safety officers, as defined, wherever situated within the
State of California. (Gov. Code, § 3301.)
5)Specifies that any deputy sheriff of the County of Los
Angeles, and any deputy sheriff of the Counties of Butte,
Calaveras, Colusa, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern,
Kings, Lake, Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Plumas, Riverside,
San Benito, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa
Clara, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter,
Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, and Yuba who is employed to
perform duties exclusively or initially relating to custodial
assignments with responsibilities for maintaining the
operations of county custodial facilities, including the
custody, care, supervision, security, movement, and
transportation of inmates, is a peace officer whose authority
extends to any place in the state only while engaged in the
performance of the duties of his or her respective employment
and for the purpose of carrying out the primary function of
employment relating to his or her custodial assignments, or
when performing other law enforcement duties directed by his
or her employing agency during a local state of emergency, is
covered by POBR. (Pen. Code, § 830.1, subd. (c), Gov. Code, §
3301.)
6)Specifies that a correctional officer is a peace officer,
employed by a city, county, or city and county that operates a
facility, as specified, who has the authority and
responsibility for maintaining custody of state prison inmates
or juvenile inmates, and who performs tasks related to the
operation of a detention facility used for the detention of
persons who have violated parole or are awaiting parole back
into the community. (Pen. Code, § 830.55, subd. (a)(1).)
7)Specifies that a correctional officer employed by a city or
county who has the authority and responsibility for
maintaining custody of inmates sentenced to or housed in a
facility which provides housing for inmates sentenced to a
county jail in community correctional facilities created to
house specified state prison inmates is also a peace officer.
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(Pen. Code, § 830.55, subd. (a)(2).)
8)States that upon agreement with the sheriff or director of the
county department of corrections, a board of supervisors may
enter into a contract with other public agencies to provide
housing for inmates sentenced to a county jail. (Pen. Code, §
4115.55.)
9)States that the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation may enter into an agreement with a city,
county, or city and county to permit transfer of prisoners in
the custody a jail or other adult correctional facility of the
city, county, or city and county, if the sheriff or
corresponding official having jurisdiction over the facility
has consented thereto. (Pen. Code, § 2910, subd. (a).)
10)Specifies that the Director of Corrections may enter into a
long-term agreement not to exceed 20 years with a city,
county, or city and county to place parole violators and other
state inmates in a facility which is specially designed and
built for the incarceration of parole violators and specified
state prison inmates. (Pen. Code, § 2910.5.)
11)Provides that the Director of the Youth Authority may enter
into an agreement with a city, county, or city and county, to
permit transfer of wards in the custody of the Director of the
Youth Authority to an appropriate facility of the city,
county, or city and county, if the official having
jurisdiction over the facility has consented. The agreement
shall provide for contributions to the city, county, or city
and county toward payment of costs incurred with reference to
the transferred wards. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 1753.3.)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "AB 2803 will
end the disparity that currently exists within Section 3301.
This bill will provide community correctional officers the
same protections other correctional officers currently have.
The intent of Section 3301 is to improve all phases of law
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enforcement by maintaining stable employee-employer relations
within law enforcement communities throughout the state. AB
2803 will help provide needed due process."
"In 2012, an emergency legislative act was signed into law, by
Governor Jerry Brown, which created a new classification of
Correction Officer for the newly created 'Modified Community
Correctional Facilities.' The facilities were created to deal
with the prisoner overcrowding in our State Correctional
Facilities. The legislative act is now Penal Code 830.55,
which defines this community correctional officer
classification and the scope of peace officer status that they
maintain.
"When the law was passed, community corrections officers were
not included within the Peace Officers Bill of Rights (POBR)."
2)Peace Officers Bill of Rights (POBR): POBR provides peace
officers with procedural protections relating to investigation
and interrogations of peace officers, self-incrimination,
privacy, polygraph exams, searches, personnel files, and
administrative appeals. When the Legislature enacted POBR in
1976 it found and declared "that the rights and protections
provided to peace officers under this chapter constitute a
matter of statewide concern." The statute this bill seeks to
amend (Gov. Code, § 3307.5.) was incorporated into POBR in
1999.
3)POBR Covers Specified Peace Officers: POBR covers a wide
variety of peace officers.
The list of peace officers currently covered includes:
Police officers and deputy sheriffs. (Pen. Code, § 830.1.)
Specified deputy sheriffs that exclusively handle inmate
custody. (Pen. Code, § 830.1.)
California Highway Patrol Officers (Pen. Code, § 830.2.)
Specified community college and school district police. (Pen.
Code, § 830.32.)
BART Police, harbor or port police, transit police. (Pen. Code,
§ 830.33.)
Municipal utitlity district and county water district security
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officers. (Pen. Code, § 830.34.) Welfare fraud or child
support investigator or inspector, as specified (Pen. Code, §
830.35.) Sargeant at Arms of each house of the Legislature.
(Pen. Code, § 830.36.)
Members of an Arson Investigating Unit. (Pen. Code, § 830.37.)
Officers of a state hospital under the jurisdiction of the State
Department of State Hospitals. (Pen. Code, § 830.38.)
Parole Officers, probation officers, and correctional officers
for the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR). (Pen. Code, § 830.5.)
(This list is not exhaustive)
Deputy sheriffs, in specified counties, employed to perform
duties exclusively related to custodial assignments involving
the custody, care, supervision, security, movement, and
transportation of inmates are covered by POBR. (Pen. Code, §
830.1, subd. (c), Gov. Code, § 3301.) Those deputy sheriffs
have similar duties and responsibilities to the peace officers
described in this bill.
The peace officers specified in this bill also have
responsibilities that are purely custodial in nature. The
individuals that they are responsible for supervising are
specified adult and juvenile inmates of the state correctional
system. These individuals are either adults under the
authority of the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation or juveniles under the authority of the
Division of Juvenile Justice. The state has contracted with
certain cities and counties for those jurisdictions provide
facilities for custodial supervision of the specified adult
and juvenile inmates. Given the similarity to the
responsibilities of deputy sheriffs in certain counties that
are purely custodial officers, it would not be inconsistent to
cover the custodial peace officers specified in this bill
under POBR.
4)Argument in Support: According to The California Labor
Federation, "In 2011, to address prisoner overcrowding in
state correctional facilities Governor Brown signed the Public
Safety Realignment (Realignment). Under Realignment,
community correctional facilities (CCFs) were given the
authority to contract with county jails to house low-level
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offender. The position of CCF correctional officers was then
created for enforcing rules and keeping order within jails,
supervising activities of inmates, and inspecting facilities
to ensure that they meet security and safety standards.
"CCF correctional officers must satisfactorily complete the same
training as state employed correctional officers and the scope
of their responsibilities and peace officer powers are equal
to that of State correctional officers. However, state
correctional officers are protected under the Public Safety
officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act and CCF correctional
officers are not.
"AB 2830 will add CCF correctional officers to the Public Safety
Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act to ensure that CCF
correctional officers have the same rights and protections as
their equal counterpart, State employed correctional
officers."
5)Argument in Opposition: According to The California Public
Defenders Association, "This bill would include correctional
officers who are employed by a city, county, or city and
county in facilities with specific types of inmates, that
include, among others, parole violators and wards in the
custody of the Director of the Youth and Adult Correctional
Agency or Division of Juvenile Justice within the application
of the act, thereby creating a state-mandated local program by
imposing new duties on local agencies to follow the
requirements of the act with respect to these persons.
"This bill would apply to all correctional officers who are
employed by a city or county. This is by virtue of the fact
that under the Realignment Law (AB 109) parole violators, with
some exceptions, are housed in local jails.
"The news recently has been rife with examples of misconduct by
correction officers. In some cases, criminal charges have been
brought against correctional officers for the death of
inmate(s) (Santa Clara County). In another case, there have
been allegations that correctional officers have staged fights
between inmates. (San Francisco County)."
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6)Related Legislation: AB 1872 (Gray), would include deputy
sheriffs in the County of Merced within the definition of
peace officers that includes peace officers who are employed
to perform duties exclusively or initially relating to
custodial assignments with responsibilities for maintaining
the operations of county custodial facilities. AB 1872 is set
for hearing in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on April
19, 2016.
7)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 398 (Fox), of the Legislative Session of 2013-2014,
would have included coroners and deputy coroners within the
application of POBR. AB 398 was held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
b) SB 522 (Chesbro), of the Legislative Session of
2001-2002, would have included within POBR, public officers
who are custodial officers employed by a law enforcement
agency of a city or county, other than Santa Clara County,
who have the authority and responsibility for maintaining
the custody of prisoners and who perform tasks related to
the operation of a local detention facility. SB 522 was
held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Labor Federation
Communications Workers of America, District 9 AFL-CIO
Opposition
California Public Defenders Association
Analysis Prepared
by: David Billingsley / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
AB 2830
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