BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
                             Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:    SB 242        Hearing Date:     April 21, 2015    
          
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Author:    |Monning                                              |
          |-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
          |Version:   |April 7, 2015                                        |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:    |No               |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Consultant:|JRD                                                  |
          |           |                                                     |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 


               Subject:  School Security: Surplus Military Equipment.



          HISTORY

          Source:   Author

          Prior Legislation:None known

          Support:  California State Conference of the National  
                    Association for the Advancement of Colored People;  
                    California Parents and Teachers Association

          Opposition:None known

            
          PURPOSE

          The purpose of the bill is to require a school district's police  
          department to obtain approval from its governing board prior to  
          receiving federal surplus military equipment. 
          
          Under existing law the governing board of a school district may  
          establish a school police department under the supervision of a  
          school chief of police and may employ peace officers, as  
          specified, to ensure the safety of school district personnel and  
          pupils, and the security of the real and personal property of  
          the school district.  (Education Code § 38000(b).) 







          SB 242  (Monning )                                         Page  
          2 of ?
          
          

          Under existing law the governing board of a school district that  
          establishes a police department must set minimum qualifications  
          of employment for the school chief of police, including, but not  
          limited to, prior employment as a peace officer or completion of  
          a peace officer training course approved by the Commission on  
          Peace Officer Standards and Training.  (Education Code §  
          38000(c).) 

          Under existing law persons employed and compensated as members  
          of a police department of a school district, when appointed and  
          duly sworn, are peace officers, for the purposes of carrying out  
          their duties of employment pursuant to Section 830.32 of the  
          Penal Code.  (Education Code §38001.) 

          Under existing law following persons are peace officers whose  
          authority extends to any place in the state for the purpose of  
          performing their primary duty, or when making an arrest as to  
          any public offense with respect to which there is immediate  
          danger to person or property, or of the escape of the  
          perpetrator of that offense, as specified.  These peace officers  
          may carry firearms only if authorized and under terms and  
          conditions specified by their employing agency.  These peace  
          officers include: 

                 Members of a California Community College police  
               department, as specified.

                 Persons employed as members of a police department of a  
               school district, as specified.

                 Any peace officer employed by a K-12 public school  
               district or California Community College district, as  
               specified.

          (Penal Code § 830.32.)

          This bill prohibits the governing board of a school district  
          that establishes a school police department from permitting the  
          school police department to receive federal surplus military  
          equipment, as specified, unless the governing board does all of  
          the following:

                 Votes to approve the acquisition of surplus military  








          SB 242  (Monning )                                         Page  
          3 of ?
          
          
               equipment at a regularly scheduled public board meeting;

                 Provides parents or guardians and other members of the  
               public a chance to comment at a regularly scheduled public  
               board meeting on the proposed acquisition of surplus  
               military equipment, and clearly and in a manner  
               recognizable to the general public, identify in the agenda  
               the topic to be discussed at the meeting;

                 Identifies safe and secure storage for surplus military  
               equipment to be received by a school police department;  
               and, 

                 Ensures that peace officers employed by a school police  
               department possess adequate training in the safe use and  
               handling of the surplus military equipment to be received.
                                          
                    RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
                                          
          For the past eight years, this Committee has scrutinized  
          legislation referred to its jurisdiction for any potential  
          impact on prison overcrowding.  Mindful of the United States  
          Supreme Court ruling and federal court orders relating to the  
          state's ability to provide a constitutional level of health care  
          to its inmate population and the related issue of prison  
          overcrowding, this Committee has applied its "ROCA" policy as a  
          content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that  
          the Legislature does not erode progress in reducing prison  
          overcrowding.   

          On February 10, 2014, the federal court ordered California to  
          reduce its in-state adult institution population to 137.5% of  
          design capacity by February 28, 2016, as follows:   

                 143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
                 141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and,
                 137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016. 

          In February of this year the administration reported that as "of  
          February 11, 2015, 112,993 inmates were housed in the State's 34  
          adult institutions, which amounts to 136.6% of design bed  
          capacity, and 8,828 inmates were housed in out-of-state  
          facilities.  This current population is now below the  
          court-ordered reduction to 137.5% of design bed capacity."(  








          SB 242  (Monning )                                         Page  
          4 of ?
          
          
          Defendants' February 2015 Status Report In Response To February  
          10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge Court, Coleman  
          v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).

          While significant gains have been made in reducing the prison  
          population, the state now must stabilize these advances and  
          demonstrate to the federal court that California has in place  
          the "durable solution" to prison overcrowding "consistently  
          demanded" by the court.  (Opinion Re: Order Granting in Part and  
          Denying in Part Defendants' Request For Extension of December  
          31, 2013 Deadline, NO. 2:90-cv-0520 LKK DAD (PC), 3-Judge Court,  
          Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (2-10-14).  The Committee's  
          consideration of bills that may impact the prison population  
          therefore will be informed by the following questions:

              Whether a proposal erodes a measure which has contributed  
               to reducing the prison population;
              Whether a proposal addresses a major area of public safety  
               or criminal activity for which there is no other  
               reasonable, appropriate remedy;
              Whether a proposal addresses a crime which is directly  
               dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there  
               is no other reasonably appropriate sanction; 
              Whether a proposal corrects a constitutional problem or  
               legislative drafting error; and
              Whether a proposal proposes penalties which are  
               proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other  
               reasonably appropriate remedy.


          COMMENTS

          1.  Need for Legislation

          According to the Author: 

               Education Code Section 38000 allows for a school  
               district board to establish a police department to  
               service a school district and the surrounding  
               community.  The police officers who serve in these  
               departments are fully trained, POST-certified peace  
               officers.  Some of these school district police  
               departments have elected to apply for and receive  
               military surplus and weapons through the US Department  








          SB 242  (Monning )                                         Page  
          5 of ?
          
          
               of Defense's 1033 Program, coordinated through the  
               Governor's Office of Emergency Services in California.  


               The 1033 program has provided over $5.1 billion worth  
               of military weapons and supplies to law enforcement  
               agencies throughout the county, including over 120  
               school district police departments.  In California,  
               there have been a number of high-profile instances  
               where school districts have received these items such  
               as with San Diego Unified School District, which  
               received a 14-ton Mine Resistant and Ambush Proof  
               (MRAP) vehicle, and Los Angeles Unified School  
               District, which also received an MRAP, sixty-one M-16  
               automatic rifles, and three 40mm M-79 grenade  
               launchers.  While school boards have statutory  
               authority over the school police departments they  
               authorize, the weapons and supplies received by these  
               school police departments are often sought without the  
               approval or knowledge of their elected school boards.   
               This lack of notification is made worse by not  
               including parents, teachers, and community members in  
               the discussion of whether these materials should even  
               be part of the school or community policing strategy.

               SB 242 seeks to remedy this lack of transparency and  
               ensure community involvement and a parental voice in  
               policing decisions made by school district police  
               departments.  The measure  will require that before a  
               school district police department is permitted to  
               receive military surplus items through the Federal  
               1033 Program, the governing school board must:  
               publicly vote to approve the acquisition of equipment;  
               provide parents, guardians, and community members a  
               chance to publicly comment on the proposal at a  
               regularly scheduled meeting of the board; provide  
               parents with written notice and a detailed description  
               of the military equipment's functions and purpose; and  
               identify safe storage of the equipment.

          2.  Effect of the Legislation 

          The National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the Secretary  
          of Defense to transfer excess property that it determines  








          SB 242  (Monning )                                         Page  
          6 of ?
          
          
          suitable for use in law enforcement activities to federal,  
          state, and local law enforcement jurisdictions.  This is  
          referred to as the 1033 Program.  The Defense Logistics Agency  
          (DLA) Law Enforcement Support Office in assigned to determine  
          whether property is suitable for use by these agencies.  The DLA  
          defines law enforcement activities as those performed by  
          government agencies whose primary function is the enforcement of  
          applicable federal, state, and local laws and whose compensated  
          law enforcement officers have powers of arrest and apprehension.  
           The law enforcement agencies must be authorized and certified  
          annually to participate.

          The Governor's Office of Emergency Services implements the 1033  
          Program in California and conducts management and oversight of  
          the program through the California Public Safety Procurement  
          Program.  The Office of Emergency Services also provides support  
          and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies  
          participating (or interested in participating) in the program.

          Since 1997, the 1033 Program has provided over $5.1 billion of  
          military equipment to thousands of local law enforcement  
          agencies throughout the country, including more than 120 school  
          district police departments that serve K-12 students. 

          There has been national media attention surrounding the 1033  
          Program and the transfer of surplus military weaponry to school  
          police departments.  

               [S]ix California school district police departments  
               received equipment from the Department of Defense  
               Excess Property Program, also known as the 1033  
               Program. The details:

                       o              Baldwin Park School Police  
                         Department: 3 M16 assault rifles
                       o              Kern High School District  
                         Police: 30 magazine pouches for M4 assault  
                         rifle ammunition
                       o              Los Angeles School Police  
                         Department: 61 M16 assault rifles, 3 M79  
                         grenade launchers, 1 mine-resistant vehicle
                       o              Oakland Unified School Police:  
                         utility truck
                       o              San Diego Unified Schools  








          SB 242  (Monning )                                         Page  
          7 of ?
          
          
                         Police: 1 mine-resistant vehicle

               The M16s were valued at $499 each, the grenade  
               launchers at $720, and the mine-resistant vehicles, or  
               MRAPs, at $733,000.

               The Pentagon has been giving surplus military equipment to  
               state and local law enforcement agencies for more than a  
               decade.  The militarized police response in Ferguson,  
               Missouri, to protests over the police killing of teenager  
               Michael Brown has prompted some lawmakers to question the  
               use of the military equipment by police.  A recent poll  
               found that 51 percent of Americans think it's unnecessary  
               for police to use military weapons for law enforcement.

               "The only thing that I know of is a rescue vehicle,"  
               Los Angeles School Police Department Sgt. Steve  
               Mayoral explained to The Huffington Post when asked  
               about the rifles, grenade launchers and armored  
               vehicle -- by far the largest haul by a school police  
               department in the state.  Mayoral said school police  
               intend to use the mine-resistant vehicle for rescue  
               emergencies.  He said he could not confirm the status  
               of the rifles and grenade launchers.

               A Los Angeles Unified School District spokesperson who  
               requested anonymity confirmed school police received  
               the gear noted in the report.  The district, which has  
               400 sworn officers, has been receiving military  
               weaponry since 2001, the spokesperson said.

               The M16 rifles the district received have been  
               modified to fire only one shot with each pull of the  
               trigger, and have only been used in training, the  
               spokesperson said.  An officer must complete 40 hours  
               of training before using the military rifle, the  
               spokesperson said.

               The spokesperson said the grenade launchers are the  
               type some police departments use for tear gas and have  
               never been used by the school district, which doesn't  
               have munitions for them.  The armored vehicle was  
               received over the summer and hasn't been deployed yet.









          SB 242  (Monning )                                         Page  
          8 of ?
          
          
               The spokesperson said one reason the school district  
               sought the military gear was to prepare for a mass  
               shooting incident like Columbine High School or Sandy  
               Hook Elementary School.

               The other California school district that received a  
               mine-resistant vehicle was the San Diego Unified  
               School District Police Department, which, according to  
               NBC San Diego, intends to convert it into a "victim  
               rescue vehicle."

               "We recognize the public concern over perceived  
               'militarization of law enforcement,' but nothing could  
               be further from the truth for School Police," San  
               Diego school police Capt. Joseph Florentino explained,  
               NBC San Diego reported.

          (California School Cops Received Military Rifles, Grenade  
          Launchers, Armored Vehicles, Matt Ferner, Huffington Post,  
          September 12, 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/  
          militarized-police-california_n_5813014.html.) 

          This bill would not prevent school police departments from  
          accessing surplus military equipment.  The bill, instead, seeks  
          to ensure community involvement and greater transparency if a  
          school police department elects to acquire military equipment.  
                                          


                                      -- END -