BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING Senator Jim Beall, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: SB 626 Hearing Date: 4/14/2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |McGuire | |----------+------------------------------------------------------| |Version: |2/27/2015 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Eric Thronson | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District: chief of police DIGEST: This bill authorizes the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) District to establish the position of chief of police. ANALYSIS: Existing law establishes the SMART District for the purpose of providing a unified, comprehensive institutional structure for the ownership and governance of a passenger rail system within the counties of Sonoma and Marin. SMART will provide rail service along 70 miles of the historic Northwestern Pacific Railroad alignment, serving 14 stations from Cloverdale in Sonoma County to the San Francisco-bound ferry terminal in Larkspur, Marin County. SMART began construction on the system in May 2012, and plans to begin revenue service in 2016. This bill: 1.Authorizes the SMART board to establish the position of chief of police. 2.Specifies that the police chief will be a duly sworn police officer and must comply with the standards for recruitment and training of peace officers established in existing law. 3.Specifies that, should the SMART board determine that more than one officer is needed, it may contract for those services SB 626 (McGuire) Page 2 of ? with Marin and/or Sonoma counties. 4.Requires the SMART board to equip every on-duty contract officer with an on-body camera or similar video body-camera technology. COMMENTS: 1.Purpose. The author contends that, without a sworn police officer on staff, law enforcement agencies will not share sensitive information with SMART. Without this information, SMART becomes vulnerable and unable to respond to sensitive information pertaining to service disruption, acts of vandalism, and violence. The author suggests that this bill solves this problem; with a sworn police chief, SMART will be able to access sensitive information from other law enforcement agencies. 2.Transit operator police forces. Very few transit operators in California have legislative authority to establish their own police forces. In fact, of the roughly 250 entities statewide that are eligible to receive state transit funding, only four transit operators are statutorily allowed to maintain their own police department. All other transit service providers contract with local law enforcement or private entities to provide their security needs. Some operators cite the increased costs of in-house peace officers, including the higher benefit and retirement costs of these types of employees, as the reason they contract for security services. Others point to the high risk involved with managing a police force authorized to use deadly force, suggesting that recent incidents some transit operators have experienced demonstrate the problems that can arise with an in-house police force. Finally, some suggest that an organization dedicated to providing transit service is ill-equipped to, at the same time, manage a police force and would therefore appreciate the benefits of contracting out for such services. This bill does not propose to authorize the SMART board to establish a police force, but instead grants authority to only hire one sworn police officer and to contract for any SB 626 (McGuire) Page 3 of ? additional law enforcement services deemed necessary. While a sworn police chief would be eligible under existing law to review sensitive law enforcement information, as the author suggests, it is unclear whether this would assure timely access to this information, nor whether the increased cost of a sworn officer on staff is worth this access. 3.Amendments. The author has agreed to the following amendments. While the author intends to accept these amendments to the bill in this committee, due to the short time before the bill's next hearing in the Senate Public Safety Committee, the amendments will be taken following that hearing should it pass both committees. This bill allows the SMART board to contract with either the Marin County Sheriff's office or the Sonoma County Sheriff's office for security services. By limiting the number of law enforcement agencies with whom SMART might contract for these services, this bill might reduce the competition for this work and therefore increase the costs. In order to increase the opportunity for competition and potentially keep costs low, the committee could amend the bill to specify that SMART may contract with any law enforcement agencies located in the counties of Marin and Sonoma. This bill requires the SMART board to equip every contract officer with an "on-body camera." It seems that the SMART board and its contracted security service providers should determine whether or not to equip its forces, not the Legislature. The committee could amend the bill to eliminate this requirement because it might unnecessarily increase costs for the SMART board and reduces the local government's ability to make the best determination for its service jurisdiction. Legislative Counsel has proposed some cleanup language relating to the references in this bill as to what qualifies as a duly sworn police officer. Essentially, Legislative Counsel recommends removing the various references because they are superfluous and unnecessary. The committee could amend the bill to eliminate these unnecessary references. 1.Double referral. The Rules Committee has referred this bill SB 626 (McGuire) Page 4 of ? to both this committee and the Public Safety Committee. Therefore, if the bill passes this committee, it will be referred to the Committee on Public Safety. PRIOR LEGISLATION: AB 2224 (Nation, 2002) established the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) District. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday, April 8, 2015.) SUPPORT: Sonoma-Marin Rail Transit District (sponsor) Central Marin Police Authority Marin County Sheriff's Office Novato Police Department San Rafael Police Department Sonoma County Sheriff's Office OPPOSITION: None received. -- END --