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
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|Author: |McGuire |
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|Version: |2/27/2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant|Eric Thronson |
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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.
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