BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SB 626


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          SENATE THIRD READING


          SB  
          626 (McGuire)


          As Amended  April 16, 2015


          Majority vote


          SENATE VOTE:  36-0


           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |Committee       |Votes|Ayes                  |Noes                |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Transportation  |16-0 |Frazier, Achadjian,   |                    |
          |                |     |Baker, Bloom, Campos, |                    |
          |                |     |Chu, Daly, Dodd,      |                    |
          |                |     |Eduardo Garcia,       |                    |
          |                |     |Gomez, Kim, Linder,   |                    |
          |                |     |Medina, Melendez,     |                    |
          |                |     |Nazarian, O'Donnell   |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Local           |8-0  |Maienschein,          |                    |
          |Government      |     |Gonzalez, Alejo,      |                    |
          |                |     |Chiu, Cooley, Linder, |                    |
          |                |     |Mullin, Waldron       |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 









                                                                     SB 626


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          SUMMARY:  Authorizes the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District  
          (SMART) to hire a sworn peace officer and, if additional  
          officers are needed, to contract with law enforcement agencies  
          located within Marin or Sonoma County.  Specifically, this bill:  
           


          1)Authorizes SMART to establish the position of chief of police.


          2)Requires that the chief of police, appointed by SMART's Board  
            of Directors, be a sworn peace officer who meets specified  
            requirements.


          3)Authorizes SMART to contract for additional law enforcement  
            services from law enforcement agencies within Sonoma and Marin  
            Counties if additional officers are needed.


          EXISTING LAW established the SMART District with a 12-member  
          board of directors with power to, among other things, own,  
          operate, manage, and maintain a passenger rail system within the  
          territory of the district.


          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown.  This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the  
          Legislative Counsel.


          COMMENTS:  SMART, is a voter-approved passenger rail and  
          bicycle-pedestrian pathway project located in Marin and Sonoma  
          Counties authorized by AB 2224 (Nation), Chapter 341, Statutes  
          of 2002.  At full build out, the SMART system will serve a  
          70-mile corridor from Larkspur to Cloverdale.  The first phase  
          of the project extending from San Rafael to Santa Rosa is  
          currently under construction and is expected to be operational  
          in 2016.








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          According to the author, AB 2224 neglected to provide SMART's  
          Board of Directors with the authority to hire a sworn law  
          enforcement officer as its Chief of Police.  SMART contends that  
          this position is necessary to provide a safe, secure system for  
          SMART passengers.  They argue that the having a sworn law  
          enforcement officer on staff will give them direct and equal  
          participation in public safety-related incidents and/or  
          investigations that take place on or involve their right-of-way.  
           This access to sensitive information, which they claim is  
          afforded more readily to law enforcement officers, would make it  
          easier for SMART to anticipate potential problems and take  
          precautionary measures to protect passengers and improve  
          service.  Examples of the types of information the SMART Chief  
          of Police would obtain include information pertaining to service  
          disruptions, acts of vandalism, and violence.


          To date, there are approximately 250 entities statewide that are  
          eligible to receive state transit funding and, of these, only  
          four are statutorily allowed to maintain their own police force.  
           Others contract with local law enforcement or use private  
          entities to meet system security needs.  This bill provides  
          SMART with somewhat of a "hybrid authority" in that SMART would  
          be authorized to hire a single law enforcement officer but needs  
          for law enforcement officers over and above that single position  
          would be contracted (from local law enforcement entities).


          Committee concerns:  The Assembly Transportation Committee has  
          been unable to substantiate the arguments SMART uses to justify  
          the need for this bill.  For example, SMART makes the argument  
          that without a sworn officer on staff they will be unable to  
          obtain sensitive crime scene information from whatever law  
          enforcement agency is working within SMART's right-of-way.   
          SMART asserts that this "sensitive" information is only provided  
          to other sworn law enforcement officers.  Non-law enforcement  
          personnel, SMART argues, would only be able to obtain generic  








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          information which would be of little value in providing a safe  
          and secure environment for passengers.  Unfortunately, law  
          enforcement agencies contacted by the committee indicated that  
          information is not withheld from transit agencies.  Further, the  
          committee was not able to substantiate that other transit  
          agencies without sworn officers on staff have experienced the  
          problems SMART foresees.


          SMART also asserts that an in-house police officer is necessary  
          to successfully negotiate contracts for outside law enforcement.  
           Again, however, there is ample evidence that other transit  
          agencies have been able to successfully contract for outside law  
          enforcement and no evidence that the lack of an in-house law  
          enforcement has been a problem.




          Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion  
          of this bill.




          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093  FN:  
          0001338



















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