BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1221| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1221 Author: Hertzberg (D), et al. Amended: 6/8/16 Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 6-0, 4/12/16 AYES: Hancock, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 SENATE FLOOR: 37-0, 4/28/16 (Consent) AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Stone, Wieckowski, Wolk NO VOTE RECORDED: Hernandez, Runner, Vidak ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 8/22/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Firefighters: interaction with persons with mental disabilities SOURCE: Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department DIGEST: This bill directs the Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) to make the existing continuing education classroom training course related to law enforcement interaction with persons with mental disabilities available to the State Fire Marshal, who may revise the course as appropriate for firefighters. SB 1221 Page 2 Assembly Amendments delete the phrase "mentally disabled persons" and insert "persons with mental disabilities" where applicable. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Training and Standards. (Pen. Code, § 13500.) 2)Requires all peace officers to complete an introductory course of training prescribed by POST, demonstrated by passage of an appropriate examination developed by POST. (Pen. Code, § 832, subd. (a).) 3)Empowers POST to develop and implement programs to increase the effectiveness of law enforcement. (Pen. Code, §13503.) 4)Authorizes POST, for the purpose of raising the level of competence of local law enforcement officers, to adopt rules establishing minimum standards related to physical, mental and moral fitness and training that shall govern the recruitment of any peace officers in California. (Pen. Code, § 13510, subd. (a).) 5)States that POST shall include in the basic training course for law enforcement officers, adequate instruction in the SB 1221 Page 3 handling of persons with developmental disabilities or mental illness, or both. In addition to providing instruction on the handling of these persons, the course must also include information on the cause and nature of developmental disabilities and mental illness, as well as the community resources available to serve these persons. (Pen. Code, § 13519.2) 6)Requires POST to establish and keep updated a continuing education classroom training course relating to law enforcement interaction with mentally disabled persons. (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.) 7)Requires the training course to be developed in consultation with appropriate community, local, and state organizations and agencies that have expertise in the area of mental illness and developmental disability, and with appropriate consumer and family advocate groups. (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.) 8)Directs POST to make the course available to law enforcement agencies in California. This course must consist of classroom instruction and utilize interactive training methods to ensure that the training is as realistic as possible and the course must include, at a minimum, core instruction in the following: a) The cause and nature of mental illnesses and developmental disabilities; (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.) b) How to identify indicators of mental disability and how to respond appropriately in a variety of common situations; (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.) SB 1221 Page 4 c) Conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques for potentially dangerous situations involving mentally disabled persons; (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.) d) Appropriate language usage when interacting with mentally disabled persons; (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.) e) Alternatives to lethal force when interacting with potentially dangerous mentally disabled persons; (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.) f) Community and state resources available to serve mentally disabled persons and how these resources can be best utilized by law enforcement to benefit the mentally disabled community; and, (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.) g) The fact that a crime committed in whole or in part because of an actual or perceived disability of the victim is a hate crime. (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.) This bill authorizes POST to make available this educational training to the State Fire Marshall, who may revise the course as appropriate to the firefighter training environment. This bill also makes additional purely technical amendments to this section. Background This legislation would extend POST's current training program to prepare law enforcement officers for SB 1221 Page 5 interactions with both developmentally and mentally disabled persons to firefighters. The POST training for law enforcement website highlights some examples of such disabilities and its common occurrences that the training would target: one out of 17 adults suffer from schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder or major depression, 46% of the homeless have a mental illness and/or substance abuse disorder, and one out of 68 children is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Currently, law enforcement training provides a minimum of 664 training hours in its Regular Basic Course, which is divided into 42 individual law enforcement topics called Learning Domains (LD). LD37 focuses on People with Disabilities and requires a minimum of 15 hours of instruction, learning activities, a written exam and resolving a "high stakes" scenario involving a person with a mental or developmental disability. The training is designed to: Introduce the laws that protect people with disabilities, enhance the recognition of behaviors that are indicative of disability or mental illness, provide de-escalation skills, teach situation-appropriate responses and referrals to the individual and community, and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and disabilities. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified8/22/16) Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (source) The Arc of California Association of Regional Center Agencies California Fire Chiefs Association California Public Defenders Association California State Council on Development Disabilities California State Sheriffs' Association SB 1221 Page 6 Disability Rights California Fire Districts Association of California League of California Cities National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter Office of the Sheriff County of Los Angeles United Cerebral Palsy California Collaboration OPPOSITION: (Verified8/22/16) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 8/22/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NO VOTE RECORDED: Melendez Prepared by:Molly Lao / PUB. S. / 8/22/16 21:33:55 **** END **** SB 1221 Page 7