BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




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                                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.








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          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  








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            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.)








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             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  








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          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








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          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  ****


          









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