BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1154 (Hancock) - SF Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District
Police Department.
Amended: March 24, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 5-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes (see Staff
Comments)
Hearing Date: April 28, 2014
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1154 would do the following:
Add SF BART District police officers to the category of
"officers" mandated to adhere to Penal Code provisions
specifying law enforcement arrest policy, response, and data
collection requirements related to domestic violence (DV)
incidents.
Extend the sunset date three years to January 1, 2018, on
the law authorizing the SF BART District to issue prohibition
orders.
Authorize members of the SF BART District police department
to take temporary custody of a firearm and request ex parte
emergency protective orders, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
Significant one-time and ongoing local costs, projected to
be non-reimbursable, to the SF BART District Police
Department to adhere to peace officer DV arrest policy,
response, and data collection mandates. As the SF BART
District is authorized but not required to maintain a police
department, any mandated activities are estimated to result
in non-reimbursable local costs.
Non-reimbursable local costs for the SF BART District to
maintain operation of the advisory committee tasked with
monitoring the issuance of prohibition orders and submittal
of an annual report to the Legislature under the extended
authority to issue these orders.
Background: According to the "History of the BART Police
Department," from the BART website
SB 1154 (Hancock)
Page 1
( www.bart.gov/about/police/employment ):
In 1969, three years before BART opened for revenue
service, the transit district's board of directors
recommended that local police and sheriff's
departments patrol the stations, trains,
rights-of-way, and other BART-owned properties that
were within their respective jurisdictions. The police
chiefs and sheriffs, forecasting that BART's proposal
would create jurisdictional disputes and inconsistent
levels of police service, rejected the board's
proposal. As a result, legislation was passed to form
an autonomous law enforcement agency, the BART Police
Department. The department is comprised of 296
personnel, of which 206 are sworn peace officers.
Current law authorizes the SF BART District, until January 1,
2015, to issue prohibition orders banning persons from entering
the property, facilities, or vehicles of the transit district
for determined periods of time for specified offenses. As a
condition of exercising this authority, the SF BART District is
required to establish an advisory committee tasked with
monitoring the issuance of prohibition orders to ensure
compliance with anti-discrimination laws, as well as provide an
annual report to the Legislature and the governing board of the
transit district on the program. On March 31, 2014, the SF BART
District Police Department released its initial annual report
summarizing the implementation of BART's exclusion policy. Of
note, the report indicated that of the 146 total arrests and
prohibitions orders issued over seven months in 2013, the most
common incidences were related to domestic battery (25 percent
of total).
Current law sets forth specified requirements in the Penal Code
concerning law enforcement responses to DV, including the
development and implementation of policies concerning officers'
responses to DV calls, data collection and reporting, the
development and adoption of written arrest policies, and peace
officer training on DV policies. Under existing law, "officers"
subject to these mandates include employees or officers of a
local police department or sheriff's office, as well as
specified categories of peace officers. This bill would
specifically add officers of the SF BART District Police
Department to category of officers subject to these Penal Code
SB 1154 (Hancock)
Page 2
provisions of law.
Proposed Law: This bill would provide for the following with
regard to the SF BART District:
Adds SF BART District police officers to the category of
"officers" required to adhere to Penal Code provisions
relating to law enforcement arrest policy, response, and
data collection requirements related to domestic violence
incidents, as specified.
Extends the sunset date to January 1, 2018, authorizing
SF BART District police officers to issue prohibition
orders banning persons from entering district property for
determined periods of time for specified offenses.
Authorizes SF BART District police officers to request
an ex parte emergency protective order from a judicial
officer, as specified.
Authorizes SF BART District police officers who respond
to the scene of a domestic violence incident or assault to
temporarily take custody of any firearms or deadly weapons
that are in plain sight or obtained during a lawful search.
Related Legislation: AB 716 (Dickinson) Chapter 534/2011
eliminated the sunset date on the law authorizing Sacramento
Regional Transit and Fresno Area Express to issue prohibition
orders banning persons from entering district property for
determined periods of time for specified offenses, and added the
SF BART District, until January 1, 2015, to the program. The SF
BART District was required to establish an advisory committee to
monitor enforcement of the program and submit an annual report
to the Legislature summarizing the implementation of the
exclusion policy.
Staff Comments: By extending existing DV requirements currently
mandated on specified local law enforcement agencies to the SF
BART Police Department, this bill creates a state-mandated local
program by imposing new duties on a local agency. The Commission
on State Mandates (CSM) has determined that various Penal Code
provisions imposing duties on "officers" as defined in PC �
13700 are activities eligible for reimbursable from the state.
The 2013 Budget Act (Chapter 20/2013) includes appropriation
authority of $7.3 million for the Domestic Violence Arrest
Policies (CSM 96-363-02) and $1.4 million for the Domestic
Violence Arrests (CSM 98-TC-14) mandates.
SB 1154 (Hancock)
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Whether or not the costs to the SF BART Police Department would
be subject to reimbursement by the state cannot be determined
with certainty at this time and would be subject to
determination by the CSM should the SF BART District submit a
claim for reimbursement.
Staff notes, however, that current law provides that the SF BART
District is authorized but not required to maintain a police
department (Public Utilities Code � 28767.5). Of note, in the
case Department of Finance v. Commission on State Mandates
(2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 1355, the court decided that the Public
Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights, which has been
determined by CSM to be a state-reimbursable mandate on local
law enforcement agencies, is not a reimbursable mandate as to
school districts and special districts that are permitted by
statute, but not required, to employ peace officers who
supplement the general law enforcement units of cities and
counties.
While not specifically named in the case, to the extent the SF
BART District is considered a special district, any costs for
mandated activities imposed on the SF BART District Police
Department could potentially be considered non-reimbursable.
Extending the sunset date to January 1, 2018, on the authority
of the SF BART District to issue prohibition orders would result
in non-reimbursable local costs for enforcement, continued
operation of the advisory committee, and submittal of the annual
report to the Legislature.