Miscellaneous
California lawmakers entered the end of session Monday facing a number of important bills fashioned to curtail police violence against state residents. Sadly, given the madness of the evening, some bills--such as SB 731, which would have stopped problem cops from finding work in the state, SB 776, which would have made more police misconduct records publicly available, and AB 66, which would've restricted cops' use of rubber bullets and pepper spray and banned tear gas against demonstrators--didn't even make it to a final vote. A few cop reform bills will be crossing Governor Gavin Newsom's desk, however: AB 1299 - Would make police agencies alert the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training if an officer resigns or is fired during a misconduct investigation. The department would then have to complete its review and follow up with details of the findings, which would create records that would be disclosed of the cop tries to find another job in policing. AB 846 - Would make departments include in evaluations of prospective cop hires any bias against demographics like race, gender, sexual orientation or religion. It would also make police recruiting materials highlight 'community relations' as part of the job. AB 1196 - Bans carotid artery restraints and choke holds. AB 2054 - Creates a pilot grant program for community organizations to handle certain first-response crises instead of law enforcement. (See our episode with Asantewaa Boykin of MH First to learn more on this concept.) SB 629 - Lets media representatives into areas closed off by law enforcement during demonstrations and rallies, and would prohibit cops from citing the press. AB 1506 - Elevates more cases of cops killing unarmed people to state attorney general investigations (as opposed to just the local county district attorney addressing them). AB 1185 - Allows voters and county boards of supervisors to create oversight committees on sheriff's departments with actual subpoena power. Here in Sacramento County, Supervisor Pat Kennedy is already moving to create such an oversight committee, publishing this op-ed in the Sacramento Bee two days after AB 1185's passing through the legislature. You may have seen this heartening article on California's firefighting inmates seeing a law pass through the legislature that would give them a path toward becoming firefighters after their release from prison. The state cop lobby's response? "To fully expunge a felon's record in exchange for this work is not warranted, is dangerous to the public and fails to recognize the impact to the victims of the inmate's crimes." That's rich, coming from a group that regularly protects killer cops from facing any consequences for their actions. Thanks for listening, I'm Ed Mahkey and, as always: Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.