The bill, AB1022 by Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, would have disqualified officers who failed to intervene in such situations from serving in law enforcement and made them an accessory to any crime their colleague committed through the use of excessive force.
Holden introduced the bill in June, after white Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes as three colleagues watched. The incident sparked national protests over police brutality and racism, and led to a flurry of legislation at the state Capitol.
But law enforcement groups argued the measure would punish officers who may not fully understand the situation in which they were expected to intervene. It stalled without explanation Thursday in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Sen. Anthony Portantino, the La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County) Democrat who chairs the committee, did not respond to requests for comment.
Holden said he thought there was support for his bill and he was ready to remove the criminal liability provision, if necessary, to advance it. He expressed frustration that the measure’s failure would feed into a perception that government officials aren’t listening to the demands of protesters.
“It’s disappointing, because there are people out there who are distrustful of government,” Holden said. “People are tired of talking — they want to see action.”
The intervention requirement was the highest-profile policing proposal to be held Thursday on what’s called the suspense file, an opaque step in the legislative process when the Senate and Assembly appropriations committees secretly decide the fate of bills with a significant fiscal impact. Decisions about the votes are made in private, then announced in a public session without debate.
Several other law enforcement-related bills advanced to votes next week on the Senate and Assembly floors, including AB1196 by Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Los Angeles, which would prohibit carotid holds that risk suffocating a suspect; AB1506 by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, to establish independent investigations of police shootings; and SB776 by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, which would open more personnel records for public scrutiny.
Another major bill to create a statewide system for decertifying officers who break the law or violate ethical standards — SB731 by Sen. Steve Bradford, D-Gardena (Los Angeles County) — has yet to receive a hearing amid negotiations with law enforcement.
With just over a week left before California courts lift their freeze on eviction hearings, the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Thursday also shelved one of the remaining bills intended to avert a wave of tenants losing their homes because they have been unable to pay the rent during the coronavirus pandemic.
SB1410, by Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, and Bradford, would have created a program to give tax credits to landlords who forgave their tenants’ unpaid rent. Finance officials estimated it would cost the state $13 billion to implement.
A proposed eviction moratorium, which would give tenants an extra year to make up their missed rent payments, is still moving in the form of AB1436 by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco. But it was moved Thursday to the Senate Rules Committee, essentially putting the bill on hold while discussions continue between legislative leaders, Gov. Gavin Newsom, landlord groups and tenant rights advocates. Any deal they reach is likely to be significantly different from Chiu’s proposal.
After holding onto it for more than a year, the Assembly committee finally advanced Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB145, which would eliminate automatic sex-offender registration in some statutory rape cases. The San Francisco Democrat argues that the current law discriminates against LGBT people because it treats anal and oral sex differently than vaginal intercourse.
But his SB902, a bill to make it easier to rezone some residential areas for small apartment buildings, was held. It was Wiener’s follow-up to SB50, the controversial push to enable taller, denser residential development around public transit and in wealthy suburbs, which failed in January.
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