Police reforms face defeat as California Democrats block George Floyd-inspired bills
So much for the moist eyes and feigned empathy some California Democrats showcased during the Black Lives Matter marches that followed the police killing of George Floyd. Despite performative emoting by powerful members of California’s ruling party, a slate of necessary police reforms may be headed for full or partial defeat in the California State Legislature.
The bills, which met strong resistance from law enforcement groups and some weak-kneed legislators, teetered near the brink of failure on Wednesday.
Among the bills facing an uphill battle or outright defeat:
▪ The Deadly Force Accountability Act (Assembly Bill 1506). This bill by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, would allow local law enforcement leaders and district attorneys to request that the California state attorney general investigate police shootings. But despite the fact that the bill enjoys support from a large coalition of groups, including the NAACP and the California Police Chiefs Association, it has had one very powerful opponent: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who has repeatedly made it clear that he’s no friend of police reform.
“The AG has a $1.1 billion budget with 4,500 employees and 1,100 attorneys,” said McCarty earlier this month. “If he wanted to, he could prioritize independent investigations for police deadly force. In this historic George Floyd era, we hope he reconsiders.”
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▪ Police Decertification (Senate Bill 731). This crucial bill by Steve Bradford, D-Gardena, would allow California to decertify police officers who break the law or engage in serious misconduct. Forty-five states already have the power to do this, but not “progressive” California, where dangerous or criminal officers can simply take their badge and gun and move to another police force. “Criminal Cops,” an investigation conducted by a consortium of California media outlets including McClatchy, highlighted the problem last year.
Bradford blasted fellow lawmakers who hesitated to support his bill despite their public expressions of support for police reform during George Floyd protests.
“We were quick to show up for photo ops, but when it comes to doing the real work some of them are not true believers,” Bradford told the Associated Press. “This shouldn’t be a moment, but a true movement, and I hope they find the courage to do the right thing.”
▪ Police record transparency (SB 776). This bill by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, would increase AB 1185 for law enforcement. It would require departments and agencies to turn over records related to officers accused of racist or discriminatory behavior or who have been repeatedly accused of violating rules to conduct searches or arrests. It would expand on Skinner’s previous bill, SB 1421, which required law enforcement agencies to release records involving shootings and other uses of deadly force. Police groups fought SB 1421 tooth and nail, and some law enforcement leaders refused to comply with the law after it passed, including Attorney General Becerra.
“We deserve to know when an officer has a history of dishonesty or a history of use of force,” Skinner said. “Here in California, we could not know about the many uses of force complaints against Derek Chauvin, the killer of George Floyd. We would not ever know unless we had the disclosure that SB 776 allows.”
Other pending bills would ban the use of chokeholds and rubber bullets by police and allow the families of people killed by police to apply for victims’ compensation. AB 1185, a bill by Asm. McCarty to establish more oversight for local sheriffs like Sacramento County’s Scott Jones, also faces a vote this week.
AB 1022 — a bill that would have required officers to intervene when other officers use excessive force, and to report such incidents — was blocked last month.
On Wednesday night, the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks announced they would refuse to play a scheduled playoff game to protest the police shooting of Black man named Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. Other teams soon followed their example. Without a doubt, many California Democrats will soon be expressing solidarity with these national protests against police violence.
The legislators who authored these crucial reforms deserve support and recognition for walking the walk. But Californians must also remember the names of any legislators who took a knee to honor Black Lives Matter in front of the cameras and then, behind the scenes, bowed down to police groups to kill much-needed reforms.
Let’s hold them accountable.
