California 2021-2022 Regular Session Status: Enacted

SB 16 — Peace officers: release of records.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 402, Statutes of 2021.

Track this bill free

No card. One bill, free forever — alerts when it moves.

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Senate
  4. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced December 07, 2020. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 70% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 10 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

(1) Existing law makes peace officer and custodial officer personnel records and specified records maintained by any state or local agency, or information obtained from these records, confidential and prohibits these records from being disclosed in any criminal or civil proceeding except by discovery. Existing law sets forth exceptions to this policy, including, among others, records relating to specified incidents involving the discharge of a firearm, sexual assault, perjury, or misconduct by a peace officer or custodial officer. Existing law makes a record related to an incident involving the use of force against a person resulting in death or great bodily injury subject to disclosure. Existing law requires a state or local agency to make these excepted records available for inspection pursuant to the California Public Records Act, subject to redaction as specified. This bill would make a sustained finding involving force that is unreasonable or excessive, and any sustained finding that an officer failed to intervene against another officer using unreasonable or excessive force, subject to disclosure. The bill would require records relating to sustained findings of unlawful arrests and unlawful searches to be subject to disclosure. The bill would also require the disclosure of records relating to an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency that a peace officer or custodial officer engaged in conduct involving prejudice or discrimination on the basis of specified protected classes. The bill would make the limitations on delay of disclosure inapplicable until January 1, 2023, for the described records relating to incidents that occurred before January 1, 2022. The bill would require the retention of all complaints and related reports or findings currently in the possession of a department or agency, as specified. The bill would require that records relating to an incident in which an officer resigned before an investigation is completed to also be subject to release. For purposes of releasing records, the bill would exempt from protection under the lawyer-client privilege, the disclosure of factual information provided by the public entity to its attorney, factual information discovered by any investigation by the public entity's attorney, or billing records related to the work done by the attorney. The bill would expand the authorization to redact records to allow redaction to preserve the anonymity of victims and whistleblowers. The bill would require records subject to disclosure to be provided at the earliest possible time and no later than 45 days from the date of a request for their disclosure, except as specified. By imposing additional duties on local law enforcement agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes an agency to delay the release of a record involving the discharge of a firearm or the use of force during an active criminal investigation, as provided. This bill would expand the authorization to delay the release of records during an investigation to include records of incidents involving sexual assault and dishonesty by officers, and the records of incidents involving prejudice or discrimination, wrongful arrests, and wrongful searches that are required to be made public by this bill. (3) Existing law requires a court, in determining the relevance of evidence, to exclude from trial any information consisting of complaints concerning peace officer conduct that is more than 5 years older than the subject of the litigation. This bill would delete that provision. (4) Existing law requires an agency or department employing peace officers to make a record of any investigations of misconduct. Existing law requires a peace officer seeking employment with a department or agency to give written permission to the hiring agency or department to view that file. This bill would require each department or agency to request and review that file prior to hiring a peace officer. The bill would also require every person employed as a peace officer to immediately report all uses of force by the officer to the officer's department or agency. By imposing additional duties on local law enforcement, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 402, Statutes of 2021.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.

  4. Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 29. Noes 9. Page 2356.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

  5. In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

  6. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 57. Noes 13. Page 2660.) Ordered to the Senate.

  7. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  8. Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  9. From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (August 26).

  10. August 19 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.

  11. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  12. From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 2.) (July 6).

  13. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

  14. Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and JUD.

  15. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  16. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 31. Noes 3. Page 1384.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  17. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  18. Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  19. From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 1179.) (May 20).

  20. Set for hearing May 20.

  21. May 3 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.

  22. Set for hearing May 3.

  23. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  24. From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 1. Page 775.) (April 13).

  25. Set for hearing April 13.

  26. March 23 hearing postponed by committee.

  27. Set for hearing March 23.

  28. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 4. Noes 0. Page 423.) (March 9). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

  29. Set for hearing March 9.

  30. Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and JUD.

  31. From printer. May be acted upon on or after January 7.

  32. Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

  • Skinner · Primary

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 121 not signed on · 13 voted No

Sponsors (1)

  • Skinner

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (121)

121 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 121 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

Unfinished Business SB16 Skinner Concurrence

Passed 29 Yea · 9 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 18500
Democratic 11101
Republican 0301
Total 29902
% of votes cast 73%23%0%5%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Dodd — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Roth — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Pan — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Min — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Gonzalez — Yea
Newman — Yea
Melendez — Nay
Nielsen — Nay
Bates — Nay
Borgeas — Nay
Wilk — Nay
Allen, Benjamin Democratic Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Becker, Josh Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Cortese, Dave Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Nay
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Not Voting
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Grove, Shannon Republican Nay
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay
Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie Republican Not Voting

Official roll call →

SB 16 Skinner Senate Third Reading By Grayson

Passed 57 Yea · 13 Nay · 9 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 25001
Unaffiliated 32507
Republican 0801
Total 571309
% of votes cast 72%16%0%11%
How each member voted (79)
Member Party Vote
Bloom — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Holden — Yea
Villapudua — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Mayes — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Wood — Yea
Ting — Yea
Low — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Levine — Yea
Daly — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Medina — Yea
Gray — Yea
Burke — Yea
Cunningham — Yea
Chau — Yea
Smith — Nay
Voepel — Nay
Bigelow — Nay
Waldron — Not Voting
Rodriguez — Not Voting
Mathis — Not Voting
Kiley — Not Voting
Cooper — Not Voting
Frazier — Not Voting
Salas — Not Voting
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Jim Patterson — Nay
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Luz Rivas — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Vince Fong — Nay
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bennett, Steve Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Yea
Bryan, Isaac G. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Not Voting
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Nay
Choi, Steven S. Republican Not Voting
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Davies, Laurie Republican Nay
Flora, Heath Republican Nay
Gallagher, James Republican Nay
Lackey, Tom Republican Nay
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Nay
Valladares, Suzette Martinez Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended.

Passed 12 Yea · 4 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 6200
Democratic 6000
Republican 0200
Total 12400
% of votes cast 75%25%0%0%
How each member voted (16)
Member Party Vote
Levine — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Chau — Yea
Bigelow — Nay
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Vince Fong — Nay
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Bryan, Isaac G. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Davies, Laurie Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

Passed 8 Yea · 2 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 6001
Democratic 2000
Republican 0200
Total 8201
% of votes cast 73%18%0%9%
How each member voted (11)
Member Party Vote
Chiu — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Chau — Yea
Holden — Yea
Kiley — Not Voting
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Davies, Laurie Republican Nay
Gallagher, James Republican Nay

Official roll call →

3rd Reading

Passed 31 Yea · 3 Nay · 6 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 18203
Democratic 12001
Republican 1102
Total 31306
% of votes cast 78%8%0%15%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Dodd — Yea
Roth — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Gonzalez — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Newman — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Min — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Pan — Yea
Borgeas — Nay
Wilk — Nay
Nielsen — Not Voting
Melendez — Not Voting
Bates — Not Voting
Allen, Benjamin Democratic Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Becker, Josh Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Cortese, Dave Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Not Voting
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Not Voting
Grove, Shannon Republican Nay
Jones, Brian W. Republican Not Voting
Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended

Passed 5 Yea · 2 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 4100
Democratic 1000
Republican 0100
Total 5200
% of votes cast 71%29%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Wieckowski — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Bates — Nay
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Placed on suspense file

Passed 6 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 4001
Republican 1000
Democratic 1000
Total 6001
% of votes cast 86%0%0%14%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Portantino — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Bates — Not Voting
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations]

Passed 8 Yea · 1 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 3100
Democratic 5001
Republican 0001
Total 8102
% of votes cast 73%9%0%18%
How each member voted (11)
Member Party Vote
Gonzalez — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Borgeas — Nay
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Not Voting
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Not Voting

Official roll call →

Subjects

public-safety civil-rights
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 16 do?
(1) Existing law makes peace officer and custodial officer personnel records and specified records maintained by any state or local agency, or information obtained from these records, confidential and prohibits these records from being disclosed in any criminal or civil proceeding except by discovery. Existing law sets forth exceptions to this policy, including, among others, records relating to specified incidents involving the discharge of a firearm, sexual assault, perjury, or misconduct by a peace officer or custodial officer. Existing law makes a record related to an incident involving the use of force against a person resulting in death or great bodily injury subject to disclosure. Existing law requires a state or local agency to make these excepted records available for inspection pursuant to the California Public Records Act, subject to redaction as specified. This bill would make a sustained finding involving force that is unreasonable or excessive, and any sustained finding that an officer failed to intervene against another officer using unreasonable or excessive force, subject to disclosure. The bill would require records relating to sustained findings of unlawful arrests and unlawful searches to be subject to disclosure. The bill would also require the disclosure of records relating to an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency that a peace officer or custodial officer engaged in conduct involving prejudice or discrimination on the basis of specified protected classes. The bill would make the limitations on delay of disclosure inapplicable until January 1, 2023, for the described records relating to incidents that occurred before January 1, 2022. The bill would require the retention of all complaints and related reports or findings currently in the possession of a department or agency, as specified. The bill would require that records relating to an incident in which an officer resigned before an investigation is completed to also be subject to release. For purposes of releasing records, the bill would exempt from protection under the lawyer-client privilege, the disclosure of factual information provided by the public entity to its attorney, factual information discovered by any investigation by the public entity's attorney, or billing records related to the work done by the attorney. The bill would expand the authorization to redact records to allow redaction to preserve the anonymity of victims and whistleblowers. The bill would require records subject to disclosure to be provided at the earliest possible time and no later than 45 days from the date of a request for their disclosure, except as specified. By imposing additional duties on local law enforcement agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes an agency to delay the release of a record involving the discharge of a firearm or the use of force during an active criminal investigation, as provided. This bill would expand the authorization to delay the release of records during an investigation to include records of incidents involving sexual assault and dishonesty by officers, and the records of incidents involving prejudice or discrimination, wrongful arrests, and wrongful searches that are required to be made public by this bill. (3) Existing law requires a court, in determining the relevance of evidence, to exclude from trial any information consisting of complaints concerning peace officer conduct that is more than 5 years older than the subject of the litigation. This bill would delete that provision. (4) Existing law requires an agency or department employing peace officers to make a record of any investigations of misconduct. Existing law requires a peace officer seeking employment with a department or agency to give written permission to the hiring agency or department to view that file. This bill would require each department or agency to request and review that file prior to hiring a peace officer. The bill would also require every person employed as a peace officer to immediately report all uses of force by the officer to the officer's department or agency. By imposing additional duties on local law enforcement, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Who sponsors SB 16?
SB 16 is sponsored by Skinner.
What is the current status of SB 16?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced December 07, 2020. Enacted.
Where can I track SB 16?
Track SB 16 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

Make your voice heard on SB 16

Find the representatives who decide this bill and tell them where you stand — for yourself, or mobilize your whole list in one click with One Click Politics advocacy software.

Find my representatives → Run a campaign

Stay ahead of SB 16

Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

One Click Politics tracks every bill in Congress and all 50 states.

Track this bill →