LEGISLATIVE SWING
Cal Chiefs
at the Capitol
C
al Chiefs established a stronger presence than ever before at the California
State Capitol this year. In response
to this enhanced presence, our Law and
Legislation Committee welcomed two new
co-chairs, Chief Jennifer Tejada of Sausalito and Chief Rob Handy of Huntington
Beach. Both Chief Tejada and Chief Handy
are essential leaders for the Law and Legislation Committee and have greatly eased
our transition into a powerful voice at the
Capitol. In addition to these leadership
appointments, the Law and Legislation
Committee appointed committee member
leaders to each key legislative area. This
restructuring allows committee members
to focus on areas of intense legislative
priority. Following this restructuring, we
have seen committee members deeply
engaged in the following policy areas; firearm legislation, internet café and gambling
regulations, marijuana policy, massage
parlors, drugged and distracted driving,
and AB 109 funding and policy issues. Our
legislative priorities came from our membership in October of 2013 and were voted
on and affirmed by the Board of Directors
in November.
This year, Cal Chiefs is the sponsor of
four pieces of public safety legislation (AB
1439, AB 1449, AB 2500, and SB 1262). This
heavy lift would not be possible without
the active engagement of the Cal Chiefs
Law and Legislation Committee.
AB 1439, by Assembly Members Rudy
Salas, Jim Frazier, and Rob Bonta addresses
the growing problem of gambling activities
in Internet Cafes. This bill will eliminate the
“e-gambling” occurring at an ever-growing
number of locations throughout California.
Chief Dan Desmidt and Commander Ian
Schmutzler have been actively engaged in
this issue as they work with involved stakeholders towards the passage of this crucial
piece of legislation.
AB 1449, by Assembly Member V.
Manuel Perez makes several changes
to the AB 109 statute. It addresses overcrowding in local jails by specifying
that those with long-term placements be
remanded to state custody where they can
access the facilities and programs needed
for successful rehabilitation. Recognizing
the facilities and programming demands
of complex cases, the bill also authorizes
the consideration of an offender’s full
adult criminal history when determining
county or state supervision. The reforms
in this bill were identified in a November 2013 report, Voices from the Field: How
California Public Safety Stakeholders View
Realignment, conducted by the Stanford
Criminal Justice Center. Chief Ed Medrano
and Chief Jennifer Tejada have been actively engaged in the fiscal and legislative
responses to realignment and we remain
committed to the passage of AB 1449.
AB 2500, by Assembly Member Frazier is our drugged driving bill. The bill
will create the following per se standards
for anyone who has a controlled substance
in their system; 2 nanograms of milliliter of whole blood of delta-9 THC
of marijuana, 100 nanograms of
amphetamine, 50 nanograms
of cocaine, 50 nanograms
of cocaine metabolite, 50
nanograms of heroin, 50
nanograms of morphine, 10 nanograms of
By Chief David Swing,
Chair of the Law and
Legislation Committee
6-monoacetyl morphine, 100 nanograms
of methamphetamine, 10 nanograms of
phencyclidine. Chief Rex Marks and Chief
Jim Leal have been working with stakeholders and the Assembly Committee on
Public Safety to ensure the passage of this
long overdue legislation.
SB 1262, by Senator Lou Correa, is our
proactive medical marijuana legislation.
This measure is fundamentally about three
things: advancing local control, protecting public safety and creating uniform
health and safety standards that ensure the
lawful distribution of medical marijuana
only in those cities and counties in which
it is authorized. It carefully safeguards
the right of cities and counties to decide
whether to regulate and prohibit medical
marijuana cultivation and distribution.
This proposal provides a much needed
and long overdue framework to effectively
implement Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act. That initiative, which
voters passed in 1996, provided patient
access t