governments to enforce local ordinances
in connection with those businesses. This
important measure gives local governments the tools necessary to shut down
the bad actors that have been moving into
communities all over California. I find it
hard to believe that AB 1147 would have
made it to the Governor’s desk without
the technical input, anecdotal and graphic
evidence, and active participation from
both our legislative committee members
and impacted chiefs.
This year was not without its challenges, many of which were quickly put
to rest as a result of timely calls, emails
and letters from our members. Through
grassroots advocacy, we were able to
defeat bad medical marijuana legislation,
prohibition on social media disclosure,
sentencing reform, the expansion of pretrial release, and limitations on the use of
license plate recognition systems.
Despite our best efforts, a handful of
strongly contested bills currently sit on
the Governor’s desk awaiting signature.
Senate Bill 388, by Senator Ted Lieu, will
make a significant change in the current
balance that exists in the Peace Officer
Bill of Rights. Assembly Bill 1327, by Assemblymember Jeff Gorell, would require
a law enforcement agency to obtain a
search warrant to operate an unmanned
aircraft system (UAS). Lastly, assembly
Bill 885, by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, would create an unnecessary jury
instruction where if the court determines
that a prosecuting attorney violated
discovery rules the court is directed to
give the jury an instruction that the jury
shall consider the failure to disclose in
determining whether reasonable doubt of
the defendant’s guilt exists. This special
instruction is not needed as a remedy for
this omission, whether inadvertent or not,
already exists. Calling out the failure to
disclose and associating it with unreasonable doubt will likely lead to increased
not guilty verdicts. With these three opposed bills on the forefront of our minds,
the Cal Chiefs Executive Board met with
Governor Brown on September 9th to
request that he veto these measures.
Next year will undoubtedly present
Cal Chiefs with new legislative challenges. I am confident, however, that the
powerful influence of chiefs can once
again ensure that meaningful bills are
signed into law while many bad bills are
prevented from reaching the Governor’s
desk. Please take time to meet with your
local legislator during the legislative
off-season, your voice makes all the difference. ■
CPCA Presents:
“It was a great
oppor [