Civil Rights

First-of-its-kind report highlights DOJ’s actions to defend and expand civil rights of the LGBTQ+ community in spite of ongoing threats to justice and equality

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, in honor of LGBTQ+ Pride month, issued a new “State of Pride Report” highlighting the California Department of Justice's (DOJ) recent actions to support, uplift, and defend the rights of LGBTQ+ communities across California and beyond. Pride Month is a time to celebrate the beautiful strength and diversity of LGBTQ+ communities, as well as to reflect on the struggles, sacrifices, and historic accomplishments of the LBGTQ+ civil rights movement. Despite the immense progress that has been achieved, more work remains to be done. Amidst alarming and increasing attacks on LGBTQ+ communities — from book bans to states pushing discriminatory policies across the nation, DOJ remains steadfast in its commitment to fight alongside LGBTQ+ communities in pursuit of justice and equality.

“As a committed LGBTQ+ ally, I firmly believe that everyone deserves to be safe, healthy, prosperous, and celebrated for who they are — regardless of how they identify or who they love,” said Attorney General Bonta. “As we come together this Pride Month to celebrate our LGBTQ+ communities, we must also recommit ourselves to the ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights at home and across the country. Today’s report shows the California DOJ's commitment to defending, expanding, and advancing LGBTQ+ rights. However, I know that there is substantial work yet to be accomplished. Our pursuit of equality knows no boundaries, and I vow to continue using every tool at my disposal to protect and promote the rights and well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals."

The State of Pride Report presents detailed insights into DOJ's latest initiatives to confront hate crimes and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals. One significant initiative is the launch of the Office of Community Awareness, Response, and Engagement (CARE), and collaborating with community organizations and the public to proactively address hate crimes. The report emphasizes the efficacy of the Attorney General's Hate Crime Rapid Response Protocol, which equips local law enforcement with the essential resources to efficiently handle significant hate crimes and extremism. Furthermore, DOJ is committed to combating discrimination in classrooms, sports, healthcare, and public spaces. The report focuses on DOJ's work to cultivate safe environments for LGBTQ+ students free from bullying, enable transgender athletes to participate in sports aligned with their gender identity, offer LGBTQ+ individuals access to gender-affirming healthcare, and advocate for inclusive public business accommodations, irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The State of Pride Report also underscores the ongoing adversities LGBTQ+ individuals face in California and nationwide. Despite considerable progress, many LGBTQ+ individuals still experience discrimination, harassment, and violence in their daily lives, and transgender individuals are especially vulnerable, facing high rates of poverty, unemployment, and homelessness. These challenges demonstrate the need for ongoing protective efforts to uphold and expand LGBTQ+ individuals' rights, enable all individuals to live free from discrimination and violence, and collaborate toward creating a more just and inclusive society.

Key data points in the State of Pride Report depict the reality of hate crimes and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals:

• About 2.7 million or 9.1% of California adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender — the largest share of any highly populated state and one that is “considerably higher” than the national figure of 7.9%. 
• Unfortunately, in California between 2021 and 2022, there were over 391 reported hate crime events motivated by sexual orientation bias, and 45 hate crimes motivated by anti-transgender or anti-gender non-conforming bias. 
• LGBTQ+ children have been victimized and bullied at rates four times higher than their non-LGBTQ+ peer groups. This hate has a compounding impact on their physical and mental well-being: Nearly half of all LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered suicide in 2022.
• Across the United States, 2022 was a record-breaking year for state-level, anti-LGBTQ+ bills, with more than 200 pieces of legislation introduced in over 40 state legislatures that aimed to codify discrimination in classrooms, sports, healthcare, and public spaces. 

This data underscores the pressing need for sustained, vigorous efforts to combat hate crimes and discrimination against LGBTQ+ communities in California and across the nation. The State of Pride Report can be accessed at https://oag.ca.gov/lgbtq. For additional information on hate crimes and LGBTQ+ discrimination, please visit https://oag.ca.gov/hatecrimes. 

Review comes amidst allegations of bigoted text messages and other potentially discriminatory misconduct 

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced initiating a civil rights investigation into the Antioch Police Department (APD). The investigation will seek to determine whether the law enforcement agency has engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing amid deeply concerning allegations relating to bigoted text messages and other potentially discriminatory misconduct. If, through this investigation, the Attorney General’s Office determines that unlawful activity or practices took place, the office will also determine what potential actions are needed to ensure comprehensive corrective action takes place at APD.

“It is our job to protect and serve all of our communities,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Police departments are on the front lines of that fight every day as they work to safeguard the people of our state. However, where there are allegations of potentially pervasive bias or discrimination, it can undermine the trust that is critical for public safety and our justice system. It is our responsibility to ensure that we establish a culture of accountability, professionalism, and zero tolerance for hateful or racist behavior, on or off duty.”

Under the California Constitution and California Civil Code section 52.3, the Attorney General is authorized to conduct civil investigations into whether a law enforcement agency has engaged in a pattern or practice of violating state or federal law. As opposed to a criminal investigation into an individual incident or incidents, a pattern or practice investigation typically works to identify and, as appropriate, compel the correction of systemic violations of the constitutional rights of the community at large by a law enforcement agency. With regard to the Antioch Police Department, the Attorney General has made no determinations at this time about specific complaints, allegations, or the agency’s overall policies and practices. The Attorney General’s independent investigation of APD is separate from ongoing or potential administrative or criminal investigations at the local and federal levels.

As interaction and cooperation with the community is at the core of law enforcement’s work to provide public safety and create public trust, the Attorney General encourages anyone with information relevant to this investigation to contact the California Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section at Police-Practices@doj.ca.gov. Members of the public may also send information to the California Department of Justice in other languages. During the course of the investigation, attorneys and special agents at the California Department of Justice will work diligently to consider all relevant information, including from community members and organizations, local officials, oversight entities, Antioch Police Department, and individual officers.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to strengthening trust between local law enforcement and the communities they serve as one key part of the broader effort to increase public safety for all Californians. In February, Attorney General Bonta launched an investigation into allegations of excessive force at the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Last year, the Attorney General assumed responsibility for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s investigation related to contracts awarded to a local nonprofit. He worked with authorities in San Francisco to help ensure the continuation of local oversight efforts related to officer-involved shootings, in-custody deaths, and severe uses of force. Attorney General Bonta also opened a pattern or practice investigation into the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. In 2021, the Attorney General launched an independent review of the Torrance Police Department and secured a stipulated judgment against the Bakersfield Police Department requiring an extensive range of actions to promote public safety. Attorney General Bonta also established the Racial Justice Bureau within the Civil Rights Enforcement Section to, among other things, help address issues of implicit and explicit bias in policing.

Request information from the NFL relating to possible violations of federal and state employment discrimination laws

LOS ANGELES – California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced a joint investigation into allegations of employment discrimination and a hostile work environment at the National Football League (NFL). The NFL has offices in New York and California with more than 1,000 employees. The joint investigation will examine the workplace culture of the NFL and allegations made by former employees, including potential violations of federal and state pay equity laws and anti-discrimination laws.  The Attorneys General today issued subpoenas to the NFL seeking relevant information. 

“California will not tolerate any form of discrimination,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We have serious concerns about the NFL’s role in creating an extremely hostile and detrimental work environment. No company is too big or popular to avoid being held responsible for their actions.”

“No person should ever have to endure harassment, discrimination, or objectification in the workplace,” said Attorney General James. “No matter how powerful or influential, no institution is above the law, and we will ensure the NFL is held accountable.”

In February 2022, the New York Times reported on more than 30 former female employees alleging gender discrimination and retaliation after they had filed complaints with the NFL’s human resources division. More recently, a former female manager filed an employment discrimination lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging age, sex and gender discrimination and a hostile work environment. Additional lawsuits filed against the NFL pertain to race discrimination targeting a Black female employee and sexual harassment of a female wardrobe stylist, amongst others. Last year, the U.S. Congressional Committee on Oversight and Reform initiated a congressional inquiry into allegations of workplace misconduct by an NFL team owner. The Committee held oversight hearings to determine the magnitude of the situation, including the role played by NFL leadership, and included calls for reform in its report.

Despite reports and allegations of abuse perpetrated by both players and male staff, allegations that the NFL has not taken sufficient effective steps to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation from occurring in the workplace persist. The Attorneys General of California and New York are exercising their legal authority to seek information from the NFL regarding allegations of gender pay disparities in compensation, harassment, and gender and race discrimination. 

Attorney General Bonta is committed to defending workers' rights, workplace safety, and California's fair and competitive labor market. Through the Civil Rights Enforcement Section, the Worker Rights and Fair Labor Section, and the Antitrust Law Section, Attorney General Bonta enforces California’s laws to protect the welfare of California workers and legitimate businesses operating in the state. The California Department of Justice has a long-standing practice of defending Californians from employment discrimination, including on the grounds of age, race, gender, and sex. In March 2023, Attorney General Bonta joined 17 attorneys general in supporting the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed rule limiting noncompete agreements. In November 2022, Attorney General Bonta joined 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief opposing McDonald’s attempt to evade liability for past alleged efforts to stifle competition and undercut wages through the use of “no-poach” agreements. In October 2022, Attorney General Bonta filed an amicus brief in an effort to protect Californians from discrimination in the employment hiring process.  

Local municipalities put on notice regarding the adverse effects of Crime-Free Housing policies and urged to comply with federal and state fair housing laws

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced statewide guidance to address Crime-Free Housing policies that disproportionally discriminate against people of color, survivors of domestic violence, people with disabilities, and justice-involved individuals. Crime-Free Housing policies can compound the impact of racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system by replicating those inequalities in the housing system. The California Department of Justice will provide the guidance issued today to all cities and counties throughout California to urge local municipalities to review and potentially reconsider aspects of their Crime-Free Housing policies to ensure compliance with civil rights laws and fair housing regulations.

“In California, we’re taking action to end housing discrimination and foster diverse communities,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The statewide guidance issued today presents clear legal standards and procedures to proactively prevent discriminatory housing practices within localities. Tenants have rights under the Fair Employment and Housing Act and other California laws that protect against many forms of housing discrimination, and this guide aims to ensure we are eliminating barriers to housing and promoting equal opportunities.”

Hundreds of cities and counties within California have adopted Crime-Free Housing ordinances or programs in the past few decades. These policies may induce property owners to use tenant screening tactics that are prohibited by California law. In particular, landlords may evict tenants based on their calls seeking law enforcement assistance—for example, in response to domestic violence—or based on mere allegations of criminal activity, rather than convictions.  

Discriminatory housing restrictions have historically been used to perpetuate racial segregation in communities. The state guidance on Crime-Free Housing policies highlights local jurisdictions’ obligations under federal and state law to ensure equal access to housing. Local jurisdictions should be particularly mindful of the following ways in which Crime-Free Housing policies may run afoul of the state Fair Employment and Housing Act and/or the federal Fair Housing Act: 

• Using dehumanizing, derogatory, or racially charged or coded language in any local policies and ordinances, including but not limited to any training materials, manuals, and workbooks on Crime-Free Housing policies;
• Instructing or encouraging property owners to adopt screening practices or rental policies under which landlords broadly deny tenancy to applicants with any criminal history or encourage tenants to “screen themselves” on that basis;
• Initiating evictions or directing or inducing landlords to evict tenants based solely on arrests or other interactions with law enforcement rather than convictions; and
• Taking adverse actions against tenants who seek law enforcement assistance or discouraging tenants from seeking such assistance.

The Attorney General’s office has the authority to investigate local jurisdictions if they are found to be violating any California or federal housing laws.

A copy of the statewide guidance can be found here.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Following last year’s launch of an unprecedented criminal justice open data initiative, OpenJustice, and the passage of Assembly Bill 71, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today launched a web-based tool that allows California law enforcement agencies to digitally report law enforcement or civilian uses of force. As part of the Attorney General’s commitment to promoting government adoption of technology, this tool was built as an open-source project and the software code will be made available free of charge to other law enforcement agencies around the country. A public demo of the tool is available at ursusdemo.doj.ca.gov.     

Previously, law enforcement officers in California reported on any death in custody on paper forms. No state in the country, including California, collected data on any non-lethal use of force.  Assembly Bill 71, authored by Freddie Rodriguez (D-Pomona), and supported by Attorney General Harris, created a new requirement for California law enforcement agencies to annually report to the California Department of Justice data on any incidents that occurred in the previous year involving use of force by a civilian or peace officer against the other that involves a firearm or results in serious bodily injury or death.

The online platform, nicknamed URSUS after the bear on the California flag, can be accessed by any law enforcement agency in the state to report use of force data in an all-digital format, rather than by using a lengthy paper form. Today’s launch is a beta release to the field in advance of the January 1, 2017 reporting deadline for data from 2016 so that law enforcement agencies may use the tool during the fall and provide feedback to our office, which may be incorporated to enhance the tool’s functionality.  

“As a country, we must engage in an honest, transparent, and data-driven conversation about police use of force,” said Attorney General Harris.  “I am proud that California continues to lead the nation in the adoption of technology and data to improve our criminal justice system and keep our streets safe.”

One of the objectives of the OpenJustice initiative is to modernize data infrastructure, and this reporting tool will dramatically improve the speed and quality of data submitted, allowing data from the most complex incidents to be entered by law enforcement in under five minutes. The application includes dynamic screening questions and intelligent error-checking to help agencies input more accurate data. In addition, the platform’s advanced security features and role-based review workflows improve data reliability and integrity. This tool also minimizes costs for law enforcement, as its web-based interface and cloud storage reduce the need for local investment in custom data collection systems.

“The California Police Chiefs Association was an early supporter of AB 71, relating to use of force data, and has been collaborating with the Department of Justice ever since the bill was signed by the Governor last year,” said CA Police Chiefs Association President Chief Ken Corney. “We believe it is a sound practice to gather and report use of force data and make this information available to the public.”

“I commend Attorney General Harris on her development and launch of URSUS,” said California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow.  “URSUS will assist law enforcement in gathering critical data involving use of force by a peace office, or by a civilian against a peace officer, that results in serious injury or death or involves the use of a firearm in order to meet the requirements of Assembly Bill 71. I am confident the introduction of URSUS and the collection of this data and information will improve the relationship between law enforcement and the communities that we serve.” 

“We are proud to participate in this very important program. This technology is crucial to providing accurate public data on incidents involving the use of force,” said Walnut Creek Police Chief Thomas Chaplin.  “We wholeheartedly support this approach to create additional transparency and ease of accessibility for use of force data.”  

In addition to facilitating statewide collection, this tool also provides a suite of analytical tools for local agencies to better monitor incidents in their own jurisdictions, including features such as a dashboard, interactive charts, and pivot tables. Smaller agencies that may not currently have their own tracking systems will particularly benefit from these tools. 

The reporting tool was built through a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the California Department of Justice and Bayes Impact, a technology-for-good non-profit organization. In her continuing efforts to bring civic technology to government, Attorney General Harris established this unique partnership combining the California Department of Justice’s knowledge and expertise in law enforcement with Bayes Impact’s expertise in agile software development. The application was developed in just over six months, in ongoing collaboration with 12 pilot law enforcement agencies.

As part of the Attorney General’s commitment to ensuring that government technology serves the public, this tool was built as an open-source project and the software code will be made available free of charge to other states and agencies. Its open-source nature will also reduce ongoing maintenance costs as compared to a proprietary solution. 

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the OpenJustice Data Act of 2016 (Assembly Bill 2524), which the California Legislature unanimously passed last month. This law, sponsored by Attorney General Harris and authored by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), will convert Crime in California and other annual reports published by the California Department of Justice into digital datasets, which will be published on the Attorney General’s OpenJustice Web portal. The data from AB 71 will be posted on OpenJustice in early 2017.

Attorney General Harris first launched the OpenJustice initiative in 2015 as a mechanism for improving trust between communities and law enforcement, enhancing government accountability, and informing public policy with data. 

Earlier this year, the Attorney General announced the release of OpenJustice 1.1, which enriched the web portal’s initial data sets with city and county level data exploration tools and contextual information including population and demographic information, unemployment rates, poverty rates, and educational attainment levels.  In addition to providing greater transparency, this information enables policymakers to craft more informed, data-driven public policy.

Attorney General Harris has also taken several steps to strengthen the relationship of trust between law enforcement and California communities.  She directed a 90-day Review of her Division of Law Enforcement’s policies on use of force and implicit bias, convened the state’s law enforcement leaders to share best practices through her 21st Century Policing Working Group, created the first POST-certified course on Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias in the U.S., and developed a pilot for body-worn cameras for DOJ Special Agents.

LOS ANGELES - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California has joined friend-of-the-court briefs in two cases supporting transgender rights.  The briefs challenge a recently passed state law denying transgender people access to single-sex bathrooms and similar facilities in schools and workplaces consistent with their gender identity, and support the United States in efforts to ensure that transgender individuals are protected against discriminatory practices that threaten their privacy and public safety.

California joined nine other states (New York, Washington, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont) and the District of Columbia in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of North Carolina in United States v. North Carolina and Carcano v. McCrory, supporting the United States and the private plaintiffs in these two related cases challenging North Carolina’s H.B. 2, the so-called “bathroom bill.”

Attorney General Harris also joined 11 states (Washington, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont) and the District of Columbia in filing an amicus brief in State of Texas v. United States, pending in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, to support the United States’ guidance that discrimination based on gender identity constitutes unlawful discrimination based on sex and that schools risk losing Title IX-linked funding unless they permit students to use facilities consistent with their gender identity.

“This bigoted and discriminatory law targeting transgender individuals is a dangerous step backwards in the long march toward equality for all Americans,” said Attorney General Harris. “I urge the courts to strike down hateful and degrading laws that perpetuate fear and intolerance and to uphold policies—like those in California—that protect transgender people from discrimination.  I will continue to fight for LGBTQ communities to live free from prejudice.”

The amicus brief in the North Carolina cases argues that H.B. 2 undermines public safety by encroaching on transgender persons’ civil rights – often relying on invidious stereotypes – and exposing vulnerable people to hostile situations.  Likewise, the brief submitted in Texas asserts that anti-discrimination laws, like those adopted in California, have enhanced public safety, not detracted from it.  For example, California schools are required by state law to permit students to use single-sex facilities consistent with their gender identity.  Los Angeles Unified School District (USD), San Francisco USD, Sacramento City USD, and Riverside USD have had similar policies in place for many years to protect the rights of transgender students and none of these school districts have reported any incidents or problems with the policies. 

Attorney General Harris has a longstanding commitment to ensuring every citizen, including LGBTQ Americans, are afforded equal treatment under the law.  In 2014, Attorney General Harris sponsored AB 2501 (D-Bonilla) to outlaw the “gay/transgender panic defense.”  She has filed multiple amicus briefs defending same-sex couples’ constitutional right to marry.  In 2013, Attorney General Harris declined to defend Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot measure that would have outlawed same-sex marriage in California. 

When the U.S. Supreme Court issued a historic opinion in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which overturned the Proposition 8 ballot initiative, Attorney General Harris declared that every county in the State of California must recognize same-sex couples’ right to legally marry. 

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the establishment of the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, including the community and law enforcement leaders who will comprise the board membership. The board, as mandated by Assembly Bill 953 authored by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), is tasked with helping to eliminate racial and identity profiling in law enforcement.

"Keeping our communities safe requires a strong relationship of trust between law enforcement and those they are sworn to serve.  The existence of bias in our criminal justice system is destructive to that trust and harms our ability to deliver justice,” said Attorney General Harris. “I look forward to working with these dedicated Californians, who represent our state's rich diversity, to improve policing and restore the trust needed to ensure that our justice system is truly just.”

In October 2015, Governor Brown signed AB 953, known as the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015. The Act includes requirements regarding a number of significant law enforcement issues, including: 1) Collection of data regarding citizen complaints alleging racial and identity profiling; 2) Collection of data regarding law enforcement stops and detentions; and 3) Creation of the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board.

Under the law, Attorney General Harris is responsible for establishing the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, which is tasked with:

·         Advising the Department of Justice in drafting regulations to govern the collection and reporting of pedestrian and traffic stop data;

·         Annually reviewing and analyzing the stop data submitted by law enforcement agencies;

·         Working in partnership with state and local law enforcement agencies to review and analyze racial and identity profiling policies and practices across California; and

·         Conducting evidence-based research on intentional and implicit bias.

The board is comprised of current and former law enforcement officials, attorneys, community and spiritual leaders, university professors, and civil rights activists, including: Angela Sierra, Oscar Bobrow, Chief Edward Medrano, Sheriff David Robinson, President Michael Durant, Commissioner Joe Farrow, Professor Jennifer Eberhardt, Sahar Durali, Tim Silard, Mariana Marroquin, Timothy Walker, Reverend Ben McBride, Pastor J. Edward Boyd, Honorable Alice Lytle, Alex Johnson, Andrea Guerrero, Douglas Oden, and Honorable Micah Ali. Full biographies are included below.

The first meeting of the board will be held on Friday, July 8, 2016 at 10 a.m. in the Auditorium of the Ronald Reagan State Building (300 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013). This meeting is open to the public and the meeting notice and agenda have been posted on the Attorney General’s website. The meeting will also be livestreamed and made available on the Attorney General’s website at https://oag.ca.gov.

More information about the implementation of AB 953 can be found at: https://oag.ca.gov/ab953

Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board Member Biographies

Angela Sierra is the designee of Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. Ms. Sierra is a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the California Department Justice and leads the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section. She has been a lawyer in the Department of Justice for over 29 years, focusing on police practices, voting rights, housing and employment discrimination, civil prosecution of hate crimes, discriminatory and unlawful business practices, disability access, immigration consultant fraud, reproductive rights, Native American cultural protection, and safeguarding essential access to education. 

Oscar Bobrow is serving as the representative of the California Public Defenders Association. Mr. Bobrow is the Chief Deputy Public Defender in Solano County, and previously served as a public defender for 25 years in Contra Costa County’s felony division. He has extensive experience litigating claims of racial bias in the criminal justice system due to the underrepresentation of minority populations in county jury venires.

Edward Medrano is serving as the representative of the California Police Chiefs Association. Chief Medrano has served in law enforcement for over 27 years and was appointed Chief of the Gardena Police Department in 2007. He currently serves as the California Police Chiefs Association’s (CPCA) 1st Vice-President. He also collaborates with the University of Illinois at Chicago as a national trainer and subject matter expert in the field of procedural justice.

David Robinson is serving as the representative of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, and is the Sheriff of the Kings County Sheriff’s Department. He attended the College of the Sequoias Kings-Tulare Police Academy and has worked in law enforcement for over 18 years, including serving as a District Attorney Investigator for the Kings County District Attorney’s Office as a correctional officer in the Kings County Jail.

Michael Durant is the President of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, representing more than 66,000 public safety officers. Durant is a Senior Deputy Sheriff with Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department. During his more than 29-year career in Law Enforcement, he has been assigned to Patrol, Field Training Officer, Investigations, Custody, Transportation, Canine Handler and Public Information Officer.

Joe Farrow is Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol and is the first Japanese-American appointed to lead the agency in its 81-year history. He served as a police officer with the Pacific Grove Police Department before he entered the CHP Academy in 1979. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the California Peace Officers’ Association, and the National Asian Peace Officers’ Association.

Jennifer Eberhardt, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is a professor at Stanford University in the Department of Psychology.  She investigates racial inequality using a wide-ranging array of methods. She has been named a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.  She partnered with the California Department of Justice on its Principled Policing course and published a white paper assessing the effectiveness of the course in educating police officers about procedural justice and implicit bias, as well as shifts in perceptions about police-community relations.

Sahar Durali, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is the Directing Attorney of the Delano office of California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. in Kern County. In this role, she combines litigation, community lawyering, and direct legal services to represent low-income clients in education, civil rights, housing, and employment matters.

Tim Silard, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is President and CEO of the Rosenberg Foundation and has led the foundation’s efforts to make criminal justice reform and public safety a core grant-making focus. He chairs Funders for Safety and Justice in California, and co-chairs the national philanthropic Executives Alliance to Expand Opportunity for Boys and Men of Color Justice Reform and Public Safety Collective Action Table. Previously, he served for 12 years in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

Mariana Marroquin, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is a Guatemalan actress, community advocate, and Program Manager of The Anti-Violence Project at Los Angeles LGBT Center. For more than 15 years, she has worked not only for the LGBT community but also with other underserved populations in the field of HIV prevention, domestic violence, victims’ rights, substance abuse, immigration, advocacy and community organizing. 

Timothy Walker, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is a rising sophomore at San Francisco State University, where he plans to major in Political Science. He has served as a mentor at the Community Coalition, based in South Los Angeles, for the past 6 years. During his time there as a youth he helped lead educational based campaigns, and is now the Leadership Development Director for the Black Student Union at San Francisco State University.

Reverend Ben McBride, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is a long-time advocate for peace and justice through spiritual and community-based leadership. Serving as an executive director of non-profit organizations and a religious leader for nearly 15 years, he moved into one of Oakland’s difficult neighborhoods and became an instrumental partner in re-launching Operation Ceasefire, leading to a 35% reduction in homicides over two years. He serves as the primary civilian trainer for the department’s Procedural Justice & Police Legitimacy Course and partnered with the California Department of Justice on its Principled Policing course.

Pastor J. Edgar Boyd, appointed by Attorney General Harris, is the Pastor of the 142-year-old First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles (FAME), the oldest African American church in the city. As the Chief Executive Officer of FAME, he conceived the recent formation of the South Los Angeles Community Development and Empowerment Corporation to address social and economic issues impacting South Los Angeles. Prior to his assignment at FAME, he served as Pastor of the historic Bethel A.M.E. Church in San Francisco for 20 years. 

Honorable Alice Lytle, appointed by Governor Brown, served as presiding judge at the Juvenile Court in the Sacramento County Superior Court from 1995 to 1996, where she was master calendar judge for landlord-tenant cases from 1989 to 1992. She served as presiding judge at the Sacramento Municipal Court from 1988 to 1989, deputy legal affairs secretary in the Office of Governor Brown in 1979, chief of the California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Fair Employment Practices from 1977 to 1979, and secretary at the California State and Consumer Services Agency from 1975 to 1977.

Alex Johnson, appointed by Governor Brown, is the Executive Director for the Children's Defense Fund-California and leads the organization’s statewide advocacy, policy, program and organizing efforts to ensure access to quality affordable health coverage and care for children and low income families, reforming the juvenile justice system, promoting educational equity, and ending child poverty. He previously served as Assistant Senior Deputy for Education and Public Safety to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx, New York where he advocated for victims of domestic violence.

Honorable Micah Ali, appointed by Senate President pro Tempore De León, serves as Vice President (and Past President) of the Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees. He is President Emeritus of the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association and serves on the Boards of Directors of Friends of the Ballona Wetlands. Mr. Ali has demonstrated his leadership over a broad range of public policy issues, including education, environmental protection, and public health and safety.

Andrea Guerrero, appointed by Assembly Speaker Emeritus Atkins, was born in Mexico City and came to the US in time to start kindergarten. She has worked in San Diego as an attorney and policy advocate, focusing on the issues of immigrant rights and educational equity for the past 10 years. She is currently the Executive Director of the Equality Alliance of San Diego County, a non-profit organization pursuing strategic policy reforms at the local, state, and national level to improve the condition of immigrants, low-income communities, and communities of color.

Douglas Oden, appointed by Assembly Speaker Emeritus Atkins, is currently the Senior Litigation attorney with the law firm of Oden & Greene and has been very active in the legal community on the local, state and national level. He is a former President of the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association and a Past President of the California Association of Black Lawyers.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced her support for Assembly Bill 2466, legislation authored by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), which would ensure state law reflects a recent Superior Court ruling which restored voting rights to individuals serving time under community supervision.  The bill would also expand voting rights to those serving a felony sentence in county jail.

“The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and society, and yet for too long we have stripped certain individuals of that right,” said Attorney General Harris.  “I applaud Assemblymember Weber for her leadership on this issue, because more Californians should be able to fully and meaningfully rebuild their lives, reintegrate into society and participate in our democracy.”

The proposed bill would ensure that individuals on post-release community supervision and mandatory supervision are eligible to vote statewide, codifying a 2014 ruling in the case of Scott v. Bowen, in which the Superior Court of Alameda County found that these individuals retain their voting rights under Section 2, Article II of the California Constitution.  The bill further specifies that a person who is not imprisoned – defined as serving a state or federal prison sentence – or on parole for the conviction of a felony, is eligible to register to vote, effectively guaranteeing that serving a felony sentence in county jail will not strip individuals of their right to vote.

“In our rush to be seen as tough on crime, we have overlooked a fundamental principal of justice in our democracy – fairness in the application of punishments,” said Assemblymember Weber.  “I am grateful for the Attorney General’s support for this legislation. It is significant that the state’s top law enforcement official acknowledges that low-level offenses do not meet the appropriately high threshold for stripping Californians of their Constitutional voting rights.”

In 1976, California ended permanent disenfranchisement and narrowed restrictions on voting eligibility to people currently imprisoned or on parole for a felony conviction.  In 2011, following the passage of the Criminal Justice Realignment Act, more than 60,000 Californians were disenfranchised in the wake of an ongoing debate regarding how to interpret the terms “imprisoned” and “parole.”  This debate was put to rest with the ruling in Scott v. Bowen when the Superior Court of Alameda County drew a distinction between the new forms of community supervision and parole.

Attorney General Harris has worked tirelessly to protect the civil rights of all Californians, including former offenders, LGBTQ individuals, undocumented immigrants, and communities of color.

In 2013, Attorney General Harris joined the Attorneys General of Mississippi and North Carolina in a friend-of-the-court brief in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, urging the United States Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, landmark legislation that prohibited states with a history of voting discrimination from wrongfully restricting the right to vote.

In 2015, Attorney General Harris and 19 other Attorneys General submitted a friend-of-the-court-brief in Evenwel v. Abbott, supporting states’ rights to consider total population rather than voter or potential voter population when establishing fair districting polices.

Attorney General Harris has also pioneered programs to combat recidivism and ensure that individuals released from prison or jail are given a chance to become productive members of society.  In October 2013, she created the Division of Recidivism Reduction and Reentry, which has developed a statewide definition of recidivism, identified grants to fund innovative recidivism programs, and used technology to more efficiently gather crucial recidivism data and metrics.

In 2005, then-San Francisco District Attorney Harris created the Back on Track initiative, a reentry program to reduce recidivism among certain low-level, non-violent drug offenders.  The program reduced recidivism among its graduate to less than 10 percent over a two-year period.  As Attorney General, she created a new version of this initiative, Back on Track–LA, an innovative recidivism reduction partnership with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County Probation Department, and other public and private-sector partners.  This comprehensive anti-recidivism initiative works to hold offenders accountable, while preparing them to reenter society as contributing and law-abiding members of their communities.

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris issued the following statement and video message to commemorate the beginning of Black History Month:

“Black History Month is a time to remember and honor the inspirational leaders of our past and take pride in the progress we have made in the fight for justice; but it is also a time to reflect on the challenges we continue to face today. 

Across the nation, thousands of people are taking to the streets to protest the injustices their communities face.  They are demanding an end to the killing of unarmed boys and men of color, a criminal justice system where the color of one’s skin does not determine one’s fate, increased economic opportunities in communities that have been starved for far too long, and true inclusion and acceptance of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or identity.  As a society, we all must rise to meet these demands if we are to truly live up to our nation’s most sacred values of freedom, equality and justice for all.”

To view Attorney General Harris’s message on the kick-off of Black History Month CLICK HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUWHDNX4NZc&feature=youtu.be.

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris issued the following statement in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:

"Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. united and inspired people to fight for and demand a more just nation in a time of violent and systemic racism, when millions of Americans were denied their right to vote and basic human and civil rights, and when racial enmity was stoked and exploited by voices of reaction.  

Today, many thousands of people, young and old, have been marching in the streets to decry the injustices their communities have suffered for far too long.  They are demanding an end to the killing of unarmed Black men like Trayvon Martin and Walter Scott.  They are demanding a justice system where the color of one's skin does not predetermine the measure of justice received.  They are demanding economic opportunity in long-suffering communities.  And they are demanding true inclusion and acceptance of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or identity.  

Let us recommit ourselves to Dr. King's vision—his unyielding demand for justice and an end to bigotry.  As Dr. King did in his time, let us reject any voice of intolerance that would vilify people based on their race or religion. We must look to Dr. King's vision to inspire real change, not just today but every day."