Legislation

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 and the Attorneys General of Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and the State of Hawaii, Office of Consumer Protection yesterday sent a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee expressing opposition to an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) proposed by Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) that would allow any college approved for military tuition benefits to have unrestricted access to recruit on military bases. 

“Predatory schemes targeting veterans are unconscionable,” said Attorney General Harris.  “The proposed amendment would weaken current rules intended to protect our servicemembers, and harm veterans by making them vulnerable to fraud and exploitation.  We must protect our nation’s veterans and servicemembers from predators who would exploit them for their educational benefits.”

Under existing standards, educational institutions already have sufficient access to military installations, especially for counseling purposes.  This amendment would weaken the existing protections and leave veterans and servicemembers more susceptible to aggressive and deceptive recruiters on military properties.

Attorney General Harris and the other state attorneys general also point out that current protections are indeed insufficient and should be strengthened to ensure that servicemembers are able to perform their duties free from harassment by unscrupulous recruiters.

In issuing this letter, the attorneys general join a number of military and veterans service organizations as well as other advocacy organizations in voicing concerns over the amendment. These organizations have noted their opposition in the following letters: http://veteranseducationsuccess.org/s/Letter-to-Manchin-re-NDAA-43d5.pdf

http://veteranseducationsuccess.org/s/Letter-to-McCain-Reed-re-NDAA-Manchin-Provision-arm9.pdf

This letter is Attorney General Harris’ latest effort to protect veterans from targeted scams and predatory practices.  In March of this year, Attorney General Harris obtained a $1.1 billion default judgment against Corinthian Colleges, which targeted servicemembers and veterans and illegally used the seals of the military services in its marketing materials.  Attorney General Harris and seven states also sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs urging VA Secretary Robert McDonald to take steps to ensure that veterans are given accurate information about the risks associated with using their benefits at predatory schools like the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges, Inc.  

Last year, Attorney General Harris issued a consumer alert warning veterans and their survivors to be on alert following a rise in reported pension poaching scams, and last Friday, in honor of Memorial Day, issued consumer tips to help California servicemembers and veterans protect themselves from common scams. In November 2015, Attorney General Harris announced a stipulated judgment against JPMorgan Chase over allegations of credit card debt-collection abuses that violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and the California Military Veterans Code and required the payment of restitution to servicemember-victims nationwide.  The Attorney General’s office has also provided training and support to military legal assistance attorneys on consumer protection issues.

The letter to Senator Manchin opposing the amendment is attached to the online version of this news release at www.oag.ca.gov/news.

SACRAMENTO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today released the following statement after Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 1408, authored by Senator Allen (D – Santa Monica), which would allow life-saving transplants between HIV-positive individuals. Attorney General Harris received a letter earlier this week from a transplant surgeon at University of California, San Francisco and immediately urged the legislature to act to change existing law and allow HIV-positive individuals to receive organ donations from other HIV-positive individuals.

“I applaud Governor Brown and the legislature for working swiftly to eliminate outdated and discriminatory policies that criminalized life-saving organ transplants between HIV-positive donors and recipients.  Through tremendous, bi-partisan cooperation, our state's elected officials acted on a rare opportunity to immediately save lives.”

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and the Attorneys General of 12 other states and the District of Columbia today sent a letter to the leaders of both houses of Congress, urging them to immediately direct funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to research causes and prevention of gun-related injuries and deaths.

“Gun violence terrorizes our communities and threatens our public safety,” said Attorney General Harris. “As Attorney General, I see the devastating impact of gun violence every day.  I urge Congress to lift the restriction on funding research into the causes of gun violence, which will promote public safety and save lives.”

The CDC distributes over $11 billion in research grants annually, but since 1996 Congress has restricted the use of any CDC funds to research gun violence prevention. While more than half a million Americans have died from gun violence over the past twenty years, federal funding for gun violence research has been cut by 96 percent.

The letter, also signed by the Attorneys General of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont , Virginia, and Washington calls on Congress to fund the CDC to research urgent questions about the root causes of gun violence and ways to most effectively intervene and prevent gun-related injuries and deaths, such as gun safety improvements or counseling by healthcare providers.

The Attorneys General wrote in the letter that more than 33,000 people die every year in the United States from gun violence and unintentional shootings account for an additional 600 deaths annually. Gun violence also disproportionately affects communities of color, as African Americans are nearly twice as likely to be injured or killed by guns as white individuals. 

Attorney General Harris has prioritized implementing effective gun safety measures in California. This year, she called for California to strengthen its research efforts around gun violence prevention, supporting SB 1006, authored by Senator Lois Wolk, to urge the University of California Regents to establish a California Firearm Violence Research Center.

Since November 2013, Attorney General Harris has brought the number of individuals in the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) database to a historic low of under 11,000, the lowest level since 2008—effectively removing nearly 25,000 individuals who are prohibited from owning a firearm due to their criminal history, mental health status, or existence of a restraining order.

In 2013, Attorney General Harris also convened a Leadership Group of California’s district attorneys to collaboratively develop recommendations to reduce gun violence through enforcement of existing laws and prevention efforts.

The letter is attached to the online version of this news release at oag.ca.gov/news.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today released the following statement, as leaders in the California State Assembly unveiled a package of bills aimed at reducing gun violence. 

“An epidemic of gun violence has cost too many Californians their lives and jeopardized public safety for too long.  As California's chief law enforcement officer, I see the urgent need to pass sensible gun safety legislation that aims to keep our streets and communities safe.  This is why I am working with members of our legislature to pursue these common sense policies.”

In January, Attorney General Harris and Assemblymember David Chiu (D-SF) announced AB 1663, legislation to close the “bullet button” loophole, which allows gun owners to quickly convert a rifle into a semi-automatic assault weapon.  This bill would expand the classification of assault weapons to include semi-automatic center fire rifles, which are capable of accepting detachable magazines. 

Attorney General Harris has made the implementation of effective gun safety measures a priority.  Since November 2013, Attorney General Harris has brought the number of individuals in the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) database to a historic low of under 11,000, the lowest level since 2008—effectively removing nearly 25,000 prohibited individuals.  Over the last three years, the California Department of Justice has also doubled the average number of guns seized annually and increased the number of investigations per month by nearly 300 percent.

In 2011, Attorney General Harris sponsored SB 819 (Leno) to allow the Department of Justice to use existing regulatory fees collected by gun dealers (“DROS fees”) for purposes of regulatory and enforcement activities related to firearms, including management of APPS.  This went into effect January 2012.  In 2013, Attorney General Harris sponsored SB 140 (Leno) to appropriate $24 million in funding from the DROS Account to help support the APPS program; this urgency legislation went into effect immediately in May 2013.

In 2013, Attorney General Harris also convened a Leadership Group of California’s district attorneys to collaboratively develop recommendations to reduce gun violence through enforcement of existing laws and prevention efforts.

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued an information bulletin to California law enforcement agencies to reinforce integral eviction procedures under the California Homeowner Bill of Rights. Under current California law, occupants of a foreclosed property who are not named in eviction documents - such as tenants - can present a “Claim of Right to Possession” form to temporarily stop the eviction process up to and including when the Sheriff comes to remove them from the property.

Following the 2012 national mortgage settlement, Attorney General Harris sponsored the landmark California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR), which took effect on January 1, 2013. The legislation package included additional protections for homeowners and tenants facing foreclosure. Although HBOR has been in effect since 2013, advocacy groups have reported cases in which Sheriffs proceed with the eviction process despite being presented with a Claim of Right to Possession form. This bulletin provides guidance for Sheriffs performing evictions following a foreclosure. 

“This bulletin clarifies integral protections and due process available under the Homeowner Bill of Rights,” said Attorney General Harris.  “I sponsored this bill to provide a fair process for vulnerable Californians who are facing the loss of their homes. I thank the advocacy organizations for their tireless work on behalf of those affected by the foreclosure crisis."

Prior to HBOR, occupants who were not named in an Unlawful Detainer Complaint were required to respond to a “Prejudgment Claim of Right to Possession” within 10 days of service. This is no longer the case.  Under HBOR, certain post-foreclosure occupants, such as tenants, can temporarily stop the eviction process by presenting a Claim of Right to Possession, including at the time of the lockout, to the Sheriff at the property. Once a claim is presented, the Sheriff should take no further action until notified by the court.  The bulletin further instructs Sheriffs on how to respond when presented with a Claim of Right to Possession. 

“HBOR provides critical protections for tenants in foreclosed properties.  Western Center on Law & Poverty is grateful to the Attorney General for providing guidance to the sheriffs who play a key role in implementing these protections and ensuring that innocent tenants will not be evicted without notice,” said Madeline S. Howard, Senior Staff Attorney at the Western Center on Law and Poverty. 

“Over 1 million California tenants suffered displacement after their landlords’ foreclosure from 2008-2012.  The tenant protections of HBOR helped address this crisis, and the Claim of Right to Possession gave tenants a new tool to assert their rights. However, many tenants have had difficulty using this procedure because it was new and education was limited.  Tenants Together believes that this Bulletin will significantly improve the use of the Claim of Right to Possession and ensure that Sheriffs across the state are able to properly follow the legal process,” said Leah Simon-Weisberg, Legal Director at Tenants Together. 

Western Center and Tenants Together have received calls asking for assistance with the prejudgment claim process and reports of post-foreclosure eviction abuse from tenants in the Central Valley, Inland Empire, and the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Attorney General Harris has worked to ensure that California’s homeowners are treated fairly and with consideration during the foreclosure process. In 2011, she created the Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, which was tasked with the responsibility to investigate and prosecute misconduct related to aspects of the mortgage process. In February 2012, Attorney General Harris secured more than $20 billion for struggling California homeowners from the nation’s five largest banks.

The Attorney General has also taken steps to improve relations between the public and law enforcement agencies. In 2015, she directed a review of her Division of Law Enforcement's policies on implicit bias and the use of force. Following the 90-day Review, Attorney General Harris created the first POST-certified course on Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias in the United States. In 2016, she sponsored legislation that would create a stand-alone course for peace officers on principled policing, procedural justice and implicit bias. She later formed the 21st Century Policing Working Group, which has convened several times to discuss its current progress and strategies to improve policing policies to fit the needs of today.   In addition, Attorney General Harris sent a bulletin to law enforcement making clear that federal immigration detainers are voluntary and that law enforcement agencies should direct resources in a manner that best serves their community.

SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced her support for the Homeowner Survivor Bill of Rights, California Senate Bill 1150, legislation authored by Senators Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton).  The proposed bill would require companies that collect payments from borrowers—mortgage loan servicers— to communicate with the widowed spouses and survivors of homeowners to ensure that survivors receive accurate information about assuming responsibility for a mortgage and avoiding foreclosure. This legislation builds on Attorney General Harris’ work in 2011, when she secured $20 billion in relief for California homeowners.

“Following the devastating loss of a loved one, too many Californians also face the possibility of being stripped of their home. This proposed legislation requires mortgage servicers to communicate with spouses and children of deceased homeowners and gives them a fighting chance to stay in their homes,” said Attorney General Harris. “I thank Senators Leno and Galgiani for their efforts to extend critical financial and legal services to Californians facing unnecessary foreclosures.”

The proposed legislation would allow survivors or heirs to simultaneously apply for both loan assumption and loan modification and provide a single point of contact with the lender. The California Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on the legislation this afternoon.

“Instead of getting basic information on how to proceed with a home loan following the death of a loved one, surviving spouses and children face a labyrinth of paperwork and conflicting directions and requests, which only prolongs their grief,” said Senator Leno. “Many family members unnecessarily lose their homes without ever knowing they had the right to assume the loan or seek foreclosure remedies. Before more families give up, we must step in.”

"As California's senior population increases, so does this problem. Through its common-sense protections, SB 1150 would prevent additional, unnecessary, ‘red-tape foreclosures’ on widows, widowers, and other heirs,” said Kevin Stein, Associate Director at California Reinvestment Coalition.

In 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued guidance stating that “servicer[s] must have policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure that, upon notification of the death of a borrower, the servicer promptly identifies and facilitates communication with a successor in interest of the deceased borrower with respect to the property that secures the deceased borrower’s mortgage loan.”  Despite this guidance, the California Department of Justice continues to receive reports that mortgage servicers are refusing or failing to communicate with widows and orphans of deceased homeowners.  SB 1150 would require servicers to communicate with successors and prevent families from facing unnecessary foreclosures after the deaths of their loved ones. 

In 2012, Attorney General Harris helped to enact the California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR), a landmark package of laws establishing key mortgage and foreclosure protections to California homeowners and borrowers.  The laws, which took effect on January 1, 2013, restrict dual-track foreclosures, guarantee struggling homeowners a reliable point of contact at their lender, impose civil penalties on fraudulently signed mortgage documents, and require loan servicers to document their right to foreclose.  Dual-track foreclosures refer to a practice whereby a lender forecloses on a home while homeowners are simultaneously seeking a loan modification.

The California Homeowner Bill of Rights also extended the statute of limitations to prosecute mortgage fraud-related crimes to three years and allowed the Attorney General’s office to use statewide grand juries to investigate and indict the perpetrators of financial crimes involving victims in multiple counties.  For more information, see http://oag.ca.gov/hbor.

In May 2011, Attorney General Harris created a Mortgage Fraud Strike Force within the California Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute misconduct at all stages of the mortgage process and in February 2012, Attorney General Harris secured an unprecedented settlement with the nation’s five largest banks, securing $20 billion in relief for California homeowners.

SB 1150 is sponsored by the California Alliance for Retired Americans, Housing and Economic Rights Advocates and California Reinvestment Coalition.

SACRAMENTO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Assemblymembers Reggie Jones- Sawyer and Rob Bonta have introduced legislation to expand Principled Policing training to law enforcement agencies across the state to address issues of implicit bias and community trust.

The legislation, AB 2626, would require the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to create and offer a course for peace officers on procedural justice and implicit bias. The new law enforcement training would be modeled on the POST-certified course created by Attorney General Harris last year, the first of its kind in the country.

“Bias in policing undermines the public’s trust and has devastating effects on the safety and well-being of our communities,” said Attorney General Harris. “AB 2626 will establish a critical new law enforcement training that leads with the community policing principles of respect and dialogue, and directly addresses the crisis of confidence between peace officers and the communities we are sworn to protect.”  

"As Chair of the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color in California, I was proud to introduce AB 2626 with Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer to address implicit bias," said Assemblymember Bonta. "AB 2626 will strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and the community and help ensure better outcomes during police-community interactions. We know that working with the community, and truly understanding the community’s experiences, can reduce crime and promote respect for the rule of law. AB 2626 will help rebuild community trust in law enforcement, stop the disproportionate flow of boys and men of color in to our criminal justice system, and ensure that every Californian experiences real, unfettered justice."

Procedural justice is an approach to policing that emphasizes the importance of treating everyone equally and with respect. Implicit bias, which is thoughts or feelings about social groups that can influence decisions or actions, can be a barrier to procedural justice. The training proposed in AB 2626 would work to create statewide awareness of both procedural justice and implicit bias in order to build trust and improve public and officer safety.

In addition, AB 2626 would require POST to develop guidelines and trainings enabling peace officers to teach the course to other officers in their agencies. If passed, the bill will require POST to offer the basic principled policing course and the trainer course beginning in June 2017.

“It is undeniable that racial profiling continues to exist within policing and the criminal justice system,” said Assembly Member Reginald Jones-Sawyer. “In order to reduce incidents of police brutality it is critical that law enforcement receive training on how  to overcome implicit racial bias.”

“On behalf of POST, we are proud to join Attorney General Harris in offering this innovative course on Principled Policing.” said Bob Stresak, Executive Director of POST.  “The high enrollment in this course is a testament to California's law enforcement leaders recognizing that California's communities deserve the highest levels of professional service and that they are  committed to making every effort to accomplish this goal.”

In November 2015, the California Department of Justice held the first trainings of its POST-certified course, Principled Policing:  Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias. The trainings were conducted in partnership with the Stanford University Center for Social Psychology Answers to Real World Questions (SPARQ), Stanford Professor Jennifer Eberhardt, Reverend Ben McBride from the Empower Initiative, the Oakland and Stockton Police Departments, and the community organization California Partnership for Safe Communities.

A white paper evaluating the Principled Policing training, published jointly by the Department of Justice and Stanford University Center for SPARQ, assessed 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. According to this evaluation, the course unearthed tremendous hidden potential for the principled policing training to build greater understanding between law enforcement and communities.

This training was developed as part of the California Department of Justice’s 90-Day Review of its own special agent training programs on implicit bias and use of force which were announced in April 2015.

Since January 2015, Attorney General Harris has taken several steps to strengthen the trust between law enforcement and California communities. These actions include:

• Directing the Department of Justice’s Division of Law Enforcement to conduct a 90-Day Review of its special agent trainings on implicit bias and use of force.
• Instituting a body camera policy for all DOJ special agent personnel conducting field operations.
• Convening law enforcement, youth and community organizations.
• Creating the 21st Century Policing Working Group to foster discussion regarding implicit bias and building community trust.
• Launching OpenJustice, a first-of-its-kind criminal justice open data initiative that will release unprecedented data while being interactive and easy to use. The tool spotlights key criminal justice indicators and embraces transparency in the criminal justice system to strengthen trust, enhance government accountability, and inform public policy.
• Creating a POST-Certified Training on Implicit Bias and Procedural Justice.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) today unveiled legislation to modernize California’s collection and publication of criminal justice data. The OpenJustice Data Act builds on Attorney General Harris’s historic open data initiative, OpenJustice, to improve accountability and transparency in California’s criminal justice system.

“Data and technology have the power to dramatically increase transparency and accountability in our criminal justice system,” said Attorney General Harris. “This legislation will bring criminal justice data reporting into the 21st Century. I thank Assemblymember Irwin for standing with me to support the adoption of technology by law enforcement.”

Assembly Bill 2524 will convert Crime in California and other annual reports published by the California Department of Justice into digital data sets that will be published on the Attorney General’s OpenJustice Web portal.  These reports provide statistical summaries including numbers of arrests, complaints against peace officers, hate crime offenses, and law enforcement officers killed or assaulted. The OpenJustice Web portal will transform the way this information is presented to the public with interactive, accessible visualization tools, while making raw data available for public interest researchers.

"Right now we are sitting on mountains of valuable criminal justice data that local law enforcement work hard to provide in the public interest.  We need to make sure that this information is available to the public and that we are using it effectively.  AB 2524 is a common-sense measure that will help bring California into the 21st century,” said Assemblymember Irwin.

Additionally, AB 2524 will bring the state’s data collection into the 21st century by requiring local law enforcement agencies to submit all currently required statistical reports digitally.  Despite the fact that electronic reporting provides for more accurate and efficient data submission, approximately 60% of local law enforcement agencies still submit required data to the California Department of Justice (DOJ) on paper.  The OpenJustice Data Act will direct all agencies to transition to digital reporting, which will improve the quality and completeness of data, allow for more frequent updates to data contained within the OpenJustice Web portal, and ensure a much more efficient use of taxpayer resources in the long-term.

“I look forward to working with Attorney General Harris and Assemblymember Irwin to further advance our commonly shared goal of strengthening the relationships between law enforcement and the communities in which we live and serve.  Law enforcement leaders across California stand ready to ensure that the modernization of data reporting is feasible for even the smallest of police departments.  The alchemizing of this data will serve to better inform Californians about the crime our officers encounter every day and the subsequent actions taken,” said Oxnard Police Chief Jeri Williams.

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

Last month, the Attorney General announced the release of OpenJustice 1.1, which enriched the Web portal’s initial data sets with city, county, and state level context 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 informed, data-driven public policy.

Attorney General Harris has announced that the Department of Justice will augment the OpenJustice Web portal with new criminal justice datasets created through recent legislation, including reports on racial and identity profiling (AB 953, Weber) and officer and civilian-involved uses of force (AB 71, Rodriguez). 

Attorney General Harris has also taken several steps to strengthen the 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.

SACRAMENTO – Today, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced her sponsorship of legislation to combat human trafficking, Assembly Bill 1731 by Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego).  The bill creates the Statewide Interagency Human Trafficking Task Force, which would be a permanent collaborative entity led by the California Department of Justice in partnership with other government agencies.

“Human trafficking is one of the world’s most heinous and profitable criminal enterprises,” said Attorney General Harris.  “This legislation will help combat human trafficking by ensuring coordination between a wide range of agencies and partners.  I applaud Speaker Emeritus Atkins for fighting this abhorrent crime.”

The task force created through AB 1731 is a successor to the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery (CA ACTS), a temporary entity established by AB 22 (Lieber) in 2006.  That bill, which was sponsored by Attorney General Harris while she served as San Francisco District Attorney, made human trafficking a crime in the state, provided restitution to trafficking victims, and directed the CA ACTS to produce the first comprehensive report on human trafficking in California.

In 2012, Attorney General Harris temporarily reconstituted a Human Trafficking Work Group to publish a second report.  Both reports dramatically expanded the state’s understanding of the scope and nature of modern day slavery, and the Attorney General has since sponsored previous legislation based on their findings.

As a sponsor of AB 1731, Attorney General Harris will assist Speaker Emeritus Atkins in developing a new task force that builds on the success of California’s previous collaborative models.  This permanent entity demonstrates a long-term commitment from California to ending both sex and labor trafficking within the state.  The task force’s initial priorities will be to identify data-driven solutions to combatting slavery, improving interagency cooperation, and increasing public awareness.

“Human trafficking is modern day slavery, and it will take vigilance, collaboration, and hard work among many different sectors to end it,” said Speaker Emeritus Atkins. “Attorney General Harris’ backing of this legislation will go a long way in ensuring California develops the kind of taskforce we need to effectively battle human trafficking in our state.”

In addition to her sponsorship of AB 1731, Attorney General Harris also announced her support for AB 1730 by Speaker Emeritus Atkins, a bill to establish housing programs that provide trauma-informed mental health services for child sex trafficking victims.  Both bills unanimously passed out of Assembly Public Safety Committee last week.

Attorney General Harris has made fighting human trafficking a priority for the California Department of Justice.  Last year, the Office of the Attorney General released a Resource Guide to help companies comply with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, a law requiring large retailers and manufacturers in California to post their supply chain policies online.  In 2014, Attorney General Harris released Gangs Beyond Borders, a report that highlighted the growing role of transnational criminal organizations in the human trafficking underground economy.

In February 2015, Attorney General Harris created the Bureau of Children’s Justice to enforce criminal and civil laws to hold those who prey on children accountable; work with local, state, and national stakeholders to increase support for vulnerable children; and identify and pursue improvements to policies impacting children.  One of the Bureau’s core priorities is human trafficking of vulnerable youth, including foster children.

For more information on the Attorney General’s work on human trafficking, visit oag.ca.gov/human-trafficking.