Attorney General Bonta Highlights Achievements of First Year in Office

OAKLAND – Ahead of the one-year anniversary of his oath of office, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today highlighted the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) achievements in protecting the people of California by investigating and prosecuting violations of the law, while advancing policies to ensure fairness and opportunity. Attorney General Bonta was sworn into office on April 23, 2021 by Governor Gavin Newsom. Since that time, he has continued to lead DOJ and its work to improve the lives of all Californians by protecting public safety, preventing gun violence, and advancing justice for all — especially communities historically marginalized and overlooked — by defending and enforcing laws touching nearly all facets of life, including healthcare, environment, housing, consumer protection, and much more.  

“Having the opportunity to serve as California’s Attorney General and chief law enforcement officer is the honor of a lifetime, and I am proud of all the California Department of Justice has accomplished on behalf of the people of California over the last year,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We made the state safer by investigating and prosecuting bad actors, tackling gun violence and gang-related activity in our communities, and standing up for survivors of human trafficking and domestic abuse. We established new teams to take on California’s housing crisis, fight hate crime, and better engage with historically marginalized communities. We fought to advance environmental justice, defend healthcare and reproductive freedom, and protect consumers across the state.”

Strengthening Public Safety: The number one job of the DOJ is to protect the public’s safety. Under Attorney General Bonta’s leadership, the DOJ worked with local, state, and federal partners: 

• Taking down human trafficking rings in San Diego, Kings County and throughout California, and launching Human Trafficking and Sexual Predator Apprehension Teams within the DOJ;
• Standing up against retail theft by securing felony sentencing in one of the largest organized retail theft operations ever busted in California history, announcing felony charges against members of a statewide organized retail theft ring, and by bringing law enforcement and retailers together to address this problem head-on;
• Dismantling gangs and protecting neighborhoods in Fresno, Sacramento,  San Bernardino, and Visalia;
• Working together with the community to find public safety solutions in Stockton and San Diego; and
• Protecting elders from abuse and neglect by prosecuting bad actors who steal, defraud, or harm and abuse our elders.   

Preventing Gun Violence: While California continues to see lower rates of gun deaths than most other states in our nation, gun violence remains a threat to public safety. In his first year, Attorney General Bonta addressed this issue strategically and aggressively:

• Advocating for commonsense gun laws by sponsoring Assembly Bill 1594 to increase accountability for the firearm industry, working to strengthen federal laws to protect the public from ghost guns, and successfully defending California’s laws to prevent gun violence;
• Seizing guns from prohibited persons in the Armed and Prohibited Persons System, and through multiagency sweeps in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County, operations targeting individuals attempting to illegally purchase guns, and collaboration with local law enforcement partners;
• Ending the sale of illegal firearms by suing manufacturers of ghost gun kits and putting a stop to the sale of illegal assault weapons in Orange County; and
• Improving transparency by expanding gun violence-related data the DOJ releases to researchers. 

Confronting the Forces of Hate and Empowering Diverse Communities: As California and the nation experienced an alarming overall increase in reported hate crimes, Attorney General Bonta combated the effects of hate and worked with partners across the state to build stronger, safer communities. Since taking office, the Attorney General has taken action:

• Issuing critical guidance to help law enforcement, prosecutors, and members of the public work together to strengthen responses to hate crime;
• Responding to the needs of historically marginalized and underrepresented communities and those confronting hate by launching a new Racial Justice Bureau and the Office of Community Awareness, Response, and Engagement (CARE), as well as working within DOJ to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion; 
• Convening leaders across California to tackle the challenge of hate and highlight the efforts of California's diverse communities through roundtables in San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, Riverside, Long Beach, Santa Ana, and San Jose; and
• Protecting civil rights of all, including people with disabilities, LGBTQ Americans, immigrants, and tribal communities.

Fighting Big Polluters and Protecting Communities Living at the Intersection of Poverty and Pollution: Attorney General Bonta is committed to fighting environmental injustices throughout the state of California and being a voice for frontline communities who are all too often under-resourced and overburdened. In his first days in office, Attorney General Bonta announced an expansion of the DOJ’s Bureau of Environmental Justice, and since then has been:

• Fighting for environmental justice and vulnerable communities by taking steps to bring local governments into compliance with state environmental laws including the City of Huntington Park, the City of Fontana, and Fresno County; 
• Taking on corporate polluters, filing a lawsuit against Walmart and securing a settlement against DISH for the illegal disposal of hazardous waste; 
• Fighting climate change by defending federal greenhouse gas standards for light duty vehicles, protecting California's waiver for its Clean Cars Program; and
• Holding local agencies accountable, by securing a court decision requiring the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District to comply with state air monitoring requirements. 

Addressing California’s Housing Crisis: As part of a new effort to advance housing access, affordability, and equity in California, Attorney General Bonta created a Housing Strike Force within the DOJ and launched an online Housing Portal with resources for California homeowners and tenants. Since then, the Housing Strike Force has been:

• Putting local governments on notice that try to sidestep state housing laws, by notifying Woodside, Pasadena, and Encinitas of violations of state housing laws;
• Defending the constitutionality of state housing laws, including SB 10, which allows local governments to rezone certain neighborhoods for denser housing, irrespective of local restrictions;
• Issuing consumer alerts, reminding California tenants of their eviction protection rights under state law, as well as sharing information on relief available to struggling homeowners under the Mortgage Relief Program, tips to avoid foreclosure scams, and tenants’ rights against housing discrimination; and
• Protecting California tenants by warning eviction lawyers against filing false declarations to evict California families and securing a $3.5 million judgment against Wedgewood for unlawfully evicting tenants.

Protecting and Expanding Access to Healthcare and Reproductive Freedom: Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting and expanding access to affordable, quality health care, including reproductive healthcare. He’s taken steps to protect the Californians’ health:

• Tackling the opioid crisis by securing  a multistate settlement against major pharmaceutical distributors and fighting Purdue Pharma’s attempt to avoid responsibility:
• Protecting reproductive freedom by standing up in court against attempts to erode abortion rights in Mississippi, Texas, and Arizona; taking steps to ensure reproductive healthcare is provided in county jails; and issuing a legal alert reminding law enforcement that California law does not criminalize pregnancy loss; and
• Defending affordable, quality healthcare by standing up for the Affordable Care Act, including its preventative care mandate, taking on sham health sharing ministries, and taking on bad actors who inflate drug prices for their own profit.  

Fighting Powerful Interests Who Cheat Californians: Attorney General Bonta has fought to protect consumers and workers and preserve competition in California’s marketplace. Day in and day out, Attorney General Bonta and DOJ are:

• Holding Big Tech accountable by launching nationwide investigations into TikTok and Meta for promotion of its platforms to children and young people, filing a lawsuit against Google for anticompetitive practices, and appealing a ruling in an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook; 
• Enforcing consumer protection laws, announcing a sweep of notices to businesses operating loyalty programs in violation of the California Consumer Privacy Act, as well as securing settlements with Smart & Final over price gouging, UVO for marketing "drinkable" sunscreen, and Perrigo to improve the safety of infant and toddler formula products;
• Protecting student loan borrowers, securing a $22 million court decision against Ashford University for defrauding California students, and a multistate settlement against Navient for misconduct in the servicing and collection of federal student loans; and
• Standing up for workers' rights securing a first-of-its-kind stipulated judgment requiring Amazon to end harmful labor practices that concealed COVID-19 case numbers, pushing for federal legislation to support the right to organize, and directly highlighting key rights in the workplace. 

These ongoing efforts are made possible not only by our partners at the federal, state, and local level, but by the hard work and dedication of the thousands of people employed at the DOJ. They include lawyers, special agents, researchers, information technology technicians, program analysts, legal secretaries, field representatives, scientists, and more. Additional information about the work done at the California Department of Justice is available here. More information on career opportunities is available here.