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The California Capitol building.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) Advancing the most heralded police reform of the legislative session, the California Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would create a decertification process and reduce legal immunity for crooked law enforcement officers.
By a 26-9 party-line vote, Senate Democrats OK’d the proposal civil rights groups consider to be the most impactful criminal justice reform of the year. One year after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, the bill’s author said the nation’s most populous state could no longer stall in weeding out violent and racist cops.
“Black and brown people are not afforded the same patience, the same restraint or the same respect and reverence for life,” said state Senator Steven Bradford, a Democrat from Gardena, as he rattled off the names of Californians recently killed by police from the Senate floor. “What happened to George Floyd wasn’t rare.”
By Daniela Pardo and Hannah Poukish Sacramento PUBLISHED 11:23 AM PT May. 13, 2021 PUBLISHED 11:23 AM PDT May. 13, 2021
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A bill progressing through California s legislature is trying to create a system to eliminate dangerous cops as part of a series of new police reform legislation.
California is one of only four states along with Hawaii, New Jersey and Rhode Island without a police decertification process.
What You Need To Know
Sen. Steven Bradford introduced Senate Bill 2, which would create a system to decertify police officers for actions of serious misconduct
California is one of only four states without a police decertification process
If the bill passes, a nine-member panel would be assigned to judge police instances of misconduct and
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State Sen. Steven Bradford likened the movement to “a tidal wave.” | Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via AP
California s police reform push remains challenging despite leftward shift
But they still have a tough road ahead.
An early legislative battle between Democrats offered a reminder of the issue’s thorny politics, even in a deep-blue state and cast a shadow on other policing bills, from a new duty-to-intercede standard to expanded misconduct disclosure requirements.
Moderate Democrats nearly blocked a closely watched officer decertification bill in a committee hearing last month, an open display of the power struggle between progressives and law enforcement-aligned moderate Democrats. That bill and nearly a dozen other reform proposals will test the power of a national reckoning that has gained momentum in the wake of George Floyd’s death last summer at the hands of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who was convicte
SACRAMENTO
Despite weeks of street protests over the killing of George Floyd and California’s reputation for progressive politics, a series of major police reforms proposed in Sacramento largely fizzled in 2020.
Backers hoped to have more success in 2021, with the pandemic waning, legislators spending more time on the issue and momentum building to address inequities in policing.
But police reform is hitting hard times again this year, including a plan common in other states to oust bad cops.
Across the nation, 46 states have rules preventing abusive officers from jumping jobs, furthering their careers by switching agencies even after they’ve committed serious misconduct or been fired. California is not one of them but a proposed law to change that is facing unexpectedly fierce opposition at the Capitol.