Features

SB67 Vehicle Speed Contests and Reckless Driving (Sideshow 30-Day Car Confiscation) – Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland) 

This is a renewal of the original 2002 legislation, aimed specifically at Oakland’s sideshows, which allowed cars to be towed and held for 30 days solely on a police officer’s word that the car was being used in “vehicle speed contests” (the legal definition of spinning donuts and other auto activity related to sideshows). 

Oakland police officials have said that the original law was an important tool in sideshow enforcement, but Oakland officials allowed the law to lapse in January of this year without providing required information on how it has been enforced. The information still has not been provided, but the bill has passed the state Senate, and is scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly Transportation Committee at 1:30 p.m. June 25 in Hearing Room 4202 in the State Capitol (Committee Chair Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara). 

There are only two Bay Area lawmakers on the Assembly Transportation Committee: Mark Desaulnier (D-Martinez) and Ira Ruskin (D-Los Altos). 

AB45 Oakland Unified School District Local Governance—Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland) 

Streamlines the procedure for a return to local control of the Oakland Unified School District, taking out the discretion by the State Superintendent and putting the decision solely in the hands of the semi-private, legislatively created Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team. 

The legislation has passed the state Assembly and was assigned to the Senate Education Committee last Friday. The committee holds hearings this Wednesday, but SB45 has not yet been included on the hearing roster. Committee members include Chair Jack Scott (D-Pasadena), Vice Chair Mark Wyland (R-Carlsbad), Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose), Jeff Denham (R-Modesto), Abel Maldonado (R-Monterey), Alex Padilla (D-San Fernando Valley), Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), and Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch). 

Senate President Don Perata (D-Oakland), who wrote the original Oakland school takeover legislation, agreed to sponsor AB45 in the Senate after amendments to the original bill. 

SB1019 Peace Officer Records; Confidentiality—Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), Co-Author Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) 

This bill would reopen civilian review board hearings to the public in cities across the state (including Oakland and Berkeley) that were closed following a recent ruling by the California State Supreme Court in Copley Press, Inc. v. The Superior Court of San Diego County. The bill originally provided wider public access to police disciplinary files, but those provisions were later taken out in amendments by the bill’s author. 

It passed the state Senate and was assigned to the Assembly Public Safety Committee on June 11. The committee meets today, Tuesday, June 19, but SB1019 has not yet been placed on the agenda. 

Assembly Public Safety Committee members include Chair Jose Solario (D-Anaheim), Vice Chair Greg Aghazarian (R-Stockton), Joel Anderson (R-El Cajon), Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate), Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), and Anthony Portantino (D-Pasadena).