AB 2596

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law, the California Values Act, prohibits a California law enforcement agency from providing a person's release date, or responding to a request for notification of a release date, unless that information is available to the public, and prohibits the transfer of an individual to immigration authorities, as specified, unless the person has been convicted of specified crimes or arrested for a serious or violent felony. This bill would instead prohibit a law enforcement agency from providing an immigration authority with information regarding a person's release date or responding to a notification request by providing a release date for the individual or other information in all circumstances. If release dates are available online, the bill would require that the information be released only upon providing the individual's first and last name and would require the person requesting the information to indicate, under penalty of perjury, that the information is not being accessed for immigration purposes. By expanding the existing crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also prohibit a law enforcement agency from complying with a subpoena from an immigration authority seeking information for immigration enforcement purposes unless it is signed by a federal judge or federal magistrate judge. The bill would prohibit a law enforcement agency from transferring an individual to an immigration authority or facilitating or assisting with a transfer request. The bill would prohibit a law enforcement agency from providing an immigration authority with access to a nonpublic area of a facility for immigration enforcement purposes. The bill would remove authority to give immigration authorities access to interview an individual who is in custody. (2) Existing law allows a law enforcement agency to investigate, enforce, or detain or arrest an individual who is deportable for specified criminal activity that is detected during an unrelated law enforcement activity. This bill would delete that authorization. (3) Existing law allows a law enforcement agency to conduct enforcement or investigative duties associated with a joint law enforcement task force with federal law enforcement if the primary purpose of the joint task force is not immigration enforcement. This bill would remove that authority if a purpose of the joint task force is immigration enforcement. (4) Existing law requires the agency to report annually to the Department of Justice the number of transfers it makes to immigration authorities and the offenses that allowed for the transfer. This bill would instead require the law enforcement agency to report the number of immigration hold requests, transfer requests, notification requests, and civil immigration warrants the agency has received, the number the agency responded to, and the reason for each response. By expanding the duties of local law enforcement agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law requires the Attorney General to annually report on the total number of arrests made by joint law enforcement task forces and the total number of arrests made for the purpose of immigration enforcement by all task force participants. This bill would require the Attorney General to report the number of immigration hold requests, transfer requests, notification requests, and civil immigration warrants each law enforcement agency has received, the number each agency has responded to, and the reason for each response. The bill would require the Attorney General to report the number of joint law enforcement taskforces each agency has been involved in, the federal and California law enforcement agencies involved in each, and the total number of arrests made for the purpose of immigration enforcement. (6) Existing law prohibits the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from restricting access to in-prison educational or rehabilitative programming or credit-earning opportunities on the sole basis of citizenship or immigration status, or from considering citizenship or immigration status as a factor in determining a person's classification level. This bill would also prohibit the department from detaining a person on the basis of a hold request, providing an immigration authority with release date information, responding to a notification request, transferring an individual to an immigration authority , or facilitating or assisting with a transfer request regarding an individual who is eligible to be released after serving time for offenses that were committed when the person was 25 years of age or younger. The bill would prohibit the department from detaining an individual on a hold request from an immigration authority, allowing parole agents to facilitate or assist an immigration authority with immigration enforcement, or requesting an immigration authority to place a hold, notification, or transfer request on a person based on information that the person was born in a foreign country. (7) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.