Kevin McCarty
- Democratic
- Assemblymember
- District 6
Author
Existing law provides a district attorney the discretion to file criminal charges against an individual. Existing law allows a district attorney to complete necessary investigations into alleged criminal conduct and make the decision of whether to proceed with filing criminal charges. Existing law allows a district attorney to participate in any project or program to improve the administration of justice. This bill would, beginning on January 1, 2024, require the Department of Justice to develop and publish "Race-Blind Charging" guidelines whereby all prosecuting agencies, as specified, implement a process to review a case for charging based on information, from which all means of identifying the race of the suspect, victim, or witness have been removed or redacted. Following the department's guidelines, the bill would require prosecution agencies to independently develop and execute a process to review and to redact information based on general criteria, including, beginning January 1, 2025, how cases are to be redacted, that the initial charging evaluation is to determine whether the case should be charged or not charged, and that a prosecutor without knowledge of specified facts is required to perform the initial charging evaluation based on redacted information. The bill would require a second, complete review of the case using unredacted reports and available evidence to consider the applicable individual charges and enhancements to charge in a criminal complaint, or allow the case to be submitted to a jury. If the decision to charge or not to charge after a second review is different from the charging determination after the initial charging evaluation, the bill would require documentation of the change in charging determination as well as an explanation for the change to be part of the case record and would require these documents to be disclosed, upon request, after sentencing or dismissal of the charges, unless the documents are privileged or work product. The bill would require a decision not to put a case through a race-blind charging evaluation to be documented. The bill would authorize a prosecuting agency to remove or exclude certain classes of crimes or factual circumstances from a race-blind initial charging evaluation, including homicides, hate crimes, and cases involving public integrity. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations. By imposing a higher level of service on local prosecutors, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 806, Statutes of 2022.
Approved by the Governor.
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0.).
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5231.).
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 11).
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 14). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S.
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 4869.)
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 19).
In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file.
Read second time and amended.
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 19).
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended.
From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
Introduced. To print.
| Bill Text Versions | Format |
|---|---|
| AB2778 | HTML |
| 02/18/22 - Introduced | |
| 03/31/22 - Amended Assembly | |
| 04/21/22 - Amended Assembly | |
| 06/06/22 - Amended Senate | |
| 06/21/22 - Amended Senate | |
| 09/01/22 - Enrolled | |
| 09/29/22 - Chaptered |
| Document | Format |
|---|---|
| 04/18/22- Assembly Public Safety | |
| 05/10/22- Assembly Appropriations | |
| 05/20/22- ASSEMBLY FLOOR ANALYSIS | |
| 06/10/22- Senate Public Safety | |
| 07/29/22- Senate Appropriations | |
| 08/13/22- Sen. Floor Analyses | |
| 08/30/22- ASSEMBLY FLOOR ANALYSIS |
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