SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The State Threat Assessment Center (STAC) serves as California’s information-sharing clearinghouse of strategic threat analysis and situational awareness reporting for statewide leadership and the public safety community in support of efforts to prevent, prepare for, mitigate, and respond to all crimes and hazards impacting California citizens and critical infrastructure while preserving civil liberties, individual privacy, and constitutional rights.
(b) The STAC is California’s state primary fusion center, as designated by the Governor, and is operated by the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Office of Emergency Services, and the Department of Justice.
(c) Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) continue to pose a threat to California, public health, and our economic security.
(d) According to the United States Department of the Treasury, it is estimated that drug-related crime alone generated over $100 billion in proceeds in the United States.
(e) There were 7,175 deaths related to any opioid overdoses in California in 2021, of which 5,961 were related to fentanyl, according to the State Department of Public Health.
(f) Mexico-based TCO criminal activity is not limited to drug trafficking, as they engage in a wide variety of other criminal activity. TCOs also facilitated and profited from smuggling migrants into the United States, and their illicit trade activity led to the seizure of over $2.14 billion in intellectual property violations in federal fiscal year 2021, according to the United States Department of Homeland Security.