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AB-1336 Hate crimes: task force.(2021-2022)



Current Version: 03/23/21 - Amended Assembly

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AB1336:v98#DOCUMENT

Revised  April 28, 2021
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 23, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1336

Introduced by Assembly Member Lackey Nguyen
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Calderon, Chen, Choi, Fong, Lackey, Quirk-Silva, and Valladares)
(Coauthors: Senators Bates, Grove, and Wilk)

February 19, 2021

An act to amend Section 71 of the Penal Code, relating to threats. add Section 422.94 to the Penal Code, relating to hate crimes.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1336, as amended, Lackey Nguyen. Threats. Hate crimes: task force.
Existing law defines “hate crime” as a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of actual or perceived characteristics of the victim, including, among other things, race, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. Existing law provides punishments for hate crimes that range from misdemeanors with specified penalties to felonies with additional terms of one to 3 years in state prison, depending on the underlying criminal act and other circumstances.
This bill would require the Board of State and Community Corrections to establish a hate crimes task force. The bill would authorize local law enforcement agencies to participate in the task force through regional task forces, as specified. The bill would require the board to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, administer grants to law enforcement agencies that participate in the regional hate crime task forces. The bill would require funds allocated to the regional task forces to be expended with the goal of reducing hate crimes, identifying suspects engaging in hate crimes, identifying interregional movement of offenders, coordinating enforcement efforts, and promoting law enforcement training and best practices to reduce the incidence of hate crimes. The bill would require the regional task forces to report specified information to the board, and would require the board to compile that information and report it to the Legislature, as specified.

Existing law makes it an offense for any person, with the intent to cause, to attempt to cause, or cause any officer or employee of any public or private educational institution or any public officer or employee to do, or refrain from doing, any act in the performance of their duties, by means of a threat, directly communicated to that person, as specified. Existing law defines directly communicated as including, but not limited to, a communication to the recipient of the threat by telephone, telegraph, or letter.

This bill would clarify that a threat can be directly communicated by means of an electronic communication device for the purposes of this section.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 422.94 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

422.94.
 (a) The Board of State and Community Corrections shall establish a hate crimes task force. Local law enforcement agencies may participate in the task force through regional task forces established by the board. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, grants for the task force shall be administered through the board and allocated to law enforcement agencies that participate in regional hate crime task forces.
(b) The board shall, upon receipt of applications for grants from law enforcement agencies, group the agencies into three regional task forces and designate a lead agency in each region. Each lead agency shall convene a task force consisting of the lead agency and any other participating law enforcement agencies in that region.
(c) Each regional task force shall do all of the following:
(1) Form a joint task force coordination council consisting of the sheriff or chief of police, or a representative of the sheriff or chief of police of the lead agency, and the chiefs of police, sheriffs, or their representatives of each participating law enforcement agency in that region. Each joint task force coordination council shall meet at least quarterly to share intelligence and discuss strategies and tactics to reduce the incidence of hate crimes in the region, to identify and to discuss ways to improve coordination of enforcement activities within that region, with the other regional task forces, and statewide.
(2) Expend funds allocated to the task force shall be for the goal of reducing hate crimes, identifying suspects engaging in hate crimes, identifying interregional movement of offenders, coordinating enforcement efforts, and promoting law enforcement training and best practices to reduce the incidence of hate crimes. Grant funds may be used to pay for officer overtime, travel, training, and related costs.
(3) Upon request, share intelligence regarding hate crime incidents and the identity, location, or other identifying information regarding offenders suspected of committing a hate crime with nonparticipating law enforcement agencies and with other regional task forces.
(4) Upon receipt of a grant pursuant to subdivision (a), the joint task force coordination council for each region shall determine how grant funds will be allocated among participating law enforcement agencies within the regional task force with the goals of maximizing the reduction of hate-related crimes in the region and improving the coordination of intelligence regarding this crime with other regional task forces.
(d) (1) The lead agency of each regional task force shall report to the board at least two years of crime statistics relating to incidents of hate crimes in the jurisdictions participating in the task force. For contract cities, a participating sheriff may designate whether a contract city is, or is not, included within the area covered by the grant and include or omit those statistics, as appropriate. The lead agency shall report to the board hate crime statistics for all participating law enforcement agencies in the regional task force for the two years commencing with the receipt of funds from grants. The report shall also include statistics on the number of arrests made for hate crimes within the two years after receipt of grant funds in each of the law enforcement agencies participating in the regional task force and annually thereafter.
(2) The board shall compile the statistics received from each of the three regional task forces pursuant to paragraph (1) and shall, on or after January 1 of the year subsequent to the receipt of those reports, and annually thereafter, report this information to the Legislature and the Governor and shall post the report on the board’s internet website.
(3) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

SECTION 1.Section 71 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
71.

(a)Every person who, with intent to cause, attempts to cause, or causes, any officer or employee of any public or private educational institution or any public officer or employee to do, or refrain from doing, any act in the performance of their duties, by means of a threat, directly communicated to that person, to inflict an unlawful injury upon any person or property, and it reasonably appears to the recipient of the threat that the threat could be carried out, is guilty of a public offense punishable as follows:

(1)Upon a first conviction, such person is punishable by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

(2)If the person has been previously convicted of a violation of this section, the previous conviction shall be charged in the accusatory pleading, and if that previous conviction is found to be true by the jury, upon a jury trial, or by the court, upon a court trial, or is admitted by the defendant, the person is punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.

(b)As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1)“Directly communicated” includes, but is not limited to, a communication to the recipient of the threat by telegraph, letter, or electronic communication device.

(2)“Electronic communication device” includes, but is not limited to, telephones, cellular telephones, computers, video recorders, fax machines, or pagers. “Electronic communication” has the same meaning as the term defined in Subsection 12 of Section 2510 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

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REVISIONS:
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