Pursuant to Elections Code Section 9005, we have reviewed the proposed statutory initiative related to data collection and reporting requirements for law enforcement agencies (A.G. File 18-0007).
Law Enforcement Officers Required to Begin Collecting and Reporting Certain Data on All Stops. In 2015, the Legislature enacted legislation requiring that the California Highway Patrol (CHP), city or county law enforcement agencies, and university education institution law enforcement agencies collect and report annually to the Department of Justice (DOJ) certain data on all stops conducted by their officers. Under the legislation, these requirements are to be phased in—based on the size of the particular law enforcement agency—beginning July 1, 2018 and reaching full implementation by January 1, 2022. Specifically, agencies are required to collect data by the following dates:
The specific data that law enforcement are required to collect include: (1) the time, date, and location of the stop; (2) the reason for the stop; (3) the perceived race or ethnicity, gender, and age of the stopped individual; and (4) the result of the stop. As required by state law, DOJ issued regulations in November 2017 that specify all the data elements that nearly 500 law enforcement agencies must collect and the collection and reporting standards they must follow.
Advisory Board on Racial and Identity Profiling. In adopting the above requirements, the Legislature also established the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA) to (1) eliminate racial and identity profiling and (2) improve diversity and racial and identity sensitivity in law enforcement. (State law defines racial and identity profiling as any use of actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability by law enforcement when deciding whether to make a stop and what activities will ensue after a stop is made.) Under existing state law, law enforcement officers are generally prohibited from engaging in racial and identity profiling. RIPA is required to issue an annual report on its findings on the status of racial and identity profiling, as well as recommendations for eliminating such profiling. With the assistance of DOJ, the board is also required to (1) analyze citizen complaint data alleging racial or identity profiling reported by law enforcement to DOJ, (2) analyze the stop-related data reported by law enforcement to DOJ, (3) review the racial and identity profiling policies and practices in the state, and (4) conduct research related to bias and law enforcement stop tactics.
This measure amends state law to eliminate (1) the existing requirement that CHP, city or county law enforcement agencies, and university education institution law enforcement agencies collect and report stop-related data annually to DOJ and (2) the requirement for RIPA to annually analyze and report on this.
Impact on State and Local Law Enforcement Costs. This measure would reduce workload and costs for the various state and local law enforcement agencies that would otherwise be required to collect and report data on all stops to DOJ. The actual impact on a particular agency would depend on the extent to which the agency is collecting and reporting such data by the time the measure would take effect. Those agencies that are collecting data by this date would experience a reduction in existing workload and costs, while those agencies that are not collecting data by this date would avoid future workload and costs that they would have otherwise incurred.
Overall, the measure would have the following direct impacts on state and local law enforcement:
Other Fiscal Impacts. The measure’s elimination of stop-related data collection and reporting could also have other fiscal impacts. For example, some state and local law enforcement agencies might otherwise have used the data to improve policing policies and practices, which could result in fewer citizen complaints of racial or identity profiling requiring investigation or leading to litigation. On the other hand, collected data could otherwise highlight racial or identity profiling practices in some agencies, which could result in more citizen complaints requiring investigation or leading to litigation. The net fiscal effect of these and other impacts are unknown.
Summary of Fiscal Impact. We estimate that this measure could have the following major fiscal impacts on state and local governments.