SB 731 Summary

• Establishes a certification and decertification system for peace officers through the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, including grounds for denial or revocation based on serious misconduct such as dishonesty, abuse of power, excessive force, sexual assault, bias-based conduct, and participation in law enforcement gangs.

• Creates the Peace Officer Standards Accountability Division to investigate potential grounds for decertification and the Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board with nine members (including community representatives, peace officer members, and a survivor of police violence) to review findings and make recommendations to the commission.

• Requires law enforcement agencies to report to the commission within seven days any employment, termination, complaints, investigations, or civil judgments involving peace officers that could result in decertification, and mandates completion of affidavit-of-separation forms signed under penalty of perjury.

• Amends the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act to eliminate state immunity for peace officers and public entities employing peace officers, expand what constitutes interference with civil rights to include intentional conduct and deliberate indifference, and allow wrongful death actions by family members of persons killed by police.

• Disqualifies from peace officer employment any person convicted of crimes involving dishonesty (perjury, false statements, falsification of records, bribery) and any person who has had their certification revoked, voluntarily surrendered, or denied by the commission.