Status of Current Legislation

AB 15

Assembly Member Gipson

State government: immigration enforcement

The California Values Act prohibits a California law enforcement agency, defined as including both state and local agencies but excluding the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, from providing a person’s release date or responding to a request for notification of a release date, unless that information is available to the public. The bill would prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from detaining on the basis of a hold request, providing an immigration authority with release date information, or responding to a notification request, transferring to an immigration authority, or facilitating or assisting with a transfer request any individual who is eligible for release pursuant to specified provisions, including, among others, youth offender, elderly, and medical parole releases.

AB 18

Assembly Member DeMaio

California Secure Borders Act of 2025

Current law generally prohibits law enforcement from providing information regarding the release date of an individual from custody or from transferring an individual to immigration authorities without a warrant or judicial probable cause determination. This bill, the California Secure Borders Act of 2025, would state the intent of the Legislature to combat illegal immigration and secure the border by repealing those provisions, prohibiting the use of state funds for various welfare, health, housing, and other services for undocumented immigrants, requiring public disclosure of information on the impact of illegal immigration on crime rates and state and local services, providing cross-deputization training for local law enforcement to support federal border security actions, and providing standards for deployment of the State Guard to the border.

AB 31

Assembly Member Ramos

Peace officers: tribal police pilot project

Current law defines those persons who are peace officers in the state, grants certain authority to those individuals and their employing entities, and places certain requirements on those individuals and their employing entities. Current law also grants specified limited arrest authority to certain other persons, including federal criminal investigators and park rangers and peace officers from adjoining jurisdictions. Current federal law authorizes tribal governments to employ tribal police for the enforcement of tribal law on tribal lands. Current federal law requires the State of California to exercise criminal jurisdiction on Indian lands. Current state law deems a tribal police officer who has been deputized or appointed by a county sheriff as a reserve or auxiliary deputy to be a peace officer in the State of California. This bill would, from July 1, 2026, until July 1, 2029, establish a pilot program under the Department of Justice and the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training granting peace officer authority to certain tribal police officers on Indian lands and elsewhere in the state under specified circumstances. The bill would authorize the department to select 3 tribal entities to participate, would set certain minimum qualifications and certification and training requirements for a tribal officer to act pursuant to this authority, and would place certain requirements on the employing tribe, including a limited waiver of sovereign immunity, and the adoption of a tribal law or resolution authorizing that exercise of authority and providing for public access to certain records.

AB 68

Assembly Member Essayli

School safety: armed school resource officers

Would require a school district or charter school to hire or contract with at least one armed school resource officer, as defined, authorized to carry a loaded firearm to be present at each school of the school district or charter school during regular school hours and any other time when pupils are present on campus, phased in by certain grade spans, as provided. By imposing an additional requirement on school districts and charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

AB 85

Assembly Member Essayli

Law enforcement: cooperation with immigration authorities

 Under current law, a law enforcement official has limited discretion to cooperate with immigration authorities, and may only provide information regarding a person’s release date or transfer an individual to immigration authorities without a judicial warrant or probable cause determination if the individual has been convicted of specified crimes, including, but not limited to, serious and violent felonies, as specified, and only if doing so would not violate any federal, state, or local law, or local policy. Notwithstanding those provisions, this bill would instead require law enforcement officials to cooperate with immigration authorities by detaining and transferring an individual and providing release information if a person has been convicted of a felony.