Watching Now

AB 988, a bill that would create a new three-digit phone line (9-8-8) for suicide prevention and to provide an immediate localized emergency response by trained mental health professionals for individuals in a mental health crisis. The legislation has seven joint authors, including Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan.

AB 20, the Corporate-Free Elections Act, would prohibit business entities and corporations from contributing to candidates running for any state or local elected office in the state of California. Corporations and business entities contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to political candidates in California each election cycle.

Current California law requires that candidates for the office of Sheriff possess a Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) certificate and some combination of salaried law enforcement experience.

These eligibility requirements severely restrict who can run for Sheriff; resulting in few competitive elections, a compelling lack of accountability that harms statewide efforts to reimagine public safety, and a lack of candidate diversity that has led California to have only four females, three Latinx individuals, and two Japanese-Americans holding the office of Sheriff while white males hold the office in the other 49 counties as of 2020, a result that does not reflect California’s demographic makeup.

SB 271 would repeal these restrictions, thereby allowing all registered voters to run for Sheriff, as was possible from 1850 through 1989.