During a year that has been especially difficult for our community members both inside and outside of correctional facilities, we commend Governor Newsom for signing the bills below into law. We commend the legislators who championed and supported the legislation, and thank our community partners who worked tirelessly throughout the year to ensure their passage.
SB 203: This law requires that youth 17 years and younger consult with legal counsel before waiving their Miranda Rights. By allowing our youth to understand their rights, we can ensure the outcomes of interrogations are just and lawful, creating greater trust, accountability, and due process for all youth.
SB 823: Under this bill, the Office of Youth Justice (OYJ) will be located in the state’s Health and Human Services Agency – an agency that is a better fit for moving the state toward a health and youth development orientation, as well as providing proximity to finding streams that could be leveraged to pay for services to youth.
AB 1869: This bill repeals 23 administrative criminal justice fees. By eliminating these fees, we believe California would dramatically reduce the suffering caused by court-ordered debt and enhance the economic security of system-involved populations, taking the first step towards ushering in an era of more just criminal policies that do not rely on stripping wealth from Black and Brown communities.
AB 2147: This law grants the courts judicial discretion to give an opportunity to formerly incarcerated people who have successfully participated in fire camp programs while incarcerated and deemed qualified to “cut line” to apply for expungement upon release. This law was much needed, given the difficult path it takes for a formerly incarcerated person who was a grade 1 qualified (meaning they were qualified to cut line and trained under CAL Fire or a local county fire agency) to obtain an EMT license.
