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The California State Senate passed a measure Wednesday that will create a process to decertify police officers who are fired because of misconduct.
Senate Bill 2, which passed the state assembly on a mostly party-line vote of 46-18 last week, won a majority of California's Senate votes in a 28-9 victory. Now, the bill will be sent to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk to be signed.
"The time is now to create a fair and transparent decertification system in California," bill author Senator Steven Bradford said. "Our communities must have faith that all of the officers in California are held to the highest standard and will be held accountable for their actions."
The police accountability bill comes after California Democrats made a promise to work against police brutality and corruption following the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. California is one of only four states without a process to decertify officers fired for misconduct. The state does have such processes for doctors, nurses and attorneys.
The current version of the bill has passed through two state legislative bodies after an earlier iteration of the bill stalled last year. After Democrats reworked the bill in response to opposition, they won over two moderate voters to pass the measure, according to reporting from The Sacramento Bee.
Senator Melissa Hurtado, a moderate Democrat, said she would support the bill with the changes though she still has "a little bit of concern, a little bit of fear," she told the newspaper. "I'm not the biggest fan of the way the commission is set up, but I hope we will continue to work on improvements," Hurtado said.
And Senator Anna Caballero, another moderate Democrat, said at the Senate meeting Wednesday that she supported the bill after the amendments, according to @CapitolAlert, an official Twitter account operated by The Sacramento Bee.
State Senator Steven Bradford, a Democrat who introduced the bill in the Senate, previously said there was a need for such legislation because, without it, officers who have been fired for misconduct can simply move to another law enforcement agency and carry a badge and gun there.
The bill would give power to the state's existing Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) to investigate and suspend or revoke law enforcement officers who have committed "serious misconduct," including excessive force, dishonesty, sexual assault, and acts of bias based on race, sexual orientation and gender.
The bill asks the governor to appoint a nine-member Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board within POST, made up of two law enforcement officers, one civilian oversight attorney and six members of the public. The board would review misconduct allegations and recommend whether an officer should or shouldn't be decertified on a case-by-case basis.
Newsweek reached out to Governor Newsom for comment on whether or not he plans to sign or veto the bill.
