Senate Public Safety Committee Amends SB 230

The state Senate Public Safety Committee, chaired by Senator Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, today approved substantial amendments to SB 230, by Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, limiting the legislation to address law enforcement training on police use of force and making the bill’s passage dependent on the passage of AB 392, by Assemblymember Shirley Weber, San Diego.  

With the committee’s amendments, SB 230 no longer contains language that could conflict with AB 392, which seeks to revise California’s existing police use-of-force standard. Additionally, SB 230’s training components cannot become law unless AB 392 also becomes law.

“With the Public Safety Committee’s amendments, SB 230’s training provisions are now dependent on the governor signing AB 392, which, if passed, would revise California’s use-of-force standard,” Skinner said. “If the Legislature does not adopt a new use-of-force standard, it is not necessary to modify training, as our statewide training agency already provides training based on the current standard.”

The amendments, agreed to by Sen. Caballero, also require the law enforcement training in SB 230 to conform to what is ultimately adopted under AB 392.

“While better training for our law enforcement officials is clearly beneficial, it only makes sense to tie that training to a revised use-of-force standard that could help reduce police use-of-force incidents,” Skinner added.

Sen. Nancy Skinner (@NancySkinnerCA) represents the 9th Senate District and is the Senate Majority Whip.