Dear Constituent,

Writing you now to provide an update on my efforts on two critical issues: the growing outbreak of COVID-19 at California's prisons and the widespread community calls for police reform following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

On Wednesday, July 1, as chair of the Senate's Committee on Public Safety, I held a hearing on the growing spread of COVID-19 throughout California's 30-plus state prison facilities. By the time of the hearing, more than 5,000 incarcerated individuals throughout the state had tested positive and at least 24 people had died. Since then, the numbers have worsened. If you were unable to watch the hearing, you can view it on my Senate website here.

Testimony and discussion at the hearing covered the outbreak at prisons statewide, but could not help but focus on San Quentin, where nearly 200 staff members and 1,500 incarcerated individuals have now tested positive, and 4 incarcerated individuals have died.

Heart-wrenching testimony was heard from people who were recently incarcerated, along with reports from family members. Panelists who presented at the hearing included top officials from the state Department of Public Health (CDPH) and California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the federal receiver in charge of prison health care, representatives of prison staff, medical experts, and reform advocates.

Soon after our hearing, the California Office of Emergency Services (OES) established an incident command center at San Quentin to coordinate response with prison officials, CDPH staff, as well as Bay Area county public health departments to ensure that our local hospitals are not overwhelmed and that the spread of the virus by staff, who have tested positive and live throughout the region, is minimized.

Medical professionals from UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley investigated San Quentin's outbreak and delivered a series of recommendations for controlling its spread. They testified that the crowded conditions in San Quentin and California's other prisons make it nearly impossible to control the spread of the disease. They strongly recommended that state officials should hasten the release of incarcerated people who are medically fragile and especially vulnerable to the deadly virus, as well as those who are close to the end of their sentences and due to be paroled within the next few months.

I'm also proud to report that last week I introduced two new pieces of legislation, SB 776 and SB 773. SB 776 builds on my original police records law, passed in 2018, which opened public access to a limited set of police records for the first time in 40 years. My new bill expands public access to police records, specifically to records on law enforcement officers who have engaged in racist or discriminatory actions, excessive uses of force, or conducted wrongful arrests and searches.

Californians have the right to know who is patrolling our streets and who is given the authority to enforce our laws. With expanded public access to police misconduct, SB 776 sends a clear message that racist, discriminatory, and abusive officers are not welcome in our communities.

My second bill, SB 773, is designed to begin the process of redirecting 911 calls concerning mental health, homelessness, drug overdoses, and other issues that don't require intervention by an armed officer, sending them instead to an appropriate social services agency.

You can learn more about the two bills on my website here. It is an honor to serve you in the state Senate.

Sincerely,

Nancy Skinner
Senator, 9th District