Assembly Standing Committee on Public Safety

All right, thank you, everyone. I'm going to call the meeting of the Assembly Standing Committee on Public Safety to order. Today's hearing is in regards to bills referred to the Committee pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. And I'd like to begin with a few housekeeping items. First, there are some General rules of conduct before we start our hearing.

Please note that in order to facilitate the goal of conducting a legislative hearing, and as we proceed with witness and public comment throughout today's hearing, I want to ensure that everyone understands that the Assembly has rules to ensure we maintain order and run a fair and efficient hearing.

We will not permit conduct that disrupts, disturbs or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of today's legislative proceedings. Looking at you, Mr. Lackey, I'm just kidding. I know you care about it too. Please be aware that violations of these rules may subject you to removal or other enforcement action.

We do not yet have a quorum, so we'll start as a Subcommitee once. Yeah, still need one more. As usual, authors will have five minutes to present as will their main witnesses. I will allow five minutes for the opposing side as well. First up, we have Assemblymember Lackey presenting Assembly Bill 486. Mr. Lackey, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me to present this Bill. AB 486. I mean devices and key duplication devices to the list of burglary tools. Key programmers and key duplicators have become the number one up and coming trend in auto crimes.

These electronic devices are used to mimic keys and plug into a vehicle's onboard diagnostic port to override the security system and and start the engine, which also allows the person to drive away within seconds to minutes. These devices are readily available online with no screening process, meaning anyone can get a hold of them.

Oftentimes the vehicles stolen are high horsepower, high end luxury vehicles which have been known to be used in a multitude of crimes due to their ability to flee from police at an extremely high rate of speed. In 2023, an estimated 202,802 vehicles were stolen in this State of California, which is an increase of 2.1% vehicle theft.

To curb this upward trend, AB486 will give law enforcement the ability to take action for possession of these devices. And with me today we have, representing the California Police Chiefs Association, our friend, Jonathan Feldman.

Yeah, Chair. Thank you, Chair. Members, Jonathan Feldman, the California Police Chiefs Association. Good to be back tonight. Want to say thank you to the author for introducing this Bill. We do think it addresses A very real, very serious issue.

You know, the existing code section, which already covers sort of rudimentary hand tools, lock picks, bump keys, picks of some sort. Slim Jims don't necessarily capture the type of electronic technical devices that we're including now. We think the standard in the Bill, which requires felonious intent in order to prove the crime is an appropriate high bar. And we would respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you.

Wonderful. Thank you very much, Mr. Lackey. Before we take the Metoos, although you can start lining up, I see that we do have a quorum. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Wonderful. We have a quorum present. And now we'll take the me toos in support. You know the drill.

Good evening, Mr. Chair. Members Cory Salzillo, on behalf of the California State Sheriff's Association, in support.

Hi there. Claire Sullivan, on behalf of the City of Thousand Oaks. And strong support. And we thank the Assemblyman for his leadership on this issue and the Committee and chair for consideration. Thank you. Wow.

And Dylan Lisofsky with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. And support.

Ryan Sherman with the Riverside Sheriff Association. California Narcotic Officers Association. Support.

Wonderful. Thank you all for your testimony. Noting that our Vice Chair has joined us, bringing our number up to six. Are there anyone, anyone here to testify in opposition? Any other MeToos? All right, we'll turn it over to the deus. Any questions or comments from colleagues or motions? Okay. Okay.

We have a motion by Nguyen, second by Alanis. Any other questions or comments? Mr. Lackey, you may close. Ask for your aye vote. All right. That you shall have recommendation is I for concurrence. Let's with that. Let's conduct the roll

[Roll Call]

Okay, Senate minutes. Amendments are concurred in. Congrats, Mr. Lackey. You can join us back up here. If you like, Mr. Feldman. Thank you. If your staff listening in for Mr. Patterson, please send Assembly Member Patterson to room 126.

If you're a Member of the Committee, please be mindful to make your way down so we can cast your votes. We will wait for Mr. Patterson. Okay. And we are back. We have item number two. We have item number two. Mr. Gonzalez. This is Assembly Bill 1152 by Assembly Member Patterson.

Before we begin, this is a call out to other Members of the Committee. Please make your way down so that we can adjourn as soon as possible. Mr. Patterson, you have five minutes.

Great. Thank you. Well, good afternoon or evening, Mr. Chair and Members. This is AB 1152, which protects the privacy of Californians who are combating infertility. And I'm assuming this is not a Bill that people would think would come from a Republican. But essentially what happens is there's a pharmaceutical out there called human chorionic gonadotropin is both.

It's used for both men and women for fertility treatment. But in California, we're one of the few states where it's a controlled substance and it's schedule three. It's in the same schedule as, like, steroids and testosterone and things like that.

And because of that, when you get a prescription for it, it has to be reported to the Department of Justice. And just given my interest in privacy and being on that Committee, I just didn't really think it was necessary to report these prescriptions to the Department of Justice.

I reach out to several individuals in law enforcement and prosecutors, and I'm not aware of prosecutions from people obtaining this.

You will still need a prescription to obtain this, but I think it's important for the privacy of people going through fertility treatments, and it's not something people are going to overdose on or anything like that, just to be abundantly clear there. But I respectfully asked for an. I vote. Happy to take some questions.

Thank you very much, Assembly Member Patterson. Anyone else here hoping to be heard in support or opposition to the Bill? I see no response. We'll turn it back to the dias. We had a motion by Mr. Gonzalez. Was there a second? Second by Dr. Sharp Collins. Any other questions or comments? Okay, Mr. Patterson, you can close. All right, thank you, Mr. Patterson. I am recommending an aye to concur in the Senate amendments. Let's conduct the roll

for AB 1152 by Assembly Member Patterson. The motion is to concur in Senate amendments. Schultz. Schultz. Aye. Alanis. Alanis. Aye. Gonzalez. Gonzalez. I. Haney. Harbidian. Lackey. Lackey. Aye. When? When I. Ramos. Sharp. Collins. Sharp. Collins. Aye.

Thank you, Mr. Sorry that. That is out. We'll keep the roll open a few more minutes. But you are through, Mr. Patterson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members. Thank you, colleagues. Before you all break, for those of you who need to vote, you will.

But for everyone else, we are waiting on one more Bill to come over from the Senate. My expectation is that we will adjourn now. We may have another meeting tonight. It has been voted out of the Senate. We're waiting for its transmittal. So I just want to flag for all of you.

We may have to hear one more Bill. This is, this is Assembly Bill 1127 by Mr. Gabriel. So that one could be coming over later tonight. Could be possible tomorrow morning. Okay, I'll keep you all posted with that. Thank you all for being here. Mr. Ramos, we're going to go through all the items and allow everyone to vote. So Madam Secretary, would you call through the items.

[Roll Call]

All right, thank you everyone. This concludes the business for the Assembly Public Safety Committee. I'm going to leave the roll open for five minutes for any additional add ons or changes. By my count we are waiting on Assemblymember Haney and Assemblymember Harabedian.

And if you are staff for either of those Members, they have five minutes to be here to cast their vote. Thank you and good, that's an efficient here. And we're back joined by the one and only Matt Haney. Lifting of call please.

[Roll Call]

All right, thank you. All measures are out. And Mr. Harabedian, we will be having one more hearing either later tonight or tomorrow morning on another measure. We stand adjourned.