The California Senate voted Sunday to require the state’s top prosecutor to investigate all police shootings that kill an unarmed civilian, advancing one of the …
The California Senate voted Sunday to require the state’s top prosecutor to investigate all police shootings that kill an unarmed civilian, advancing one of the highest profile reforms introduced this year in response to the killing of George Floyd. The Senate OK’d the bill despite opposition from Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has called a previous version of the bill “untenable and unreasonable” because it would cost his office up to $80 million a year. But the legislation easily got enough votes to pass the Senate with bipartisan support and will soon head toward a final vote in the state Assembly. “I can assure you if white Americans were being killed at the same rate as African Americans and Latinos are being killed, not only in this state but across this country, you would be calling for the disbandment of police departments all across this state,” said Sen. Steven Bradford, a Democrat from Gardena. “Because it is black and brown people, people that you have never ever truly valued their lives in this country, it’s like, ‘Oh, they must have deserved it.’” Becerra opposed an earlier version of the bill, which would have given local law enforcement agencies discretion to ask for an investigation. Becerra’s office has said it is still reviewing the latest amendments. Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, a Democrat from Sacramento, has tried for years to get the bill passed but has been unable to overcome objections from the Attorney General’s Office.
