California Police Chief- Fall 2013 CPCA_2017_Winter Magazine Final | Page 11
The legislative process itself sets a series of hurdles for
each measure. First hurdle is a committee hearing to decide
if the policy makes sense, then an appropriations hearing
to decide if it’s worth funding, then a group vote – after
that, the bill switches Houses and the process happens
again. At each step, there’s an opportunity to push for
amendments or outright kill the bill. Deciding if and when
to negotiate is arguably a more important discussion than
taking the initial position. As such, a tremendous amount
of calculation goes into these decisions.
There are two main reasons we decide to negotiate on a
bill: 1) we agree there’s a problem to be addressed, or 2) we
realize we can’t stop a bill from becoming law. The latter of
those two always leads to a tougher decision. Discussions
about negotiating a bad bill typically center on whether to
take a philosophical stance regardless of the consequences,
or try and salvage the best possible outcome to protect the
public and make our jobs a little easier.
A perfect example was SB 54, the “Sanctuary State” bill
from this year. After gathering intel from every possible
source – Governor’s office, law enforcement groups, Senate
and Assembly, etc. – and evaluating the political context,
vote records and draft amendments, it became abundantly
clear the potential for the bill to be signed was too high
for us not to engage. In this case, since SB 54 was such a
high-profile issue, the final decision involved our Execu-
tive Committee and entire Board of Directors. Ultimately,
we were successful in getting our amendments adopted,
and agreed to take a neutral position (despite political
pressure on CPCA to support the bill). Without knowledge
of that back story, most on the outside couldn’t see why
CPCA would remove our opposition; but knowing it was
a deliberate action taken after hours of conversations, ne-
gotiations, and successful compromise that considered all
factors involved, sheds light on that decision.
Throughout the year, CPCA sends updates to keep
our members informed of our legislative positions, but it’s
often hard to convey, in short, all the details regarding any
specific issue. I hope that by providing insight into our
process, you’ll at least rest assured that every legislative
decision CPCA makes is a thoughtful and calculated effort
to do what’s best for our members and the communities
we are all sworn to protect. To that end, I would be remiss
to not acknowledge and thank my vice chairs, committee
members, and CPCA staff for their countless hours of work
and dedication – it truly makes a difference in the out-
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WINTER 2017 | California Police Chief
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