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SENATE BILL 2215 (LOCKYER – 1998)
CHAPTER 786, STATUTES OF 1998, SB 2215
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As enacted Senate Bill 2215 was a single-section bill that only amended Government Code section 3304. (See Exhibit #1g) Senator Bill Lockyer introduced the measure on February 20, 1998 at the request of the California Police Chiefs’ Association. (See Exhibits #1a and #13)
Senate Bill 2215 was assigned to the Senate Committee on Public Safety and the Assembly Committee on Public Safety where policy issues raised by the bill were considered. (See Exhibits #3 and #7) The fiscal ramifications of the bill were considered by the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. (See Exhibits #2 and #9) Five amendments were made to Senate Bill 2215, four in the Senate and one in the Assembly, before being approved by both Houses of the Legislature. (See Exhibits #1b through #1f and #2) Governor Pete Wilson signed Senate Bill 2215 on September 22, 1998, and it was recorded by the Secretary of State the next day as Chapter 786 of the Statutes of 1998. (See Exhibits #1g and #2)
The Office of Senate Floor Analyses Unfinished Business analysis of the bill as last amended provides the following digest of the bill: “This bill sets forth guidelines to be followed when a public agency, or appointing authority, removes, or attempts to remove, a chief of police from office.” (See Exhibit #13, page 1) This analysis then goes one to state in more detail the provisions of the bill as follows:
This bill adds an additional requirement that no chief of police may be removed by a public agency or appointing authority without providing the chief of police, the reason or reasons therefor, and an opportunity for administrative appeal.
The bill provides that the removal of a chief of police by a public agency, or appointing authority, for the purpose of implementing the goals or policies, or both, of the public agency or appointing authority, for reasons including, but not limited to, incompatibility of management styles, or as a result of a change in administration, shall be sufficient to constitute “reason or reasons”. The bill provides that nothing in this bill shall be construed to create a property interest where one does not exist by a rule or law, in the job of police chief.
The Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act prohibits any punitive action, or denial of promotion on grounds other than merit of a public safety officer, as defined, without providing the public safety officer with an opportunity for administrative appeal.
This bill also prohibits a punitive action or denial of probation on grounds other than merit with respect to a public safety officer who has successfully completed probation without providing the public safety officer with an opportunity for administrative appeal.
(See Exhibit #13, pages 2 and 3)