In a tumultuous ending to the 2020 legislative session, LWV California co-sponsored AB 2542, the California Racial Justice Act. The bill made it over the finish line, one of the few that did in a session full of police reform bills expected to pass in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The bill was co-sponsored by LWVC.

The Problem

The California Supreme Court has recognized that no provision of California law clearly states that racial discrimination is prohibited in seeking a sentence or conviction and that its hands are tied until the Legislature can act. Californians must rely on state or federal constitutional provisions to challenge discrimination in the criminal justice system. These broad constitutional provisions have proven insufficient to address persistent racial discrimination in the criminal justice system because the courts have held that they require proof of purposeful discrimination. As a result, under current law, courts effectively sanction racial discrimination.

California convictions and sentences are routinely upheld, despite:

• Blatantly racist statements by attorneys, judges, jurors, and expert witnesses;
• The exclusion of all or nearly all Black and Latinx people from the jury; and
• Stark statistical evidence showing systemic bias in charging and sentencing.

Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), along with Senators Steve Bradford (D-Gardena), Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), and Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), were the principal co-authors of the bill. They modeled it after the California Civil Rights Act in order to address the harm that discrimination causes to individuals, families, and communities. The California Racial Justice Act will prohibit the state from seeking or upholding a conviction or sentence that is discriminatory based on race, ethnicity, or national origin.

Along with LWVC, AB 2542 was co-sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Californians United for a Responsible Budget, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and NextGen.

Provisions of the Act

The California Racial Justice Act will prohibit racial discrimination in convictions and sentencing and will create a process to challenge racial discrimination at trial or following conviction. It identifies four kinds of discrimination that can be challenged:

1. Intentional discrimination aimed at the defendant by an attorney, judge, law enforcement officer, expert witness, or juror in the case.
2. Racially coded language used in court—for example, language that compares the defendant to an animal.
3. Racial discrimination in jury selection, such as removing all or nearly all Black or Latinx people from the jury.
4. Racial disparities in charging—more severe charging of a member of a particular race, ethnicity, or nationality.

The Challenge

Our League, along with the LWVLA and the Mount Baldy League, has members in Appropriations Committee Chairman Anthony Portantino’s district. We were called on by LWVC in the crucial last week to help get the bill, which had passed the Assembly, safely out of the Senate Appropriations Committee (where many bills go to die) and onto the Senate floor for a vote.

An email blast to members of the Leagues involved, urging their calls, emails, and tweets to the senator as to the import of the bill, secured a meeting with members of League districts in nineteen cities of Portantino’s district.

LWV-PA President Martha Zavala, Advocacy Chair Anita Mackey, and members of the Policing Practices Subcommittee Veronica Jones, Debra Francis, and Kris Ockershauser represented our League in the online delegation. A cordial meeting with Senator Portantino was held, and the following week, the Appropriations Committee met and AB 2542 made it out of committee. Another call went out to League members to contact the senator for his support on the Senate floor, where it passed. The governor’s signature then made it the law.

Victory!

The takeaway from this experience of a very uphill drive to release the bill from the Appropriations Committee is that broad, united messaging to the chair of the critical Appropriations Committee worked. Strategic messaging from LWVC, combined with joint League calls to members to contact Senator Portantino in support of the bill and an informed and persuasive meeting of League members, paid off bigtime. Congratulations and many thanks to all who helped secure this exceptional win!

Just noted: In late October, The New York Times reported that pervasive examples of racial bias—some explicit, some subtle—had been observed in New York State’s court system. Our new Racial Justice Act is an important step to address similar issues found here.

—Kris Ockershauser, Co-chair, Policing Practices Subcommittee