Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, creates, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services, which is responsible for addressing natural, technological, or human-caused disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property.

This bill would prohibit a fusion center from engaging in specified acts, including, among other things, participating in activity, cooperating, or disclosing or sharing information with any governmental entity, or a contractor for any governmental entity, that assists or furthers immigration enforcement unless pursuant to judicial warrant or court order, and providing office space for agencies engaged in immigration enforcement, as provided. The bill would define “fusion center” to mean a state-owned center operated by the Office of Emergency Services and involving a law enforcement agency and a governmental entity that gather, analyze and share information, as provided.

This bill would authorize state and local elected officials and their staff to enter any fusion center for inspections, without prior notice or authorization.

This bill would, starting on January 1, 2027, and each year thereafter, require the Office of Emergency Services to submit a report to the Department of Justice that includes specified information collected from fusion centers, including, among other things, any policies and standards for the use and retention of data gathered, processed, or analyzed by fusion centers and a certification, under penalty of perjury, that the fusion center has not engaged in any acts intended to influence the decisions or assessments of the Department of Justice. By expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Department of Justice to conduct an annual audit based on the report submitted by the Office of Emergency Services, and to submit that audit to the Legislature, as provided.

Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires each state and local agency, as defined, to make its records open to public inspection at all times during office hours, except as specifically exempted from disclosure by law.

This bill would provide that all records related to fusion centers are public records for purposes of the California Public Records Act, except for specified records which are prohibited from disclosure.

The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.