SB 1421

California allocated $6.87 million in its 2023-24 budget for UC Berkeley’s development of the Police Records Access Project — a comprehensive, statewide database of police misconduct and use-of-force records.

The California State Legislature approved bill SB 16 on Sept. 2 to expand public availability to police misconduct records. 

California State Sen. Nancy Skinner introduced two bills regarding police reform Monday⁠ — one to expand police transparency and the other to reduce police scope.

The Berkeley City Council unanimously endorsed the retroactive release of police records under SB 1421 as requested by Berkeleyside and American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California in their recent lawsuit against the city of Berkeley, as first reported by Berkeleyside.

Berkeleyside and the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, of Northern California filed a lawsuit against the city of Berkeley Wednesday over the city’s refusal to release police records.

In recent months, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed numerous criminal justice reform bills on topics ranging from bail reform and an overhaul of rules regarding felony murder charges to revisions of juvenile detention law.

The bill would add specific records regarding complaints involving officers to the list of records accessible through a California Public Records Act request.

On April 2, Skinner introduced SB 1421, subtitled "Peace Officers: release of records." If passed, the bill will require law enforcement to disclose all information regarding discharge of a firearm, force that results in death and injury, sexual assault on the job and dishonesty in reporting, investigating and prosecuting a crime.