California Assembly Bill AB504 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 504AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Furutani  (   Coauthors:   Assembly Members   Ma,   Skinner,   and Yamada   )  FEBRUARY 24, 2009 An act to add Section 13515.45 to the Penal Code, relating to peace officers. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 504, as amended, Furutani. Peace officers: training. Existing law establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training within the Department of Justice. Under existing law, the commission is required to develop and implement trainings for peace officers relative to certain areas of criminal law or procedure. This bill would require the commission to create and make available to all law enforcement agencies  as part of basic training a training component   training content  on how to recognize and interact with persons carrying a kirpan, as specified.  The bill would require that the training content include instruction on how arrests of Sikhs carrying a kirpan have historically been treated and   the alternatives to those arrests and detentions that have successfully been used.  This bill would define a kirpan as a blade that resembles a sword and is required to be carried as an integral part of the practice of the Sikh faith. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares the following: (a) The United States was founded on the core principles of religious freedom, diversity, and equality for all. (b) Sikh Americans form a vibrant, peaceful, and law-abiding part of the United States community. California was one of the first places that Sikhs settled in this country over 100 years ago. Today, California is home to a large number of the nation's 500,000 Sikhs. (c) Sikhs are mandated by their religion to keep five articles of faith on or as part of their person at all times. These articles of faith are physical manifestations and reminders of core Sikh spiritual values which include honesty, remembering God, and providing service to humanity. (d) The five Sikh articles of faith include the kirpan. A kirpan is a religious article resembling a sword, which is integral to the practice of the Sikh faith. The kirpan is carried in a shoulder strap known as a gatra, as mandated by the Sikh Code of Conduct. The kirpan acts as a constant reminder to its bearer of a Sikh's solemn duty to protect the weak and promote justice for all. The kirpan is also an allusion to spiritual knowledge that cuts through ignorance and sin. (e) In the years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, Sikhs have experienced an unprecedented increase in  prosecutions   arrests  for carrying the kirpan.  (f) State and local resources are unnecessarily burdened when law enforcement officers detain law-abiding Sikhs for carrying a kirpan, when its possession is in accordance with their faith.   (f)   (g)  It is the responsibility of the Legislature to protect religious freedoms, while ensuring public safety. Keeping those obligations in mind, it is the Legislature's goal to promote education and awareness of the carrying of the kirpan by Sikhs in California when its possession is in accordance with an integral part of the recognized religious practice of the person carrying it and there is a benign intent in carrying it. SEC. 2. Section 13515.45 is added to the Penal Code, to read: 13515.45. (a) The commission shall, upon the next regularly scheduled  review of a training module   update of training content  relating to weapons violations and cultural diversity, create and  make available   add  training content on how to recognize and interact with  persons carrying   Sikhs possessing articles of faith, including  a kirpan. The training content shall be designed for, and made available  , as part of its mandatory basic training,  to  ,  peace officers employed by law enforcement agencies that participate in  , and comply with,   training that complies with  training standards set forth by the commission. (b) For purposes of this section, "kirpan" means a blade that resembles a sword and is required to be carried as an integral part of the practice of the Sikh faith.  (c) The training content shall include instruction on how arrests of Sikhs carrying a kirpan have historically been treated by the criminal justice system in California, including the alternatives to arrest and detention that have been successfully used by law enforcement officers when contacting a Sikh carrying a kirpan with a benign intent and in accordance with an integral part of his or her recognized religious practice.   (c)   (d)  The training  course  content  shall be developed by the commission in consultation with appropriate subject matter experts. The commission shall make the  course   content  available  , as part of its mandatory basic training,  to California law enforcement agencies that participate in, and comply with, training standards set forth by the commission.  (d)   (e)  In addition to the duties contained in subdivisions (a) and  (c)   (d)  , the commission shall electronically distribute, as necessary, a training bulletin  on the topic of the kirpan  to law enforcement agencies participating in the commission's program  on the topic of the kirpan  .