State lawmakers push bills to ban police chokeholds, require release of discipline records
August 31, 2020
With less than a week left in the current legislative session, California lawmakers are rushing to advance a series of bills on police force, including ones that would ban officers from administering chokeholds and firing tear gas at protesters and others that would boost accountability by making more law enforcement records open to public disclosure.
The bills were sparked by recent outcries over high-profile cases of police brutality, including the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. One is Assembly Bill 66, a proposal by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, that would prohibit officers from firing energy projectiles or chemical agents such as tear gas to disperse protests or demonstrations. AB 66 would also require law enforcement agencies to report any incident in which a kinetic projectile or a chemical agent is fired at an individual, resulting in an injury.