The Rev Dr. Rick SchlosserDear Friends,
This is a request to sign on to SB 805 by Senator Sasha Renee Perez (D-Pasadena). It is a new revision to her bill that now requires police to enforce an existing standard of no face coverings for law enforcement of any kind operating in the state of California.
This replaces the original version of SB 805, so if you bump into insurance issues, that is no longer the focus and language of the bill.
Why Sen. Perez did this:
As you no doubt know, ICE agents have been obscuring their ID and covering their faces with masks, gaiters, hoods to prevent detection by the immigrants they are apprehending and bystanders videoing them. The problem is, no one has verified, since they drive private vehicles, that these are actual federally authorized agents. We have learned that several times they have been vigilantes, bounty hunters and opportunists, sweeping people off the street who are never heard from again.
Phony ICE gear can be purchased on Amazon. Anyone can pretend to be an agent. Many of the quasi-official ones are actually bounty hunters defying California state limits on their actions and don’t want this known. We know of one horror story of a fake ICE agent who, in another state, abducted, raped, and killed four women while a fifth escaped to tell the story. This is horrific and has to stop!
We urge you and your congregations to support this simple law – reveal identities, show your faces. No excuses about “risks” cover them more than for any California law enforcement officers.
Your letter should go to Assembly Public Safety before July 15.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR LETTER. WE HATE THIS, BUT HERE IT IS:
Now, the second part of this is to tell you how to submit a letter. Since COVID, all letters have to be filed electronically through a “legislative portal”.
The Public Safety Committee has a direct link to where you file the letter: Welcome to the Committee on Public Safety | California State Assembly It is right below the pictures of the committee leadership.
It is one of our greatest beefs that this system is not very easy to use, so Public Safety has provided a guide usable for all letters to all committees.
2019 Committee Services: Position Letter Portal (Quick Reference Sheet) (ca.gov)
One does have to set up an account either organizationally (page 1) or individually (page 2). Once that’s done, the REALLY annoying part, it will always come back to you for any future letters you want to send. Thus one bad time of figuring this out will pay off now and later.
We think this simplifies life in the Capitol and offices – and complicates it for citizens, especially those not really comfortable with technology and with legislative templates. They mean something if you already know them – but not if you don’t. The guide is helpful on those points. The system just is not very user friendly.
But be assured if I could do it – known widely as “The Queen of the No. 2 Pencil” – you will be able to as well. Going through the Committee link actually helps. You minimize a few steps, but you STILL have to set up an account. Sorry – we find no workaround on that.
Please take the time to thrash this out so you can express your support for transparency and safety in every corner of our state. We deserve to know who is operating in a law enforcement capacity – and if they are real.
No Gestapos! No Secret Police! No Vigilantes! Keep our state and all its people safe. Support SB 805.
Thank you!
Elizabeth Sholes
California Church IMPACT