california legislature—2025–26 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 1537
Introduced by Assembly Member Bryan
January 5, 2026
An act to amend Section 70 of the Penal Code, relating to peace officers.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 1537, as introduced, Bryan. Peace officers: secondary employment.
Existing l aw pr ovides that every executive or ministerial office r, employee, or appointee of the State of California, or any county or city therein, or a ny political subd ivision thereof, who kn owingly asks, receives, or agrees to receive any emolument, gratuity, or reward, or any promise thereof excepting such as may be authorized by law for doing an official act, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law exempts from that offense certain employment by a peace officer while off duty, as specified. Existing law also provides that a peace officer shall not be prohibited from en gaging in other empl oyment while o ff dut y, as specified.
This bill would, notwithstanding those pr ovisions, prohibit a peace officer from being employed by, or being an independent contractor of or volunteer for, the United States Department of Homeland Security or its contractors or a ny other entity that assists with or en gages in immigration enforcement. The bill would provide that failure to comply with this provision constitutes, for certain purposes, an act of dishonesty and that it is grounds for decertification as a peace officer. The bill would require a peace officer to report to their employing law enforcement agency any secondary employment relating to immigration
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enforcement. By imposing additional duties on local l aw enforcement agencies to accept these reports, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also explicitly state that records related to secondary employment of peace officers are public records for the purposes of the California Public Records Act.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Section 70 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
2 70. (a) Every executive or ministerial officer, employee, or 3 appointee of the State of California, or any county or city therein, 4 or any political subdivision thereof, who knowingly asks, receives, 5 or agrees to receive any emolument, gratuity, or reward, or any 6 promise thereof excepting such as may be authorized by law for 7 doing an official act, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
8 (b) This section does not prohibit deputy registrars of voters 9 from receiving compensation when authorized by local ordinance 10 from any candidate, political committee, or statewide political 11 organization for securing the registration of voters. 12 (c) (1) Nothing in this section precludes a peace officer, as 13 defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 14 of Part 2, from engaging in, or being employed in, casual or 15 part-time employment as a private security guard or patrolman for 16 a public entity while off duty from his or her their principal 17 employment and outside his or her their regular employment as a 18 peace officer of a state or local agency, and exercising the powers 19 of a peace officer concurrently with that employment, provided 20 that the peace officer is in a police uniform and is subject to 21 reasonable rules and regulations of the agency for which he or she 22 is they are a peace officer. Notwithstanding the above provisions, 23 any and all civil and criminal liability arising out of the secondary
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1 employment of any peace officer pursuant to this subdivision shall 2 be borne by the officer’s secondary employer.
3 (2) It is the intent of the Legislature by this subdivision to 4 abrogate the holdings in People v. Corey, 21 Cal.3d 738, and 5 Cervantez v. J.C. J. C. Penney Co., 24 Cal.3d 579, to reinstate 6 prior judicial interpretations of this section as they relate to criminal 7 sanctions for battery on peace officers who are employed, on a 8 part-time or casual basis, by a public entity, while wearing a police 9 uniform as private security guards or patrolmen, and to allow the 10 exercise of peace officer powers concurrently with that 11 employment.
12 (d) (1) Nothing in this section precludes a peace officer, as 13 defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 14 of Part 2, from engaging in, or being employed in, casual or 15 part-time employment as a private security guard or patrolman by 16 a private employer while off duty from his or her their principal 17 employment and outside his or her their regular employment as a 18 peace officer, and exercising the powers of a peace officer 19 concurrently with that employment, provided that all of the 20 following are true:
21 (A) The peace officer is in his or her their police uniform. 22 (B) The casual or part-time employment as a private security 23 guard or patrolman is approved by the county board of supervisors 24 with jurisdiction over the principal employer or by the board’s 25 designee or by the city council with jurisdiction over the principal 26 employer or by the council’s designee.
27 (C) The wearing of uniforms and equipment is approved by the 28 principal employer.
29 (D) The peace officer is subject to reasonable rules and 30 regulations of the agency for which he or she is they are a peace 31 officer.
32 (2) Notwithstanding the above provisions, a peace officer while 33 off duty from his or her their principal employment and outside 34 his or her their regular employment as a peace officer of a state or 35 local agency shall not exercise the powers of a police officer if 36 employed by a private employer as a security guard during a strike, 37 lockout, picketing, or other physical demonstration of a labor 38 dispute at the site of the strike, lockout, picketing, or other physical 39 demonstration of a labor dispute. The issue of whether or not casual 40 or part-time employment as a private security guard or patrolman
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1 pursuant to this subdivision is to be approved shall not be a subject 2 for collective bargaining. Any and all civil and criminal liability 3 arising out of the secondary employment of any peace officer 4 pursuant to this subdivision shall be borne by the officer’s principal 5 employer. The principal employer shall require the secondary 6 employer to enter into an indemnity agreement as a condition of 7 approving casual or part-time employment pursuant to this 8 subdivision.
9 (3) It is the intent of the Legislature by this subdivision to 10 abrogate the holdings in People v. Corey, 21 Cal. 3d Cal.3d 738, 11 and Cervantez v. J. C. Penney Co., 24 Cal. 3d Cal.3d 579, to 12 reinstate prior judicial interpretations of this section as they relate 13 to criminal sanctions for battery on peace officers who are 14 employed, on a part-time or casual basis, while wearing a police 15 uniform approved by the principal employer, as private security 16 guards or patrolmen, and to allow the exercise of peace officer 17 powers concurrently with that employment.
18 (e) (1) Nothing in this section precludes a peace officer, as 19 defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 20 of Part 2, from engaging in, or being employed in, other 21 employment while off duty from his or her their principal 22 employment and outside his or her their regular employment as a 23 peace officer of a state or local agency.
24 (2) Subject to subdivisions (c) and (d), and except as provided 25 by written regulations or policies adopted by the employing state 26 or local agency, or pursuant to an agreement between the 27 employing state or local agency and a recognized employee 28 organization representing the peace officer, no peace officer shall 29 be prohibited from engaging in, or being employed in, other 30 employment while off duty from his or her their principal 31 employment and outside his or her their regular employment as a 32 peace officer of a state or local agency.
33 (3) If an employer withholds consent to allow a peace officer 34 to engage in or be employed in other employment while off duty, 35 the employer shall, at the time of denial, provide the reasons for 36 denial in writing to the peace officer.
37 (f) (1) Notwithstanding subdivisions (c), (d), and (e), a peace 38 officer shall not engage in casual, part-time, contract-based, or 39 any other form of secondary employment for, and shall not be an 40 independent contractor of or volunteer for, the United States
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1 Department of Homeland Security or its contractors, or any other 2 entity that assists with or engages in immigration enforcement, as 3 defined in Section 7284.4 of the Government Code.
4 (2) For purposes of Section 832.7, a violation of paragraph (1) 5 is an act of dishonesty and constitutes grounds for decertification 6 pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 13510) of Chapter 7 1 of Title 4 of Part 4.
8 (3) A peace officer shall report to their employing law 9 enforcement agency any offer of, request for, or attempt at 10 secondary employment that involves assisting with or engaging in 11 immigration enforcement.
12 (4) For the purposes of this subdivision, the following terms 13 have the following meanings:
14 (A) “Law enforcement agency” means any local or state entity 15 that employs a peace officer.
16 (B) “Peace officer” has the same meaning as in Chapter 4.5 17 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2.
18 (g) All records related to secondary employment of peace 19 officers, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) 20 of Title 3 of Part 2, shall be public records for purposes of the 21 California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with 22 Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code). 23 SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that 24 this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to 25 local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made 26 pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 27 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
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