california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 474
Introduced by Assembly Member Rodriguez
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Waldron)
February 7, 2023
An act to add Section 8685.11 to the Go vernment Code, relating to state government.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 474, as introduced, Rodriguez. State Threat Assessment Center:
transnational criminal organizations.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, creates, within the office of the Go vernor, the Office of Emer gency Services, which is responsible for addressing natural, technological, or human-caused disasters and emer gencies, including responsibility for acti vities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property.
This bill w ould find and declare that the State Threat Assessment Center (STAC) serves as California’s information-sharing clearinghouse of strate gic threat analysis and situational a wareness reporting for statewide leadership and the public safety community, as specified, and that the STAC is California’s state primary fusion center, as designated by the Governor, and is operated by the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Office of Emergency Services, and the Department of Justice. The bill would make other findings and declarations related to drug trafficking and transnational criminal organizations.
The bill w ould require the ST AC and the Office of Emer gency Services to prioritize, to the greatest extent possible, cooperation with state and local ef forts to illuminate, disrupt, de grade, and dismantle
99 criminal netw orks trafficking opioid drugs that pose a threat to California. The bill would require the STAC to support state and local interagency task forces to combat illegal opioid trafficking in California, as specified, including preparing and disseminating intelligence products for public safety entities.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. The Le gislature finds and declares all of the line 2 following:
line 3 (a) The State Threat Assessment Center (ST AC) serv es as line 4 California’s information-sharing clearinghouse of strategic threat line 5 analysis and situational a wareness reporting for state wide line 6 leadership and the public safety community in support of ef forts line 7 to prevent, prepare for , mitigate, and respond to all crimes and line 8 hazards impacting California citizens and critical infrastructure line 9 while preserving ci vil liberties, indi vidual pri vacy, and line 10 constitutional rights.
line 11 (b) The STAC is California’ s state primary fusion center , as line 12 designated by the Governor, and is operated by the Department of line 13 the California Highway Patrol, the Office of Emergency Services, line 14 and the Department of Justice.
line 15 (c) Transnational criminal or ganizations (TCOs) continue to line 16 pose a threat to California, public health, and our economic line 17 security.
line 18 (d) According to the United States Department of the Treasury, line 19 it is estimated that drug-related crime alone generated o ver $100 line 20 billion in proceeds in the United States.
line 21 (e) There were 7,175 deaths related to any opioid overdoses in line 22 California in 2021, of which 5,961 were related to fentan yl, line 23 according to the State Department of Public Health. line 24 (f) Mexico-based TCO criminal activity is not limited to drug line 25 trafficking, as the y eng age in a wide v ariety of other criminal line 26 activity. TCOs also f acilitated and profited from smuggling line 27 migrants into the United States, and their illicit trade acti vity led line 28 to the seizure of o ver $2.14 billion in intellectual property line 29 violations in federal fiscal year 2021, according to the United States line 30 Department of Homeland Security.
99 — 2 — AB 474
line 1 SEC. 2. Section 8685.11 is added to the Government Code, to line 2 read:
line 3 8685.11. (a) The State Threat Assessment Center with the line 4 Office of Emergency Services shall prioritize, to the greatest extent line 5 possible, cooperation with state and local ef forts to illuminate, line 6 disrupt, de grade, and dismantle criminal netw orks trafficking line 7 opioid drugs that pose a threat to California.
line 8 (b) In carrying out this section, the State Threat Assessment line 9 Center shall support state and local interagenc y task forces line 10 established to combat ille gal opioid trafficking in California. line 11 Support pro vided by the State Threat Assessment Center shall line 12 include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
line 13 (1) Preparing and disseminating intelligence products for public line 14 safety entities.
line 15 (2) Analyzing tactics and trends or transnational criminal line 16 organizations operating in California.
line 17 (3) Sharing information with go vernment decisionmakers and line 18 state and local public safety officials regarding the extent to which line 19 transnational criminal or ganizations are trafficking opioids and line 20 pose other public safety threats in California.
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