Yesterday, the Senate Public Safety Committee passed our legislation (#SB271) to allow any registered voter to run for Sheriff, not just law enforcement officers. This police reform measure is supported by a broad coalition of criminal justice reform & immigrant advocacy organizations. Sheriffs are powerful figures & oversee massive jail, healthcare & police systems. They need to be accountable to the entire community, yet they aren’t now, since only law enforcement officers can challenge them for re-election. As a result, 49 out of 58 Sheriffs are white men & California has no Black Sheriffs. It doesn’t need to be this way. California allowed anyone to run for Sheriff from its founding until 1989 (139 years). After San Francisco elected prisoner rights attorney Mike Hennessey as Sheriff in 1979 (he served for 32 years & was universally respected), the Sheriffs got the Legislature to pass a law limiting Sheriffs to law enforcement officers — an anti-democratic & monopolistic move. Since then, we’ve seen Sheriffs (not all of them, but quite a few) — with little or no accountability — cooperate with ICE in violation of state law, refuse to enforce COVID health orders & run jails that violate the Constitution. This anti-democratic rule limiting who can run for Sheriff needs to be reversed. (at California State Capitol) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMhjbsthDSv/?igshid=1dsm4nrc0vw7k
