Crimes: Justice Data Accountability and Transparency Act.

Existing law requires the Department of Justice to compile criminal offender record information, defined as the records and data compiled by criminal justice agencies, for purposes of identifying criminal offenders and of maintaining as to each offender a summary of certain information, including arrests, pretrial proceedings, sentencing, and release. Existing law requires a reporting agency to report specified information to the department concerning each arrest, including applicable identification and arrest data, as specified. Existing law requires the superior court that disposes of a case for which an arrest was made to report specified data to the department, including the disposition of the case and specified data elements. This bill would require state and local prosecution offices to collect and transmit data elements, as defined, for each criminal case to the department, including, but not limited to, data about basic case information of each case, including the case number and the date of the crime and arrest, data about the charges, including each charge, enhancement, and special circumstance filed, data about the initial appearance, custody, and bail, including the date of the initial appearance and bail set, whether defendant posted bail, and the date of release from custody, data about plea bargains, including the date and the terms, data about diversion and collaborative court programs, including whether the defendant was offered a diversion program, whether the defendant was eligible for a collaborative court program, and whether there was opposition by the prosecuting agency for either program, data about the case disposition and postconviction proceedings, and data about the victim and the defendant charged. The bill would also require the department to collect specified data, including the number of prior felony arrests and convictions of a defendant. The bill would require the department to be responsible for collecting data elements from agencies, as specified, and aggregating, as specified, these data elements by, including, but not limited to, developing consistent definitions and formats for data elements and providing consistent and clear guidelines to agencies transmitting data elements to the department. The bill would, beginning March 1, 2027, require every agency to collect data elements for cases in which a decision to reject charges or to initiate criminal proceedings by way of complaint or indictment has been made by that agency from that date forward. The bill would, beginning June 1, 2027, require every agency to begin transmitting data elements to the department with this transmission occurring on a quarterly basis until June 1, 2028, after which data elements are transmitted monthly. The bill would authorize the department to require any agency to transmit data before any deadline for specified reasons, including quality control purposes and compliance with standardized formats. The bill would require the department, by October 1, 2023, to establish the Prosecutorial Transparency Advisory Board for the purpose of ensuring transparency, accountability, and equitable access to prosecutorial data. The bill would require specified individuals and representatives of specified organizations, or their designees, including the Attorney General, the president of the California Public Defenders Association, a university professor who specializes in criminal justice data, and 2 individuals who have direct experience being prosecuted in the criminal legal system, to serve on the board. The bill would require the board to provide guidance to the department on draft rules, regulations, policies, plans, reports, and other decisions made by the department. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2024, in consultation with the Prosecutorial Transparency Advisory Board, to develop a data dictionary that includes standardized definitions for each data element. The bill would require the department, beginning June 1, 2027, to begin collecting data elements from all agencies statewide and to aggregate data from all agencies and publish this data by June 1, 2028, with the publication continuing on a quarterly basis for one year and then on a monthly basis thereafter. The bill would create an exception for the data provided by the agencies to the department to any sealing or expungement of a case, as specified, or any rule of confidentiality or otherwise prohibiting disclosure provided by law. The bill would make the operation of its provisions contingent upon an adequate appropriation by the Legislature, as specified. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.