Law enforcement: settlement agreements.

New Section 2.1 adds 'a civilian oversight board or commission for a law enforcement agency established pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25303.7 of the Government Code or other duly enacted municipal or county ordinance' to the list of entities whose investigations are exempt from the personnel records confidentiality provision in Penal Code Section 832.7(a). This expands the scope of the transparency law to cover civilian oversight bodies, not just grand juries, district attorneys, the Attorney General, and POST.

The document was reformatted from a clean authenticated chaptered bill into a web page view that includes site navigation (home, accessibility, FAQ, feedback, sitemap, login), search tools, version history links, and other UI elements. The underlying statutory text of AB 1388 is unchanged.

The Senate amendment date in the bill header was updated from September 5, 2025 to September 9, 2025, with the earlier date retained as a secondary line to track the amendment history.

Page numbers throughout the bill were renumbered from 96 to 95, likely reflecting a minor pagination correction.

The bill now amends Sections 832.7 and 13510.9 of the Penal Code in addition to adding the original new Article 4.5, expanding from a single-section bill to a multi-section transparency package.

Section 832.7 is rewritten to require public disclosure of peace officer personnel records under the California Public Records Act for specific categories: firearm discharges at persons, use of force resulting in death or great bodily injury, sustained findings of excessive force, failure to intervene, sexual assault by officers, dishonesty in crime reporting or investigation, prejudice or discrimination findings, and unlawful arrests or searches.

Section 13510.9 now requires agencies to report to the POST commission within 10 days of events including officer employment, separation, complaints, civilian oversight findings, final investigation dispositions, and civil judgments or settlements related to officer conduct.

A new affidavit-of-separation requirement mandates that when a peace officer separates from employment, the agency must execute a form describing the reason for separation and whether it was part of a settlement or resolution of any charge or investigation. The officer may submit a written response to the commission.

Before employing a peace officer previously employed by another agency, the new employer must contact the POST commission to inquire about the facts and reasons for any prior separation. The commission must provide that information upon request.

A backfill reporting requirement obligates agencies to report events that occurred between January 1, 2020 and January 1, 2023 to the POST commission by July 1, 2023.

Section 13510.9(e) prohibits agencies from entering agreements that require them to destroy, remove, or conceal misconduct records; halt or make particular findings in investigations; or restrict disclosure of information about allegations or investigations. Such provisions are declared void and unenforceable.

Detailed disclosure timing rules are added: records must be provided within 45 days of a request, with limited delays permitted during active criminal investigations (up to 60 days initially, extendable in 180-day intervals up to 18 months) or administrative investigations (up to 180 days).

A severability clause and constitutional findings (required by Article I, Section 3(b)(7) of the California Constitution for public records legislation) are added.

New legislative findings declare that separation agreements obscuring officer misconduct are contrary to public policy and good morals, and that the bill's purpose is to affirm existing reporting, retention, and disclosure requirements.

The entire requirement for agencies employing peace officers to report separations, complaints, findings, and civil judgments to the POST commission within 10 days was removed from the bill. This included the affidavit-of-separation form, pre-employment background check inquiry process, and the prohibition on agreements requiring destruction or concealment of misconduct records (formerly Section 13510.9).

A new Section 2.1 was added to incorporate additional changes to Section 832.7 of the Penal Code as proposed by AB 847 and AB 1178, making those changes operative only if this bill and at least one of those bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

The incorporated AB 847/AB 1178 changes to Section 832.7 carry a conditional operative date - they take effect only if AB 1388 is the last of the three bills to be enacted, creating an inter-bill dependency not present in the prior version.

Page numbering changed from 97 to 96 throughout, section numbering was reorganized (the former Section 4 severability clause and Section 5 legislative findings were renumbered), and minor line spacing and formatting adjustments were made throughout the text.

Removed the addition of a new Article 4.5 (Section 13545) to the Penal Code that would have prohibited law enforcement agencies from entering into settlement agreements with peace officers containing terms requiring the agency to keep misconduct confidential.

Bill title changed from 'An act to add Article 4.5...amend Sections 832.7 and 13510.9' to simply 'An act to amend Sections 832.7 and 13510.9,' reflecting the removal of the new article.

Legislative digest changed from 'settlement agreements: prohibition' to 'settlement agreements,' and removed the paragraph describing the prohibition on confidential settlement agreements.