To all Tribal Leaders:
Assemblymember James Ramos (D-Highland) has a proposed bill, AB 3099, that his office has requested tribal support for. It would require CA DOJ to provide technical assistance on tribal issues to local law enforcement agencies and tribal governments — guidance and training on PL 280, criminal investigations in Indian Country, crime reporting and stats, and improving communication between local law enforcement agencies and tribal governments. It also would require a study on how to better address reporting and identifying murdered and missing Native American women and girls.
The California Tribal Police Chiefs Association is in support of the bill. We have heard anecdotally that many tribes in the state view it favorably as well.
If your tribe is willing to support this bill, please consider sending a letter of support to the Senate Appropriations Committee and to Assemblymember Ramos. For the Senate Appropriations Committee, please go to https://sapro.senate.ca.gov and use the “Submit Position Letter” link at the bottom of the page, or email Senator Portantino at senator.portantino@senate.ca.gov. For Assemblymember Ramos, please email his legislative director, Katherine Van Horn, at senator.portantino@senate.ca.gov.
To save you some time, attached is a sample letter of support. Obviously, please feel free to customize it however you like.
There is only a limited amount of time in which to write in support of the bill, so if you do wish to support it, please send your letters as soon as you can – by Monday, August 17 if at all possible.
Please consider passing this email along to other tribes and law enforcement colleagues.
The text of AB 3099 can be seen here:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB3099
Stay safe and healthy.