AB1896 - Public employment: disqualifications.

Amended IN Senate August 27, 2026 Amended IN Senate August 21, 2026 Amended IN Senate August 13, 2026 Amended IN Senate June 24, 2026 Amended IN Assembly April 14, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 1896 Introduced by Assembly Members Mark González and Rivas (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Carrillo) (Principal coauthors: Senators Durazo and Gonzalez) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Connolly, Elhawary, Garcia, Haney, Jackson, Lee, Ortega, and Zbur) (Coauthors: Senators Cervantes and Pérez) February 12, 2026 An act to amend Sections 1029, 1031, 1031.1, 18720.45, and 18935 of, and to add Sections 1025 and 1031.15 to, the Government Code, and to amend Sections 13510.8 and 13681 of the Penal Code, relating to public employment. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1896, as amended, Mark González. Public employment: disqualifications. Existing law contains numerous provisions governing the qualifications, standards, and training of peace officers. Existing law specifies circumstances that disqualify a person from holding office or being employed as a peace officer, including, among other things, having been convicted of a felony. This bill, the GTFO Act, would, commencing January 1, 2028, disqualify from being a peace officer a person previously employed as a sworn law enforcement officer or individual contractor and personally engaged in immigration enforcement, as defined, except as specified. Existing law requires each class of public officers or employees declared by law to be peace officers to meet specified minimum standards, including that they be 18 years of age or older, be fingerprinted for purposes of search of local, state, and national fingerprint files to disclose a criminal record, and be of good moral character, as determined by a thorough background investigation. This bill would, for purposes of those background investigations, authorize a hiring agency to consider news articles, verified social media posts, filings of civil complaints, and other verified sources. This bill, for purposes of an applicant who was previously employed as a sworn law enforcement officer or individual contractor and personally engaged in immigration enforcement, would require the hiring agency to complete the background investigation before the candidate participates in a Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) basic course. The bill would require the hiring agency to review the background investigation and determine if the individual is suitable to enter the POST basic course subject to certain suitability standards adopted by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. This bill would require every applicant seeking appointment as a peace officer or enrollment in a POST basic course to submit to the hiring agency a declaration submitted under penalty of perjury that states whether the applicant has, at any time been employed as a sworn law enforcement officer or individual contractor that personally engaged in immigration enforcement, as specified. By requiring this statement to be made under penalty of perjury, the bill would expand the scope of a crime and impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the State Civil Service Act, requires that the employment procedures of the Department of Human Resources (CalHR) and of each state agency conform to the federal and state laws governing employment practices, including the use of employment forms. Existing law requires employment forms used by a state agency to require a person applying for employment to disclose whether the person has entered into an agreement with the state regarding any previous employment with the state that prohibits the person from seeking or accepting any subsequent employment with the state. This bill would additionally require the above-described employment forms to require a person applying for employment to disclose whether the person has been employed as a sworn law enforcement officer or individual contractor that personally engaged in immigration enforcement, as defined. Existing law authorizes CalHR or a designated appointing power to refuse to examine or, after examination, to refuse to declare as eligible, or to withhold or withdraw from certification, prior to appointment, anyone who meets certain criteria, such as a person who has misrepresented themselves during the application process. This bill would add to these criteria a person who was previously employed as a sworn law enforcement officer or individual contractor and personally engaged in immigration enforcement, as defined, except as specified. Existing law makes a person ineligible to hold office or employment of any kind with the state, or any county, city, district, or other political or governmental unit of the state, if the person has by oath bound themselves to support, maintain, or further the military or political activities or policies of a foreign government, as specified, or to obey the orders or directions of any foreign government or its officials. This bill, commencing January 1, 2028, would make a person ineligible to hold public employment, including employment with a city, county, district, or any other public agency of the state, because the person was previously employed as a sworn law enforcement officer or individual contractor and personally engaged in immigration enforcement, as defined, except as specified. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to establish a certification program for peace officers. Existing law requires, for each applicant for admission to a basic course of training certified by the commission that includes the carrying and use of firearms, who is not sponsored by a local or other law enforcement agency or is not a peace officer employed by a state or local agency, department, or district, to submit written certification from the Department of Justice that the applicant is eligible to possess, receive, own, and purchase a firearm pursuant to state and federal law. This bill would, for purposes of an applicant for the basic course who was previously employed as a sworn law enforcement officer or individual contractor and personally engaged in immigration enforcement, require the commission to deny suitability for enrollment in the basic course, unless the commission receives notice from the hiring agency granting the applicant’s suitability, as specified. The bill, by January 1, 2028, would require the commission to adopt, by regulation, a definition of “suitability,” as specified. Existing law requires any background investigation of a candidate for a peace officer position to include an inquiry into whether the candidate has engaged or is engaging in membership in a hate group. This bill would require the background investigation to include an inquiry into whether the candidate has engaged in immigration enforcement. By increasing the duties of local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make the provisions of the act severable. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1029 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1627 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1627 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. The bill would also incorporate additional changes to Section 13510.8 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 2337 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2337 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the GTFO Act. GTFO Act SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) (1) Since the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025, immigration enforcement agents have carried out an indiscriminate mass terror campaign against innocent men, women, and children across the nation. (2) Immigration enforcement agents, under the direction of their leadership, have committed grave, inhumane, and horrific patterns of hate, abuse, violence, and even execution. (3) These raids take the form of shootings, deaths in custody, and family separations, including: (A) The wrongful execution of 37-year-old Renée Nicole Good, a mother of three and loving wife, in the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota. (B) The shooting of Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a popular streamer who was shot by federal agents in the City of Los Angeles after an extreme example of immigration enforcement agent misconduct. (C) The violent abuse and injuries labor leader and activist David Huerta experienced after an encounter with immigration enforcement agents in the City of Los Angeles. (D) The 32 lives lost in immigration enforcement custody over the year of 2025, including several elderly persons. (E) The fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas González, who attempted to flee United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in the City of Chicago, Illinois. (F) Countless peaceful protesters have been abused, pepper sprayed, sandbagged, or hit by immigration enforcement agents. (G) The murder of Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota. (H) Immigration enforcement agents kidnapping five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos to use him as bait to capture and arrest his father. (I) The fatal shooting of Keith Porter Jr., father of two, by an off-duty ICE officer on New Year’s Eve. (J) The fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, father and husband, while he was traveling to work in the City of Houston, Texas. (K) The shooting and killing of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, an immigrant and father, in the City of Biddeford, Maine, when he was not even the target of an ICE operation. (4) Immigration enforcement agents have reportedly used phrases such as “I was just following orders” to continue to perpetuate harm, including by agents who fatally shot innocent civilians. (5) Vice President JD Vance has publicly stated that the immigration enforcement agent involved in the execution of Renée Nicole Good was “just doing his job,” framing the murder as justified enforcement. Additional reporting indicates that leadership has instructed ICE agents to take “decisive action should you be faced with an imminent threat.” (6) ICE announced it has doubled in size to 22,000 employees in less than one year, compared to Border Patrol taking six years to accomplish the same, and has been faced with a wave of corruption, abuse, and misconduct by new hires. (7) ICE agents have repeatedly abused their position and power to commit illegal actions, including all of the following: (A) Samuel Saxon, an ICE field office supervisor and 20-year veteran, who has been jailed since December 2025 on charges of attempting to strangle his girlfriend. A judge found he had abused her for years, causing serious injuries, and described him as “volatile and violent.” ICE says he is absent without leave. (B) Alexander Back, an ICE employment eligibility auditor, was arrested in a sting operation in Minnesota in November 2025 as he was trying to solicit a 17-year-old prostitute and said “I’m ICE, boys” to police in an attempt to sidestep his actions. (C) In December 2025, an ICE contractor pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a detainee at a detention facility in Louisiana over a five-month period. (D) An off-duty ICE agent outside the City of Chicago, Illinois, was charged with misdemeanor battery after throwing a 68-year-old protestor to the ground after being filmed at a gas station. (8) New ICE agents are receiving only 14 weeks of training compared to the minimum of 40 weeks that a law enforcement officer would undergo in California. (9) Whistleblower documents from the United States Department of Homeland Security detail cuts to training requirements for new immigration enforcement officers, such as the elimination of practical exams, use of force and legal training courses, and an overall reduction in training time. (10) Whistleblower complaints include information showing all of the following: (A) Current ICE recruits receive 250 fewer hours of training than the previous cohort of recruits. (B) ICE has eliminated a dozen practical exams that ICE officers previously needed to graduate. In July 2021, 25 practical tests were needed to graduate, now 9 practical tests are required. (C) Eliminated exams include “Judgment pistol shooting,” “Criminal encounters,” and “Determine removability.” (D) The remaining exams are now open-book, multiple-choice written exams without any graded practical examinations. (E) ICE’s training program syllabus has removed whole courses, such as use of force simulation training, United States government structure, criminal versus removal proceedings, and use of force. (11) After the shooting and killing of Joan Sebastian Guerrero and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, ICE agents have been told that the FBI will no longer investigate claims of assault against federal officers, which will lead to even less accountability for immigration agents who have shot and killed people. (12) Only after more fatal shootings did ICE finally update its dress code for field operations so its officers are clearly identifiable. (13) Immigration agents have also been found to have used racial and derogatory slurs during the Los Angeles immigration raids, calling potential targets “wet” or “tonks.” (14) In 2017, we, as the State of California, established core values of community safety, inclusivity, and accessible public services and passed groundbreaking legislation to separate our state and local law enforcement personnel from cooperating in federal immigration enforcement unless the suspect has committed a serious or violent crime, and to prohibit public and private employers from engaging with federal immigration enforcement unless authorized by a judicial warrant. (15) Immigration enforcement agents, by capacity of their employment, have consistently shown they are unwilling to stand up to orders, and therefore do not align with the core values of this state’s law en [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]