SB1095 - Fusion centers.

Amended IN Senate April 23, 2026 Amended IN Senate March 25, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 1095 Introduced by Senator Pérez February 13, 2026 An act to add Section 8586.6 to the Government Code, relating to information sharing. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1095, as amended, Pérez. Fusion centers. Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, creates, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services, which is responsible for addressing natural, technological, or human-caused disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. This bill would prohibit a fusion center from engaging in specified acts, including, among other things, law enforcement agency from participating in activity, cooperating, or disclosing or sharing information with any governmental entity, or a contractor for any governmental entity, that assists or furthers immigration enforcement unless pursuant to judicial warrant or court order, and providing office space for agencies engaged in immigration enforcement, as provided. a fusion center unless the elected governing body or council of the law enforcement agency, or governing board if no elected body exists, has entered into a written memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the fusion center. The bill would define “fusion center” to mean a state-owned center operated by the Office of Emergency Services and involving a law enforcement agency and a governmental entity that gather, analyze and share information, as provided. or operated by an executive board consisting of local, state, and federal members, that gathers, analyses, and shares information. The bill would require the MOU to provide, among other things, that information shall not be shared with an individual employed by or contracting with a federal immigration enforcement agency or for immigration enforcement purposes, except pursuant to a judicial warrant, and that a violation of its terms shall result in the termination of the MOU and the withdrawal of the law enforcement agency from participation in the fusion center, as provided. The bill would also require the local governing body or council, or the law enforcement agency if no governing body or council exists, to publicly post a signed copy of the MOU on its internet website. By imposing additional duties on local governments with respect to fusion centers, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2029, and every 4 years thereafter, require the Department of Justice to conduct a performance and compliance audit of a representative sample of law enforcement agencies and fusion centers that includes any law enforcement agency that has had its MOU terminated, and submit that audit to the Legislature, as provided. This bill would authorize state and local elected officials and their accompanying staff to enter any fusion center for inspections, without prior notice or authorization. with 24 hours prior notice, as provided. This bill would, starting on January 1, 2027, 2028, and each year thereafter, require the Office of Emergency Services every fusion center in California to submit a report to the Department of Justice that includes specified information collected from fusion centers, information, including, among other things, any policies and standards for the use and retention of data gathered, processed, or analyzed by fusion centers and a certification, under penalty of perjury, that the fusion center has not engaged in any acts intended to influence the decisions or assessments of the Department of Justice. By expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Department of Justice to conduct an annual audit based on the report submitted by the Office of Emergency Services, and to submit that audit to the Legislature, as provided. the fusion center and detailed procedures for requesting and conducting site visits requested by elected officials and their staff. Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires each state and local agency, as defined, to make its records open to public inspection at all times during office hours, except as specifically exempted from disclosure by law. This bill would provide that all records related to fusion centers are public records for purposes of the California Public Records Act, except for specified records which are prohibited from disclosure. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. 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. 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. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The California Constitution guarantees an inalienable right to privacy in Section 1 of Article I. (b) California law protects the right of people to seek reproductive care in the state and makes the state a refuge for transgender people and their families, however, these communities remain at risk as long as information collected in California is shared out of state. (c) California law recognizes that immigrants are a valuable and essential part of our state and that California must avoid entangling state and local resources with federal immigration enforcement, which wastes taxpayer resources and undermines public safety. However, as long as California continues to share information with out-of-state and federal agencies and entities, immigrants and their families in California remain at risk. (d) Fusion centers expose our lives and families to harm by giving federal and out-of-state agencies our personal information, including our location, identity, biometrics, and social media activity, without our consent and without regard to local and state laws. (e) Fusion centers are a collaboration between state and local law enforcement and federal agencies. According to a report of the United States Senate, fusion centers are state and local entities which are subject to, and governed by, the laws and regulations of their home states, and “the exact missions of individual fusion centers are largely beyond the authority of the federal government to determine.” (f) California currently operates at least six fusion centers spread across the state that were established by the Office of Emergency Services, formerly the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security. These include the State Threat Assessment Center, the Central California Intelligence Center, the Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center, the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, and the San Diego Law Enforcement Coordination Center. (g) While the stated priority of fusion centers was originally to prevent terrorism, there is little evidence that fusion centers have meaningfully contributed to this goal. Indeed, a report of the United States Senate could not find evidence of a fusion center uncovering an attack or contributing to disrupt an active plot. (h) Fusion centers have a track record of being used to target and surveil Muslim and Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities and activists, including tracking protest movements, disseminating conspiracy theories, creating intelligence reports about meditation circles and Juneteenth celebrations, and improperly flagging supporters of abortion rights and climate advocacy groups as suspicious. (i) By making information about people in California available to out-of-state and federal entities or agencies, fusion centers operating in California grant other governmental entities additional surveillance powers and pose an active threat to the safety and rights of Californians. (j) The Legislature must protect the rights and safety of people in California and update the law to prevent the exploitation and weaponization of information collected in California. SEC. 2. Section 8586.6 is added to the Government Code, to read: 8586.6. (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply: (1) “Data broker” means a business that knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship. (2) “Fusion center” means a state-owned center operated by the Office of Emergency Services and involving a law enforcement agency and a governmental entity that gather, analyze, and share or operated by an executive board consisting of local, state, and federal members, that gathers, analyses, and shares information, including, but not limited to, the State Threat Assessment Center, the Central California Intelligence Center, the Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center, the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, and the San Diego Law Enforcement Coordination Center. (3) “Governmental entity” means the federal government, any state government other than California, any local government outside of California, and any agency, subdivision, contractor, or representative thereof, or any agreed upon or functional agent thereof. (4) (3) “Immigration enforcement” includes any and all efforts to investigate, enforce, or assist in the investigation or enforcement of any federal civil immigration law, and also includes any and all efforts to investigate, enforce, or assist in the investigation or enforcement of any federal criminal immigration law that penalizes a person’s presence in, entry, or reentry to, or employment in, the United States. (5) (4) “Law enforcement agency” means a state or local law enforcement agency, including, but not limited to, any of the following: (A) A police department, including the police department of a transit agency, or any campus of the University of California, the California State University, or California Community Colleges. (B) A sheriff’s department. (C) A district attorney’s office. (D) A county probation department. (E) The Department of the California Highway Patrol. (F) The Office of Emergency Services. (G) The Department of Justice. (6) (5) “Personal information” means any information that is maintained by an agency that relates to, describes, or is reasonably capable of identifying or describing, an individual, including, but not limited to, the individual’s name, social security number, physical description, home address, biometric information, geolocation data, home telephone number, education, financial matters, and medical or employment history. It includes statements made by, or attributed to, the individual and constitutionally protected activities or involvement engaged in by the individual. (7) “Record” means any file or grouping of personal information about an individual that is maintained by an agency. (b) A fusion center operating in the State of California shall not participate in activity, cooperate, or disclose or share information with any governmental entity, or a contractor for any governmental entity, when participation, cooperation, or disclosure involves either of the following: (1) Assisting or furthering immigration enforcement, unless pursuant to judicial warrant or court order. (2) Investigating, interrogating, detaining, identifying, surveilling, detecting, or arresting people in violation of the prohibition against racial or identity profiling as provided in Section 13519 .4 of the Penal Code. (c) A fusion center shall not allow a governmental entity, contractor for a governmental entity, or private entity to work inside the fusion center when the Office of Emergency Services knows or has reason to know that the entity or contractor is presently engaged in or intends to engage in unlawful intelligence-gathering activity resulting in the violation of the constitutional or civil rights of a resident of California. (d) Fusion centers shall not provide office space for agencies engaged in immigration enforcement, or personnel, agents or subcontractors acting on their behalf, for use within the fusion centers. (b) (1) A law enforcement agency shall not participate in activity, cooperate, or disclose or share information with a fusion center unless it has entered into a written memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the fusion center pursuant to this subdivision. (2) Before a law enforcement agency may enter into an MOU with a fusion center pursuant to paragraph (1), the MOU shall be adopted by its elected governing body or council, or governing board if no elected body exists, in open session, and shall meet the following requirements: (A) The MOU does not require the agency to disclose any information it determines, in its sole discretion, it does not have the ability or authority to disclose or to perform any act is contrary to law. (B) The MOU prohibits reporting any activities protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to the fusion center as suspicious activity reports. (C) The MOU affirms that all applicable state and local laws, rules, and regulations apply, including the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1) and the California Values Act (Chapter 17.25 (commencing with Section 7284) of Division 7 of Title 1). (D) The MOU provides that information shall not be shared with an in [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]