AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 23, 2026

AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 25, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

97

Introduced by Senator Pérez

February 13, 2026

An act to add Section 8586.6 to the Government Code, relating to information sharing.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: yes

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

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 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.

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) “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.

(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.

(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.

(d) State elected officials, local elected officials, officials and their accompanying staff may enter any fusion center for inspections, without prior notice or authorization. with 24 hours prior notice, provided they agree to adhere to any fusion center regulation or policy regarding the confidentiality, nondisclosure, and privacy of sensitive law enforcement data and personal information.

(e) Starting on January 1, 2027, 2028, and each year thereafter, the Office of Emergency Services every fusion center in California shall submit a report to the Department of Justice that includes all of the following information collected from fusion centers: information:

(1) A list of all federal, state, and local governmental entities and data brokers, including their contractors and vendors, that participate in fusion centers, the fusion center, a summary of their role and function, and any proposed or existing memorandum of understanding (MOU) or written agreement or material amendments to an existing MOU between these entities regarding participation in fusion centers.

(2) Number of requests for information and suspicious activity reports submitted to the fusion center from a governmental entity or data broker law enforcement agency, data broker, or other entity, regardless of the reason.

(3) The general types of information collected by state and local law enforcement agencies and shared with federal law enforcement agencies while participating in fusion centers. the fusion center.

(5) How requests for information are submitted to the fusion center from a governmental entity or data broker and how quickly those are processed.

(6) An assessment of how the fusion centers process center processes incoming requests for information from governmental entities and data brokers.

(7) The number of times a federal law enforcement agency requested information or assessments from state law enforcement agencies and whether the state law enforcement agency determined that the reasonable suspicion standard was met for the activity.

(8) Any policies and standards for the use and retention of data gathered, processed, or analyzed by fusion centers. the fusion center.

(9) The process for validating the authenticity of the requesting governmental entities and data brokers seeking information requests from the fusion center.

(10) The types of agencies that staff each the fusion center, including, but not limited to, the number of staff per agency and a staffing chart or flowchart detailing staffing and how decisions are made about responding to requests from governmental entities or data brokers.

SEC. 3.