By admin 
Sen. Sasha Pérez, D-Alhambra, resurrected legislation Friday to increase state oversight of conditions in private civil detention facilities.
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Senate Bill 957 would require the Attorney General to submit a proposed plan for health and safety oversight of detention centers to the Legislature. The bill would also mandate that the Governor designate an appropriate state agency or department to work with the Attorney General to develop the plan.
The amended bill is Pérez’s response to the Assembly Appropriations Committee’s decision to halt SB 995, known as the Masuma Khan Justice Act. The measure would have created a uniform statewide system to regulate heating, ventilation, air, water and electrical systems in detention centers. It would also mandate adherence to occupational safety and health regulations to address reported deficiencies in access to mental health and medical care.
SB 957 would originally have enacted more comprehensive data privacy protections for social media users. Pérez amended the measure to remove existing language and replace it with new legislation.
“The point of us doing this is to keep the ball rolling,” Pérez said. “To not do anything, and to allow for more time to pass — it doesn’t make any sense. I’ve talked with so many families and individuals that have been held at these detention centers, and they want to see justice.”
Pérez’s original measure was named after Masuma Khan, a 65-year-old resident of Altadena, California. In an April Senate committee hearing, Pérez said Khan was held for over a month in a cold facility without access to warm clothing, edible food, clean drinking water or the medications she needed.
Khan was detained at California City Detention Center after a mandatory check-in in downtown Los Angeles. During a month in detention, Khan was denied access to medications for hypothyroidism, high blood pressure and glaucoma, according to testimony by her daughter, Riya Khan.
Riya Khan said those held in the facility were served moldy, insect-infested bread, drank dirty water and lived in below-freezing conditions. The LED floodlights outside the center are left on all night, she said, and guards slam doors at all hours, keeping detainees awake.
“This is unacceptable and disgusting,” Riya Khan said. “We have people dying at a record rate … There is a complete and utter disregard for human lives at this point. And this can be prevented by having certain rules and regulations in place.”
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While the original legislation passed with bipartisan support in Senate and Assembly committees, some said its provisions were duplicative of existing law. According to testimony by Leah Barros on behalf of the California Hospital Association, the bill would group private detention facilities with licensed behavioral health facilities already governed by strict state guidelines.
“We have concerns with some of the provisions in the bill that we believe would create … duplicative oversight for health facilities that are already licensed and regulated under some of the most stringent regulations in the nation,” Barros said.
According to Assembly Appropriations Chair Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, implementing the bill would have necessitated a lengthy and intensive process.
“While SB 995 addresses a serious issue, its significant costs and lengthy implementation timeline raised concerns about whether the proposal, as written, would translate into timely, meaningful protections for the people it was intended to help,” Wicks said in a written statement to The Bee.
In response to these concerns, Pérez said the new legislation will provide state agencies with more time to enact regulations instead of mandating immediate state oversight. The new regulations mandate that the Attorney General complete a plan in conjunction with the California Department of Public Health by December 2027.
“The reality for me is that we need to take action on this issue. We’ve had six people die within detention centers this year alone. That’s historic records for the state of California,” Pérez said. “This is a reason for the government to respond, particularly state government.”
The resurrected bill will be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning.
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