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San Francisco Chronicle
15-07-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
California police are killing fewer people. The opposite is happening in red states
California law enforcement officers killed fewer people, shot fewer people and used physical force against fewer people in 2024 than in any year since the state began keeping track nine years ago. Red states, meanwhile, are experiencing a reverse trend. According to a Chronicle analysis of statistics compiled by the California Department of Justice from 2016 through 2024, the 117 people killed by officers last year marked a 13% decline from the 134 killings in 2023 and a 32% drop from the 172 slayings in 2017 and again in 2020, which tied for the most recorded by the state. No California officers died as a result of use-of-force encounters last year either, the first time that's happened since at least 2016. 'It's a calmer California,' said Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, who passed legislation intended to reduce racial profiling and lethal encounters while in the state Assembly. 'There's still so much to do. But I think it indicates in some way that when we make up our mind that we want to bring about change, we can.' Other lethal force databases both confirm and extend California's positive trajectory. A Washington Post database that strictly tracks fatal police shootings — and which was discontinued this year — counted 111 such killings in California in 2024, the lowest since it began counting in 2015, when officers in the state fatally shot 190 people. And the research nonprofit Mapping Police Violence, which includes killings by off-duty officers and intentional vehicle collisions, tallied the fewest police killings in California since its tracking began 13 years ago: It said that officers killed 127 people last year, the lowest figure since at least 2013 and down 36.5% from 2015's high of 200 deaths. Mapping Police Violence and the Washington Post rely on news coverage to compile their totals, which Mapping Police Violence augments with public records requests. The state Justice Department receives its statistics from the law enforcement agencies themselves and 'does not collect the entire universe of' use-of-force incidents, a spokesperson said, statutorily restricted to consider force that results in death or the most serious of injuries. Still, taken together, the different data sources broadly agree that police violence has steadily declined in the nation's most populous state. It's a quiet transformation, backstopped by hard-won legislative victories and occurring with little fanfare, even as California sharpens its contrast with Republican-controlled states where police killings are on the rise, say data scientists, reform advocates and former lawmakers. 'Particularly since 2020 and the murder of George Floyd … there's been a divergence or a gap opening up between more progressive or blue states and red states,' said Samuel Sinyangwe, a Stanford University graduate who founded Mapping Police Violence in 2012. 'California is leading that trend. … The opposite is happening in Texas.' In California, Sinyangwe pointed to a series of legislative reforms that he and others contend have achieved results greater than the sum of their parts. Assembly Bill 953, the Racial and Identity Profiling Act, or RIPA, passed in 2015, requires law enforcement agencies to produce data on every vehicle and pedestrian stop and every racial profiling complaint to a state advisory board. Assembly Bill 392, passed in 2019, made the deadly force standard a little more restrictive, requiring officers to believe such force was 'necessary' rather than 'reasonable' to protect themselves and others. Senate Bill 230, companion legislation from the same year, standardized minimum use-of-force training requirements around the state. Assembly Bill 1506, passed in 2020, tasked the Attorney General's Office with reviewing officer killings of unarmed civilians and deadly force policies at law enforcement agencies that requested it. And Assembly Bill 2054, also from 2020 and known as the Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Act, temporarily funded non-law enforcement emergency response teams in four counties. No one bill has changed the paradigm around police violence and some have fallen short of their advertising — AB392 bases its standard on an officer's perception, not the reality of danger; and the Attorney General's Office has declined to prosecute officers in 29 straight cases it's reviewed under AB1506 — but they've had a cumulative, overlapping effect, said Sinyangwe. 'There's been a layered approach that's scaled up over time,' he said. 'These are policies that are in many ways models for the nation.' Many needed multiple attempts — and in some cases, watering down — to overcome grueling opposition from powerful law enforcement unions. Weber, who wrote the RIPA Act and AB392, said she almost gave up on the former. But she received encouragement from an unlikely source — police officials who wanted change and told her not to believe claims that they couldn't collect the kind of data she was seeking. And after leaders from her own party pulled AB392's predecessor in 2018, she returned the following year alongside dozens of civil rights organizations, community activists and people affected by police violence, many of whom held vigils at the state Capitol and confronted lawmakers attempting to duck out of floor votes. 'Listen, I had an army. Literally an army of people who showed up for hearings and spent nights sleeping at the Capitol,' she said. 'The work that they did was just profound, it really was. It made a tremendous difference.' AB392 took effect in 2020, when police killings experienced an upswing as the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with a jump in gun sales and a retrenchment of vital programs in vulnerable neighborhoods. But police killings declined steadily from there, a reality that Weber had intuited from a drop in controversy and heartache in her own community. 'I live in the heart of this southeast community,' she said of her San Diego neighborhood. 'And I haven't seen the kind of violence or tremendous number of stops, this and that. … I've seen officers attending a whole lot of different kind of community meetings.' Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, a former Assembly member who wrote AB1506 and two earlier iterations, said he recently went to the scene of a police shooting blocks from City Hall. Police had been called about a man waving a gun in the roadway of North 16th Street. The department said three officers shot and wounded the man after he kept walking toward them and pulled what later turned out to be an imitation gun from his pocket. McCarty said he watched a debriefing and body-camera footage. 'The officers used every possible technique before they had to respond,' McCarty said. Sinyangwe said California can build on its progress by scaling up the things that are working, like expanding the Attorney General's Office's ability to audit agencies' use-of-force procedures, and by making the CRISES Act statewide and permanent. 'These laws can make a difference, but they're often not at the scale of the problem,' he said. Neither the Legislature's Democratic leadership, which exacted the reforms over the objections of law enforcement unions, nor the leaders of those unions have celebrated the downturn in violence or taken credit for it. The California Peace Officers Association, California Police Chiefs Association, Peace Officers Research Association of California Legal Defense Fund, based in Santa Rosa, did not respond to requests for comment. Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose recent swing through South Carolina heightened speculation about a 2028 presidential run, has used his platform to advertise the state's declining crime rate and his administration's efforts to increase law enforcement spending, combat organized retail theft, illicit cannabis grows and intoxicated drivers. 'In the wake of a nationwide spike in crime during the pandemic, California made the choice to invest — not abandon — our communities,' Newsom said in a statement. 'While Republicans in Congress pushed a bill that guts law enforcement funding and the President focuses on arresting farmworkers, California is showing what real public safety looks like: serious investments, strong enforcement, and real results.' According to the California Department of Justice, 2024 also marked nine-year lows in the number of officers who admitted using force (1,190), officers who were shot at (155) and civilians who were proven to be armed (280). And though no California officers died at the hands of someone they were trying to arrest, there were six line-of-duty deaths in 2024, according to the nonprofit Officer Down Memorial Page, which, unlike the state, counts federal officers like a Homeland Security agent who died in a helicopter crash during a border patrol mission near San Diego and a federal prison officer who handled a letter allegedly laced with a synthetic cannabinoid. That was the lowest figure in 13 years and down 87% from 2021, when 45 officers died in the state — 30 from COVID-19. 'It is an unfortunate reality that law enforcement is an inherently dangerous profession, but we are grateful that brave officers continue to answer the call every day,' Cory Salzillo, legislative director for the California Sheriffs' Association, said in an email. He did not respond to a question about the drop in use-of-force deaths for both civilians and officers. In California, four of the five law enforcement agencies with the most deadly encounters last year were sheriffs' departments. The Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department tied with 12 civilian deaths each. They were followed by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department (10), Riverside County Sheriff's Department (7) and Sacramento County Sheriff's Department (6). In the Bay Area, the Alameda Police Department, Antioch Police Department, Berkeley Police Department, Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office, Marin County Sheriff's Department and San Mateo County Sheriff's Department were among dozens of agencies that reported no significant incidents last year. Antioch Police Chief Joe Vigil, appointed on an interim basis to lead a department that emerged in January from a federal civil rights investigation into a racist text-messaging scandal, said low staffing might be a factor, because officers aren't able to respond to high-priority calls as quickly as they should. But he also said the department is working with a police oversight commission to update training procedures and has a crisis team that can respond to mental health calls with or without officers. 'I think that's part of the bigger trend that's happening throughout California,' Vigil said. 'It's too early to say if it's sustainable.' Outside of California and on the other end of the political spectrum, 2024 was the deadliest year in Texas since Mapping Police Violence began keeping track: The 168 police killings last year marked a 113% increase from 2017, when officers killed 79 people, and a 79% increase from 2020, when officers killed 94 people. The rise in police killings coincided with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signing legislation in 2021 that financially penalized cities that decrease their police spending. Similarly, Florida saw an 82% upswing in police killings from 2021, when the Republican-controlled Legislature passed bills making it legally more permissible to hit protesters with cars, to 2024, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation blocking civilian oversight of police misconduct. The 98 police killings Mapping Police Violence recorded in Florida last year were the second-most in at least 12 years, below the 100 counted in 2020. Nationwide, Mapping Police Violence says that police killings are trending up in red states, rural and suburban areas, and trending down in blue states and urban areas. The increases have offset the gains in states like California, making 2024 the deadliest year for police violence in Mapping Police Violence's history.
11-07-2025
- Business
Trump administration sues California over egg prices and blames animal welfare laws
The Trump administration is suing the state of California to block animal welfare laws that it says unconstitutionally helped send egg prices soaring. But a group that spearheaded the requirements pushed back, blaming bird flu for the hit to consumers' pocketbooks. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California on Wednesday, challenges voter initiatives that passed in 2018 and 2008. They require that all eggs sold in California come from cage-free hens. The Trump administration says the law imposes burdensome red tape on the production of eggs and egg products across the country because of the state's outsize role in the national economy. 'It is one thing if California passes laws that affects its own State, it is another when those laws affect other States in violation of the U.S. Constitution,' U.S. Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement Thursday. "Thankfully, President Trump is standing up against this overreach.' Egg prices soared last year and earlier this year due in large part to bird flu, which has forced producers to destroy nearly 175 million birds since early 2022. But prices have come down sharply recently. While the Trump administration claims credit for that, seasonal factors are also important. Avian influenza, which is spread by wild birds, tends to spike during the spring and fall migrations and drop in summer. 'Pointing fingers won't change the fact that it is the President's economic policies that have been destructive," the California Department of Justice said in a statement Friday. "We'll see him in court.' The average national price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 in April and $4.55 in May after reaching a record $6.23 in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the May price was still 68.5% higher than a year earlier. 'Trump's back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally everything,' Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said in a social media post. The federal complaint alleges that California contributed to the rise in egg prices with regulations that forced farmers across the country to adopt more expensive production practices. The lawsuit also asserts that it is the federal government's legal prerogative to regulate egg production. So it seeks to permanently block enforcement of the California regulations that flowed from the two ballot measures. 'Americans across the country have suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive inflation for everyday items like eggs,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. 'Under President Trump's leadership, we will use the full extent of federal law to ensure that American families are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American prosperity.' While 2018's Proposition 12 also banned the sale of pork and veal in California from animals raised in cages that don't meet minimum size requirements, the lawsuit only focuses on the state's egg rules. Humane World for Animals, which was named the Humane Society of the United States when it spearheaded the passage of Proposition 12, says avian influenza and other factors drove up egg prices, not animal welfare laws. And it says much of the U.S. egg industry went cage-free anyway because of demand from consumers who don't want eggs from hens confined to tiny spaces. 'California has prohibited the sale of cruelly produced eggs for more than a decade — law that has been upheld by courts at every level, including the Supreme Court. Blaming 2025 egg prices on these established animal welfare standards shows that this case is about pure politics, not constitutional law,' Sara Amundson, president of the Humane World Action Fund, said in a statement. The American Egg Board, which represents the industry, said Friday that it will monitor the progress of the lawsuit while continuing to comply with California's laws, and that it appreciates Rollins' efforts to support farmers in their fight against bird flu and to stabilize the egg supply. 'Egg farmers have been both responsive and responsible in meeting changing demand for cage-free eggs, while supporting all types of egg production, and continuing to provide options in the egg case for consumers,' the board said in a statement.
Boston Globe
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump administration sues California over egg prices and blames animal welfare laws
'It is one thing if California passes laws that affects its own State, it is another when those laws affect other States in violation of the U.S. Constitution,' U.S. Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement Thursday. 'Thankfully, President Trump is standing up against this overreach.' Advertisement Egg prices soared last year and earlier this year due in large part to bird flu, which has forced producers to destroy nearly 175 million birds since early 2022. But prices have come down sharply recently. While the Trump administration claims credit for that, seasonal factors are also important. Avian influenza, which is spread by wild birds, tends to spike during the spring and fall migrations and drop in summer. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Pointing fingers won't change the fact that it is the President's economic policies that have been destructive,' the California Department of Justice said in a statement Friday. 'We'll see him in court.' The average national price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 in April and $4.55 in May after reaching a record $6.23 in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the May price was still 68.5% higher than a year earlier. Advertisement 'Trump's back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally everything,' Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said in a social media post. The federal complaint alleges that California contributed to the rise in egg prices with regulations that forced farmers across the country to adopt more expensive production practices. The lawsuit also asserts that it is the federal government's legal prerogative to regulate egg production. So it seeks to permanently block enforcement of the California regulations that flowed from the two ballot measures. 'Americans across the country have suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive inflation for everyday items like eggs,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. 'Under President Trump's leadership, we will use the full extent of federal law to ensure that American families are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American prosperity.' While 2018's Proposition 12 also banned the sale of pork and veal in California from animals raised in cages that don't meet minimum size requirements, the lawsuit only focuses on the state's egg rules. Humane World for Animals, which was named the Humane Society of the United States when it spearheaded the passage of Proposition 12, says avian influenza and other factors drove up egg prices, not animal welfare laws. And it says much of the U.S. egg industry went cage-free anyway because of demand from consumers who don't want eggs from hens confined to tiny spaces. 'California has prohibited the sale of cruelly produced eggs for more than a decade — law that has been upheld by courts at every level, including the Supreme Court. Blaming 2025 egg prices on these established animal welfare standards shows that this case is about pure politics, not constitutional law,' Sara Amundson, president of the Humane World Action Fund, said in a statement. Advertisement The American Egg Board, which represents the industry, said Friday that it will monitor the progress of the lawsuit while continuing to comply with California's laws, and that it appreciates Rollins' efforts to support farmers in their fight against bird flu and to stabilize the egg supply. 'Egg farmers have been both responsive and responsible in meeting changing demand for cage-free eggs, while supporting all types of egg production, and continuing to provide options in the egg case for consumers,' the board said in a statement.
Al Arabiya
11-07-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Trump administration Sues California over Egg Prices and Blames Animal Welfare Laws
The Trump administration is suing the state of California to block animal welfare laws that it says unconstitutionally helped send egg prices soaring. But a group that spearheaded the requirements pushed back blaming bird flu for the hit to consumers' pocketbooks. The lawsuit filed in federal court in California on Wednesday challenges voter initiatives that passed in 2018 and 2008. They require that all eggs sold in California come from cage-free hens. The Trump administration says the law imposes burdensome red tape on the production of eggs and egg products across the country because of the states' outsize role in the national economy. 'It is one thing if California passes laws that affects its own State it is another when those laws affect other States in violation of the US Constitution,' US Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement Thursday. 'Thankfully President Trump is standing up against this overreach.' Egg prices soared last year and earlier this year due in large part to bird flu which has forced producers to destroy nearly 175 million birds since early 2022. But prices have come down sharply recently. While the Trump administration claims credit for that seasonal factors are also important. Avian influenza which is spread by wild birds tends to spike during the spring and fall migrations and drop in summer. 'Pointing fingers won't change the fact that it is the Presidents' economic policies that have been destructive,' the California Department of Justice said in a statement Friday. 'We'll see him in court.' The average national price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to 5.12 in April and 4.55 in May after reaching a record 6.23 in March according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the May price was still 68.5 percent higher than a year earlier. 'Trump's back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally everything,' Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said in a social media post. The federal complaint alleges that California contributed to the rise in egg prices with regulations that forced farmers across the country to adopt more expensive production practices. The lawsuit also asserts that it is the federal government's legal prerogative to regulate egg production. So it seeks to permanently block enforcement of the California regulations that flowed from the two ballot measures. 'Americans across the country have suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive inflation for everyday items like eggs,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. 'Under President Trump's leadership we will use the full extent of federal law to ensure that American families are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American prosperity.' While 2018's Proposition 12 also banned the sale of pork and veal in California from animals raised in cages that don't meet minimum size requirements the lawsuit only focuses on the states' egg rules. Humane World for Animals which was named the Humane Society of the United States when it spearheaded the passage of Proposition 12 says avian influenza and other factors drove up egg prices not animal welfare laws. And it says much of the US egg industry went cage-free anyway because of demand from consumers who don't want eggs from hens confined to tiny spaces. 'California has prohibited the sale of cruelly produced eggs for more than a decade – law that has been upheld by courts at every level including the Supreme Court. Blaming 2025 egg prices on these established animal welfare standards shows that this case is about pure politics not constitutional law,' Sara Amundson president of the Humane World Action Fund said in a statement. The American Egg Board which represents the industry said Friday that it will monitor the progress of the lawsuit while continuing to comply with California's laws and that it appreciates Rollins' efforts to support farmers in their fight against bird flu and to stabilize the egg supply. 'Egg farmers have been both responsive and responsible in meeting changing demand for cage-free eggs while supporting all types of egg production and continuing to provide options in the egg case for consumers,' the board said in a statement.
San Francisco Chronicle
11-07-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump administration sues California over egg prices and blames animal welfare laws
The Trump administration is suing the state of California to block animal welfare laws that it says unconstitutionally helped send egg prices soaring. But a group that spearheaded the requirements pushed back, blaming bird flu for the hit to consumers' pocketbooks. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California on Wednesday, challenges voter initiatives that passed in 2018 and 2008. They require that all eggs sold in California come from cage-free hens. The Trump administration says the law imposes burdensome red tape on the production of eggs and egg products across the country because of the state's outsize role in the national economy. 'It is one thing if California passes laws that affects its own State, it is another when those laws affect other States in violation of the U.S. Constitution,' U.S. Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement Thursday. "Thankfully, President Trump is standing up against this overreach.' Egg prices soared last year and earlier this year due in large part to bird flu, which has forced producers to destroy nearly 175 million birds since early 2022. But prices have come down sharply recently. While the Trump administration claims credit for that, seasonal factors are also important. Avian influenza, which is spread by wild birds, tends to spike during the spring and fall migrations and drop in summer. 'Pointing fingers won't change the fact that it is the President's economic policies that have been destructive," the California Department of Justice said in a statement Friday. "We'll see him in court.' The average national price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 in April and $4.55 in May after reaching a record $6.23 in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the May price was still 68.5% higher than a year earlier. The federal complaint alleges that California contributed to the rise in egg prices with regulations that forced farmers across the country to adopt more expensive production practices. The lawsuit also asserts that it is the federal government's legal prerogative to regulate egg production. So it seeks to permanently block enforcement of the California regulations that flowed from the two ballot measures. 'Americans across the country have suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive inflation for everyday items like eggs,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. 'Under President Trump's leadership, we will use the full extent of federal law to ensure that American families are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American prosperity.' While 2018's Proposition 12 also banned the sale of pork and veal in California from animals raised in cages that don't meet minimum size requirements, the lawsuit only focuses on the state's egg rules. Humane World for Animals, which was named the Humane Society of the United States when it spearheaded the passage of Proposition 12, says avian influenza and other factors drove up egg prices, not animal welfare laws. And it says much of the U.S. egg industry went cage-free anyway because of demand from consumers who don't want eggs from hens confined to tiny spaces. 'California has prohibited the sale of cruelly produced eggs for more than a decade — law that has been upheld by courts at every level, including the Supreme Court. Blaming 2025 egg prices on these established animal welfare standards shows that this case is about pure politics, not constitutional law,' Sara Amundson, president of the Humane World Action Fund, said in a statement. The American Egg Board, which represents the industry, said Friday that it will monitor the progress of the lawsuit while continuing to comply with California's laws, and that it appreciates Rollins' efforts to support farmers in their fight against bird flu and to stabilize the egg supply. 'Egg farmers have been both responsive and responsible in meeting changing demand for cage-free eggs, while supporting all types of egg production, and continuing to provide options in the egg case for consumers,' the board said in a statement.
