DA Dan Dow urges Assemblymember Dawn Addis to Vote No on AB 93
Author: District Attorney
Date: 3/30/2023 8:36 AM
Assembly Bill 93 will make it unlawful for law enforcement to obtain consent to perform searches. A vote on the Assembly Floor is expected today March 30, 2023.
District Attorney Dan Dow is urging Assemblymember Dawn Addis to vote no on Assembly Bill 93 when it comes for a vote on the Assembly Floor.
Assembly Bill 93 (authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan) will make our communities much less safe by ending Constitutionally valid searches by an individuals consent. These lawful consensual searches are used every day by law enforcement and are used to exonerate the innocent, ensure accountability for offenders, and protect vulnerable victims of crime. Prohibiting the use of consensual searches will lead to more sexual abusers and violent criminals going unidentified, unpunished, without rehabilitation, and being left free to victimize vulnerable communities.
District Attorney Dow's letter may be downloaded here. The text of the letter is as follows:
March 29, 2023
The Honorable Dawn Addis
Assemblymember for District #30
State Capitol
1021 O Street Suite 5350 P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0030
Re: AB 93 (Bryan) Criminal Procedure: Consensual Searches (OPPOSE)
Dear Assemblymember Addis:
This letter is to urge you to vote no on Assembly Bill 93 (Bryan). This proposed law will make our communities much less safe although it is cloaked in language that misleads the reader to believe it will somehow protect individual rights.
If the bill becomes law, it will eliminate every individual’s right to cooperate with law enforcement and it will severely diminish law enforcement’s ability to solve criminal investigations that would otherwise either exonerate the innocent or hold the guilty accountable for victimizing the vulnerable in our communities.
Prohibiting consent searches will cause harm to vulnerable people in our most vulnerable communities because the effect will be many unsolved crimes. The author’s bill fails to include the readily available data showing that minority communities are disproportionately VICTIMS of all types of crime. The legislature should instead find new ways to assist law enforcement in solving crime so that all of our communities – including vulnerable communities – are safer. This bill fails the commonsense test. How could a modern, compassionate, and just society in good conscience eliminate an individual’s inherent right to cooperate with an investigation. Our government leaders should encourage individuals to take responsibility for their actions, not avoid accountability that ultimately leads to anarchy.
Constitutionally lawful consent searches lead to solving violent crimes like murder and abusive crimes like sexual abuse of children every single day. Eliminating this important law enforcement tool will undoubtedly lead to more sexual and violent criminals going unidentified, unpunished, without rehabilitation, and being left free to victimize vulnerable communities. This will increase rates of crime and will leave victims to needlessly suffer additional trauma.
On the eve of Victim’s Rights Awareness Month (April), I strongly urge you to stand with the many vulnerable victims of crime who will be severely harmed by this ill-conceived legislative proposal and to vote NO on Assembly Bill 93.
Very sincerely,
Dan Dow
District Attorney
County of San Luis Obispo, State of California
