This chapter shall be known as the Lowest Law Enforcement Priority
Policy Ordinance.
(Approved by election held November 7, 2006)
The purpose of this chapter is:
A. To
make investigations, citations, arrests, property seizures, and prosecutions
for adult marijuana offenses, where the marijuana was intended for
adult personal use, the city of Santa Barbara's lowest law enforcement
priority; and
B. To
transmit notification of the enactment of this initiative to state
and federal elected officials who represent the city of Santa Barbara.
(Approved by election held November 7, 2006)
A. The
federal government's war on drugs has failed.
B. Santa
Barbara should determine its marijuana policies locally, not hand
them over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
C. Otherwise
law-abiding adults are being arrested and imprisoned for nonviolent
marijuana offenses, which is clogging courts and jails in California.
D. Each
year, California spends more than $150 million of taxpayer money enforcing
marijuana laws.
E. Law
enforcement resources would be better-spent fighting serious and violent
crimes.
F. Making
adult marijuana offenses Santa Barbara's lowest law enforcement priority
will reduce the city's spending on law enforcement and punishment.
G. Decades
of arresting millions of marijuana users have failed to control marijuana
use or reduce its availability.
H. Current
marijuana policies continue to needlessly harm medical marijuana patients,
despite the passage of Proposition 215, which affirmed California
voters' support for medical marijuana.
(Approved by election held November 7, 2006)
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
Adult.
An individual who is 21 years of age or older.
Lowest Law Enforcement Priority.
A priority such that all law enforcement activities related
to all offenses other than adult, personal-use marijuana offenses
shall be a higher priority than all law enforcement activities related
to marijuana offenses, where the marijuana was intended for adult
personal use, other than the exceptions designated in this chapter.
Marijuana.
All parts of the cannabis plant, whether growing or not;
the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of the plant;
and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation
of the plant, its seeds, or its resin.
(Approved by election held November 7, 2006)
A. Santa
Barbara law enforcement officers shall make law enforcement activity
relating to marijuana offenses, where the marijuana was intended for
adult personal use, their lowest law enforcement priority. Law enforcement
activities relating to marijuana offenses include, but are not limited
to, investigation, citation, arrest, seizure of property, or providing
assistance to the prosecution of adult marijuana offenses.
B. This
lowest law enforcement priority policy shall not apply to use of marijuana
on public property or driving under the influence.
C. The
lowest law enforcement priority policy shall apply to cooperating
with state or federal agents to arrest, cite, investigate, prosecute,
or seize property from adults for marijuana offenses included in the
lowest law enforcement priority policy.
D. Santa
Barbara law enforcement officers shall not accept or renew formal
deputization or commissioning by a federal law enforcement agency
if such deputization or commissioning will include investigating,
citing, arresting, or seizing property from adults for marijuana offenses
included in the lowest law enforcement priority policy.
E. Santa
Barbara shall not accept any federal funding that would be used to
investigate, cite, arrest, prosecute, or seize property from adults
for marijuana offenses included in the lowest law enforcement priority
policy.
(Approved by election held November 7, 2006)
A. The
committee will be composed of two city residents; one criminal defense
attorney; one civil liberties advocate; one medical marijuana patient;
one medical professional; and one drug abuse, treatment, and prevention
counselor, each of whom shall be appointed by the Santa Barbara mayor.
The committee members shall serve at the pleasure of the Santa Barbara
mayor, who shall appoint replacement committee members on an as-needed
basis. The Santa Barbara Police Department, the Santa Barbara County
Public Health Department, and the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's
Office shall each send one representative as a nonvoting liaison to
each of the committee's meetings.
B. Responsibilities
of the committee shall include:
1. Ensuring
timely implementation of this chapter, with the cooperation of the
Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office, the Santa Barbara
Police Department, and any other Santa Barbara law enforcement agencies
in providing needed data;
2. Receiving
any grievances from individuals who believe they were subjected to
law enforcement activity contrary to the lowest law enforcement priority
policy;
3. Designing
a supplemental report form for Santa Barbara law enforcement officers
to use to report all adult marijuana arrests, citations, and property
seizures and all instances of officers assisting in state or federal
arrests, citations, and property seizures for any adult marijuana
offenses. The supplemental report form shall be designed with the
goal of allowing the committee to ascertain whether the lowest law
enforcement priority policy was followed;
4. Requesting
additional information from any Santa Barbara law enforcement officer
who engaged in law enforcement activity relating to one or more marijuana
offenses under circumstances which appear to violate the lowest law
enforcement priority policy. An officer's decision not to provide
additional information shall not be grounds for discipline; and
5. Submitting
written reports semiannually to the Santa Barbara City Council on
the implementation of this chapter, with the first report being issued
nine months after the enactment of this chapter. These reports shall
include, but not necessarily be limited to: the number of all arrests,
citations, property seizures, and prosecutions for marijuana offenses
in Santa Barbara; the breakdown of arrests and citations by race,
age, specific charge, and classification as infraction, misdemeanor,
or felony; any instances of law enforcement activity that the committee
believes violated the lowest law enforcement priority policy; and
the estimated time and money spent by the city on law enforcement
and punishment for adult marijuana offenses.
C. Santa
Barbara law enforcement officers shall submit to the committee a supplemental
report within two weeks after each adult marijuana arrest, citation,
or property seizure or instance of assisting in a state or federal
arrest, citation, or property seizure for any adult marijuana offense
in Santa Barbara.
(Approved by election held November 7, 2006)
Beginning three months after the enactment of this chapter,
the city clerk shall execute a mandatory and ministerial duty of sending
letters on an annual basis to Santa Barbara voters' U.S. representative
or representatives, both of California's U.S. senators, Santa Barbara
voters' senators and Assembly members in the California State Legislature,
the governor of California, and the president of the United States.
This letter shall state, "The citizens of Santa Barbara have passed
an initiative to de-prioritize adult marijuana offenses, where the
marijuana is intended for personal use, and request that the federal
and California state governments take immediate steps to enact similar
laws." This duty shall be carried out until state and federal laws
are changed accordingly.
(Approved by election held November 7, 2006)
All sections of this chapter are mandatory. If any provision
of this chapter is not carried out properly, any person who is registered
to vote in Santa Barbara may seek a writ of mandate to ensure the
law is fully implemented.
(Approved by election held November 7, 2006)
If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof
to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the
chapter and the application of such provisions to other persons or
circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
(Approved by election held November 7, 2006)