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AB 134 creates three‑year tribal police pilot; POST, DOJ to select tribes and oversee certification and compliance
Summary
The advisory committee heard a detailed presentation on Assembly Bill 134, a new law establishing a three‑year tribal police pilot that authorizes selected tribal officers to obtain California peace‑officer powers subject to POST/DOJ oversight, statutory compliance, and requirements including adoption of public‑records and government‑claims analogs and waivers of sovereign immunity.
Legal staff briefed the advisory committee on Assembly Bill 134, which the presenter said was signed into law on June 27, 2025 and establishes a three‑year tribal police pilot program.
Attorney Bridal Henley summarized core elements: DOJ and POST will solicit and select up to three federally recognized tribes to participate in a pilot (implementation window July 2026–July 2029). Participating tribes must adopt certain laws and policies analogous to California’s Public Records Act and Government Claims Act, waive sovereign immunity to the extent required by the statute for covered activities, and comply with POST‑applicable selection, background, certification and reporting requirements — including misconduct reporting and the certification/decertification and oversight provisions that apply to other California peace officers.
Henley said tribal officers in the pilot who seek California peace‑officer powers must meet the same minimum background, fitness and training requirements under the penal code and POST rules (including the regular basic certification process). Officers receiving certification under the pilot would be required to obtain basic certification within specified probationary and time limits (generally a 12‑month probationary period and certification no later than 24 months after employment). DOJ and POST are directed to oversee compliance and have audit and removal authority; removal from the program would also mean a loss of delegated peace‑officer powers.
Committee members raised operational questions about field training, who would provide FTO programs, selection criteria for tribes, impacts on neighboring jurisdictions, and how homicide investigations would be handled when they occurred on tribal lands. Henley and executive staff said POST and DOJ had held listening sessions with tribes and anticipated many participating tribes would already have officers who had previously served in California or met basic training standards; they said more detailed frameworks for FTO programs and agreements will be developed during implementation.
The statute sets application and selection timelines (applicant tribes submit by January 9; DOJ to select by January 23, 2026) and gives POST and DOJ joint duties to ensure participating tribes have adopted required legal and administrative frameworks before tribal officers assume state peace‑officer authority.
