Joe Surges, State Legislative Representative
Legislation has a direct effect on the jobs we perform daily in law enforcement. It is important to keep yourself aware of these changes. To learn more, our CLEARS Legislative Representative is working hard to keep the members of our organization on top of the daily events.
But that's not all our legislative teams can do. A single letter of recommendation to the CLEARS State Executive Board recommending legislation changes in any area of law enforcement records can make a difference for everyone. Your effort in taking a moment to draft a letter and participating in the efforts to change help legislators could have a positive impact in the future development of your position or the future records personnel in California. Be sure to contact your Chapter legislation representatives or the State CLEARS Legislative Representative today.
CLEARS Lobbyist-Warner, Pank, Salzillo, and Sanchez, LLC (WPSS)
The WPSS team works in local government, the executive branch, and in the legislative branch, specifically having worked as staff at every level relevant to a bill’s path from introduction to arrival on the Governor’s desk, allowing us to provide top level knowledge and expertise to our clients in navigating government. Our combined years of experience, working directly for the Legislature as well as advocating to members of the Legislature and the Governor’s Administration, as well as work for and with decision makers in state and local governments, position us to successfully guide the outcomes our clients require and expect.
The WPSS team is highly regarded in political and professional circles, with an established reputation of working hard for our clients’ interests with grace, ethics, respect, tenacity, and effectiveness. Because of our broad but selective client base and the relationships we have established with leaders and decision makers both inside and outside of government, we have an unmatched ability to build coalitions on behalf of our clients’ causes, bring together parties with disparate interests, and deploy strategies to effectively navigate government.
WPSS principals serve as trusted advisors, fostering ongoing strategic partnerships and providing counsel built on decades of results. WPSS was founded by Nick Warner in 1997 on a passion for, and high level of expertise in, local government and public safety related matters. Today, long-time partners Cory Salzillo and Danielle Sanchez continue our foundation in public safety and local government, with a client base across diverse sectors, including technology and communications, behavioral science, the automotive industry, financial services, health, and construction, design, and facility management.
CLEARS Legislative Successes
CLEARS was successful in the Governor vetoing SB 1425 and AB 1987 which would have made big changes to the retirement benefits currently being received. In a letter to the State Senate, the Governor wrote...
"To the Members of the California State Senate:
I am returning Senate Bill 1425 without my signature. The enactment of this bill is contingent upon the enactment of Assembly Bill (AB) 1987 (Ma). I am vetoing AB 1987 because it does not provide real pension reform. I am still hopeful that the Legislature will pass an acceptable bill that really addresses California's pension problem. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill." ~
CLEARS was legislatively successful in the vetoing of a bill that would have required agencies to report on how many untested rape kits were being maintained each year by agencies which would have placed a financial burden on local agencies...the Governor agreed. This bill had been supported by victim's rights groups but was opposed by law enforcement, led by CLEARS. LE would have supported this bill had funding been included with the proposal but it was represented as an unfunded mandate.
