Bill
HB 1465
Requires district attorneys to report prosecutorial data to the Governor and Attorney General, boosting transparency and accountability in prosecutions.
Status: Died in Committee
Introduced: November 25, 2024
Subject areas: Accountability • Efficiency • Transparency
Note on source documents
- The materials provided with your request contain multiple, unrelated drafts and committee reports for different bills bearing the same bill number in various jurisdictions (topics range from continuous glucose monitors to toll payment plans, dirtbike liability, union training, etc.). None of those documents contain the full text or committee analysis for a bill titled “Right to Know How Safe We Are Act.” This summary therefore relies on the title and the summary description you supplied (that the bill would require District Attorneys to report certain information to the Governor and Attorney General) and on common statutory design for reporting/transparency measures. Wherever specifics are not available, I flag that the detail is unknown.
Purpose and intent
- Primary purpose: to increase executive-branch and public visibility into prosecutorial activity by requiring District Attorneys (DAs) to report specified criminal-justice information to the Governor and the Attorney General. The bill’s stated policy goal (by title and subject classification) is to enhance accountability, efficiency, and transparency in prosecution.
Key (likely) provisions — what the bill would require
- Reporting obligation: DAs must submit periodic reports to the Governor and Attorney General. The summary provided does not specify frequency (monthly/quarterly/annual), the deadline for initial reports, or the mechanism for submission.
- Data elements (not specified in documents; typical elements in similar bills include):
- Number of complaints screened/received, arrests referred for prosecution, charges filed, charges declined, and reasons for declination;
- Case disposition statistics (convictions, acquittals, dismissals, pleas), including charge-level outcomes;
- Sentencing outcomes and restitution ordered/collected;
- Use of diversion, pretrial agreements, diversion outcomes;
- Demographic breakdowns (age, gender, race/ethnicity) — if included, would raise privacy considerations.
- Standardization/format: the bill may require use of a standard reporting template or data format to enable aggregation across jurisdictions (text does not specify).
- Public access: the bill title suggests transparency, but available information does not clarify whether reports would be publicly posted, provided only to the Governor/AG, or subject to redaction.
- Confidentiality and legal limits: no text provided; similar laws typically include exceptions for ongoing investigations, juvenile records, victim privacy, grand jury secrecy, or sealed records.
- Enforcement and compliance: not specified — could include deadlines, certification by DA, state-level review, or penalties for non‑compliance.
- Effective date and implementation timeline: not provided.
Who would be affected
- Directly: County and local District Attorney offices (staff time, record collection/IT), Governor’s and Attorney General’s offices (receipt/analysis), and state agencies that might aggregate or publish data.
- Indirectly: defense counsel, victims, courts, policy researchers, journalists, and members of the public who seek information about prosecutorial practices.
- Potential privacy subjects: victims, witnesses, juveniles, and individuals whose cases are in process.
Potential impacts and tradeoffs
- Transparency benefits: better visibility into charging practices, declination reasons, plea usage and sentencing patterns; could inform policy reforms and public oversight.
- Administrative costs: DA offices may need personnel time and IT resources to extract, standardize, and submit data; state offices may need capacity to receive and analyze reports.
- Fiscal effects: no fiscal estimates provided—likely a modest-to-moderate cost depending on reporting frequency and data complexity; possible need for one-time IT upgrades.
- Legal and privacy concerns: risk of disclosing protected information or interfering with ongoing investigations unless exemptions/controls are specified.
- Uniformity challenges: differences in case management systems and coding practices across counties could complicate aggregation and comparability.
Procedural/timeline status
- Introduced: November 25, 2024.
- Reported status provided to you: Died in Committee (no committee-level enactment recorded). No effective date or enacted provisions exist because the bill did not advance.
Limitations / recommended next steps
- The full legislative text, committee analysis, and any fiscal note are not included among the provided documents. To produce a definitive, clause‑by‑clause summary and to assess precise impacts (cost, privacy safeguards, required data elements, enforcement), obtain:
- The bill’s enrolled or introduced text;
- The committee report and fiscal note prepared by nonpartisan staff; and
- Any sponsor or hearing materials (testimony, proposed amendments).
- If you want, I can draft a likely complaint/data element checklist or a redline of issues (cost, privacy exemptions, technical standards) for use in revising or reintroducing this proposal.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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