Short answer: Penal Code section 409.7 is the California statute on news representatives at demonstrations where the police have closed an area or set up a police line. It was added by Senate Bill 98 in 2021 and took effect on January 1, 2022. This guide sets out what the section says, in its own words, and when and how it was enacted.
When the section applies
Section 409.7 applies when peace officers "close the immediate area surrounding any emergency field command post or any other command post, or establish a police line, or rolling closure at a demonstration, march, protest, or rally where individuals are engaged in activity that is protected pursuant to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I of the California Constitution." For "peace officers," the section uses the definition in Penal Code section 830 and the sections that follow it.
What it requires
When that condition is met, the section says "the following requirements shall apply":
- "A duly authorized representative of any news service, online news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network may enter the closed areas described in this section."
- "A peace officer or other law enforcement officer shall not intentionally assault, interfere with, or obstruct the duly authorized representative of any news service, online news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network who is gathering, receiving, or processing information for communication to the public."
- A duly authorized representative "that is in a closed area described in this section shall not be cited for the failure to disperse, a violation of a curfew, or a violation of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 148, for gathering, receiving, or processing information. If the duly authorized representative is detained by a peace officer or other law enforcement officer, that representative shall be permitted to contact a supervisory officer immediately for the purpose of challenging the detention, unless circumstances make it impossible to do so."
The three citations it names
Failure to disperse is Penal Code section 409: "Every person remaining present at the place of any riot, rout, or unlawful assembly, after the same has been lawfully warned to disperse, except public officers and persons assisting them in attempting to disperse the same, is guilty of a misdemeanor." Penal Code section 148(a)(1) applies to "every person who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any public officer, peace officer, or an emergency medical technician" in "the discharge or attempt to discharge any duty of his or her office or employment."
History
Penal Code section 409.5. An earlier provision, Penal Code section 409.5, lets officers close areas made dangerous by "a calamity including a flood, storm, fire, earthquake, explosion, accident, or other disaster," makes it a misdemeanor for an unauthorized person to enter, and provides in subdivision (d) that the section "shall not prevent a duly authorized representative of a news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network from entering the areas closed pursuant to this section." The Legislative Counsel's Digest for Senate Bill 98 described that exception as part of the existing law when the new section was added.
2021: Senate Bill 98. In the 2021–2022 session, Senator McGuire carried Senate Bill 98, which added section 409.7. Its Legislative Counsel's Digest described what the bill did: it would "require that a duly authorized representative of any news service, online news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network, as described, be allowed to enter those closed areas and would prohibit a peace officer or other law enforcement officer from intentionally assaulting, interfering with, or obstructing a duly authorized representative who is gathering, receiving, or processing information for communication to the public." The Digest also noted the existing obstruction offense in section 148 and the existing exception for news representatives in section 409.5. The Governor approved the bill on October 9, 2021, as chapter 759 of the Statutes of 2021, and section 409.7 took effect on January 1, 2022.
The full text of the section is the first link under Sources. For the deadlines that apply to claims against the City of Los Angeles or Los Angeles County, see How to File a Government Claim Against the City or County of Los Angeles and What Are the Deadlines to Sue Police in California?
Questions about a specific incident can be sent through the contact form.
Sources
- Penal Code section 409.7 (added by Stats. 2021, ch. 759, SB 98; effective January 1, 2022)
- Penal Code section 409.5 (closed areas during calamities; subdivision (d) on news representatives)
- Penal Code section 409 (failure to disperse)
- Penal Code section 148 (subdivision (a)(1))
- Senate Bill 98 (2021–2022), text and Legislative Counsel's Digest