SACRAMENTO -- Addressing the plague of gang violence in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign five bills aimed at stemming the tide of killings, including the creation of a state office of gang and youth violence policy to oversee the efforts, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Other bills scheduled to receive the governor's signature today will allow judges to order parents of gang members to attend anti-violence classes, improve protection to witnesses of gang killings and arm prosecutors with power to evict gang members caught in possession of weapons in apartment buildings used as hangouts.
The governor's office also announced that Schwarzenegger had signed 79 bills Wednesday, including measures to protect the publicity rights of dead celebrities and to prohibit smoking in cars where minors are passengers.
He vetoed 26 bills Wednesday, including a proposal to require children up to 8 years old to use special car seats.
A rash of gang violence in Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento and other major cities drew the attention of state lawmakers this year, resulting in nearly a dozen bills aimed at the problem.
In anticipation of the bill creating a new gang office, Schwarzenegger had already appointed former federal prosecutor Paul Seave to serve as a kind of gang czar, heading the office and coordinating various plans of attack against street gangs.
"A key component of this anti-gang bill package focuses on the rehabilitation of vulnerable youth who are often coerced through fear and intimidation into joining gangs," Seave said Wednesday.
The office will be responsible for identifying and evaluating state and local gang and youth violence programs and helping to secure federal grants for the effort.
Last year's 14% growth in gang violence in Los Angeles sparked much of the legislation, including a bill by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), which creates the new gang office. Nunez noted that Los Angeles has become the gang capital of the world, with more than 700 gangs involving 40,000 members.
One of the bills earning the governor's signature allows prosecutors in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, Oakland and Sacramento to bring eviction action against tenants for illegal weapons possession in cases when the landlord is unwilling or afraid to act. That bill, AB 1013, was sought by the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which has launched an effort to close down apartment buildings used as gang headquarters.
