State Senator Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park, announced he plans to introduce legislation that would require both the Attorney General and the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) to create units focusing on domestic terrorism.
The new plans come in the aftermath of the siege of the nation’s capitol by riotous supporters of President Donald Trump last week on the day of the official election certification by Congress, shocking many across the country.
“Let’s be very clear. What happened last week wasn’t Antifa. It was effectively sponsored by a President and his loyalists in local, state and federal office who have been encouraging and supporting the white nationalist movement, helping it get bigger and stronger to try and normalize the types of atrocious activities we witnessed in Washington,” said Stern in a statement. “We have to respond not just with blustery condemnation, but with a concrete answer to this threat to domestic security.”
The legislation is still in the process of being drafted, but is expected to be introduced to the state senate in the coming weeks.
Two main points are expected to comprise the majority of the bill as of Tuesday:
- “Establish investigation teams at Department of Justice to investigate and coordinate efforts to thwart acts of domestic terror, hate crimes and other criminal activity by white nationalist, neo-Nazi, neo-confederate, anti-government militia, and other similar groups, such as the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters and the Ku Klux Klan.”
- “Establish within the CalOES State Threat Assessment Center a new operation to take steps necessary to assess potential threats from white nationalist, neo-Nazi, neo-confederate, anti-government militia, and other similar groups, such as the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters and the Ku Klux Klan.”
CalOES is the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, and their Threat Assessment Center serves to provide information and analysis about threats to public safety.
As further motivation for the legislation beyond the recent events in Washington D.C., the statement from Stern’s office also points to an October 2020 report by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) which found that “White supremacists and other like-minded extremists conducted two-thirds of the terrorist plots and attacks in the United States” in the first eight months of 2020.
Stern plans to introduce the legislation in partnership with his colleague State Senator Tom Umberg, D-Orange County.
Once introduced, the bill would be referred to a Senate policy committee and likely set for hearing sometime in March, according to Stern’s office.
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