Military Equipment Use Policy (AB 481)

Assembly Bill 481 - Military Equipment Funding, Acquisition and Use Policy

On September 30, 2021, California Assembly Bill 481 (AB 481) was signed into law. Subsequently, California Government Code Sections 7070, 7071, and 7072 were adopted to codify the requirements set forth in AB 481. AB 481 was authored by Assembly member David Chiu (D-San Francisco) to address the funding, acquisition and use of military equipment by police departments. 

The full text of AB 481 is available here. 

Draft of Daly City Police Department policy (Lexipol #708) is available here.

Draft of equipment applicable to AB 481 for use by Daly City is available here.

Draft of the Daly City Ordinance is available here.

This webpage was created in response to AB 481, Government Code Section 7071, which outlines the process for adoption of the policy by City Ordinance. It requires the draft policy be provided to the governing body and be placed on the Daly City Police Department website 30-days prior to the public hearing on the ordinance, which is expected to occur on May 9, 2022, during a regularly scheduled City Council meeting. The draft policy and related documents were made available on this site for public review on April 8, 2022, which complies with the requirement.

Requirements of AB 481

AB 481 requires a law enforcement agency to obtain the approval of its governing body, through the adoption of a Military Equipment Use Policy, by ordinance at a regular meeting held pursuant to specified open meeting laws, prior to taking certain actions relating to the funding, acquisition, or use of military equipment, as defined. The bill allows the governing body to approve the funding, acquisition, or use of military equipment within its jurisdiction only if it determines that the military equipment meets specified standards. AB 481 requires the governing body to annually review the ordinance and to either disapprove a renewal of the authorization for a type of military equipment or amend the military equipment use policy if it determines, based on an Annual Military Equipment Report prepared by the law enforcement agency, that the military equipment does not comply with the above-described standards for approval.

California Government Code Section 7070 provides a list of types of equipment that are to be considered “Military Equipment” for purposes of compliance with AB 481 and the Government Code. While the Daly City Police Department does not possess any tactical equipment that it has obtained from the military, it does possess some types of equipment that are listed in Section 7070, which can be found in the draft equipment list.

Pursuant to California Government Code §7070(d)(7), members of the public may register complaints or concerns or submit questions about the use of each specific type of Military Equipment in this policy by any of the following means:

  1. Via email to: militaryequipment@dalycity.org
  2. Via phone call to: (650) 991-8119
  3. Via mail sent to:  

Daly City Police Department 

Attn: Military Use Coordinator

333 90th St. 

Daly City, CA 94015