Posts Tagged ‘Law Enforcement’

City expands background checks

Glendale News Press | 08-14-2010

Scanning program will now check record in all of the U.S., not just California.

“We don’t want someone coming from another state who has committed an egregious act,” said Glendale City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian. “In the past, if you were to apply for a tobacco vendor or taxi cab or massage therapy permit, anything where you’d be interfacing with the public, you would undergo a background check. But it only referenced arrests or incidents that took place in California. It seemed logical to expand that and look at other states, as well.”

Last month, the House of Representatives passed legislation sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) to extend a pilot program allowing youth athletic leagues and other organizations to gain access to criminal background checks on workers and volunteers.

The bill would make it easier for private groups to tap federal criminal records and ensure the service is provided at a reasonable cost. That legislation is awaiting action in the Senate.

Tags: Community, Law, Law Enforcement, Legislation
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Obama signs emergency bill to halt teacher layoffs

Pasadena Star News | 08-10-2010

More than $3 billion in federal aid is expected to head California’s way after House Democrats passed, and President Barack Obama signed, an emergency $26 billion bill Tuesday they say will save 320,000 jobs nationally.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, estimates the funds will save about 200 teaching jobs in his congressional district.

“For a lot of parents of school-aged kids, it’s a last minute reprieve for teachers being laid off,” he said.

Already, officials at the Glendale Unified School District announced this week they would recall pink slips sent to 66 teachers thanks to the federal help, Schiff said.

“Hopefully other school districts will be able to do what they did,” he said.

Tags: Community, Economy, Education, Law Enforcement
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Schiff supports inquiry of Station fire-related call

Glendale News Press | 08-04-2010

The recent discovery of the taped calls came days before Schiff is scheduled to convene an Aug. 10 panel to discuss the Station fire and the initial firefighting attack, which critics say was too tepid, allowing the fire to grow out of control.

Schiff’s office on Tuesday released a statement backing Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s request for a probe into why the recordings were made, and why they were only recently made public.

“I am concerned with the late discovery of these recorded conversations by the Forest Service, and the fact that these calls appear to have been recorded without the knowledge or consent of some or all of the parties to these calls,” Schiff said in a statement.

Tags: Community, Environment, Event, Law Enforcement, Wildfires
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Burbank Airport turns to Congress in noise restriction fight

Los Angeles Times | 08-01-2010

After years of painstaking studies, millions of dollars and one failed federal application for nighttime flight restrictions, Bob Hope Airport officials are turning to Congress.

Last month, Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Howard Berman (D-Valley Village) wrote to the chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, seeking to insert language in the next FAA authorization bill allowing for a curfew at the two airports.

Tags: Community, Law Enforcement, Transportation
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U.S. judge strikes down portions of Arizona immigration law

Pasadena Star News | 07-28-2010

“We can’t have 50 different states enacting 50 different (immigration) policies,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena.

“The court as a legal matter properly concluded the law at least in part would have violated federal enforcement of immigration policies,” Schiff said. “It was a reasonable decision.”

Tags: Immigration, Law Enforcement
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Bill would help with background checks

Glendale News Press | 07-23-2010

n a move that would make it easier for community groups to do background checks on prospective Little League coaches, summer camp instructors and others, the House on Thursday passed a bill that would make the FBI fingerprint database widely available.

The legislation, known as the PROTECT Act, is sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank).

The law would launch a pilot program to make it easier for groups to access FBI fingerprint files as an alternative to the time-consuming and costly process to use fingerprints to check the background data on volunteers.

“Giving nonprofits that work with children the ability to better screen their volunteers has a proven track record of protecting our young people,” Schiff said in a statement. “The goal of this bill is to keep the cost of background checks as low as possible so that they remain affordable for the smallest nonprofits, while ensuring the program can be sustained without annual appropriations.”

Tags: Community, Law Enforcement, Legislation
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Bold new guidelines: Obama signs new financial reforms into law

Pasadena Star News | 07-21-2010

A sweeping set of financial regulations that are designed to protect consumers, rein in Wall Street and help ensure economic stability was signed into law Wednesday by President Barack Obama.

Fueled by the nation’s 2008 financial meltdown, the 2,300-page reform package gives the government new powers to break up companies that threaten the economy, creates a new agency to guard consumers and puts more light on the financial markets that escaped the oversight of regulators.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, said he’s pleased that the The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is now law.

“This legislation will rein in the shoddy business practices that brought our economy to the brink of ruin in 2009, and continues to take a toll on millions of Americans who lost their jobs or watched their savings, pensions and property value tank,” Schiff said in a statement. “Finally, these reforms will restore much- needed transparency and accountability to our financial system.”

Tags: Accountability, Economy, Law, Law Enforcement, Legislation
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NAACP SUPPORTS LEGISLATION TO HELP STATES REDUCE PRISON POPULATIONS

NAACP Web sitE | 06-11-2010

…The only true common factor in all 50 states right now is that they are all struggling under the weight of enormous burdens in terms of human as well as monetary resources as a result of a dysfunctional criminal justice system.

To help address the problem, Congressmen Adam Schiff (CA) and Dan Lungren (CA), along with Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and John Cornyn (TX) have introduced H.R. 4080 / S. 2772, the Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act.

This legislation devotes grant funding for intensive analysis of criminal justice data, policies, and the cost-effectiveness of current spending on corrections, in order to develop data – driven policy options that can address this. The bill then provides resources for the implementation of solutions and for reinvesting averted prison costs to bolster such initiatives. The NAACP strongly supports H.R. 4080 / S. 2772, and urges its immediate enactment.

Tags: Law, Law Enforcement
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Rep. Schiff Testifies at House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security

American Chronicle | 06-08-2010

“We know with a statistical certainty that delaying the testing of rape kits will mean that we miss the opportunity to take people off the street who have committed rape or murder and in the interim, these people will go on to murder and rape others. That is simply unacceptable,” Rep. Schiff said. “DNA is the most powerful law-enforcement innovation since the fingerprint, but only if we use it to its fullest potential. It is time we take the lessons learned in the years since the passage of the Debbie Smith Act and turn them into new policies to speed the processing of rape kits.”

Tags: Community, Law Enforcement, Science, Technology
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U.S., China relations improving: U.S. Congressman

Xinhua| 06-05-2010

Schiff sponsored the Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act to strengthen the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s efforts in developing techniques for “fingerprinting” nuclear material and encouraged U.S. President Barack Obama to negotiate international agreements to govern international nuclear forensics activities.

Schiff is also leading the effort to combat intellectual property theft. He is a co-chair of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus, a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers dedicated to working with America’s international trading partners to secure the enactment of strong copyright laws as well as their vigilant enforcement.

Schiff said Hollywood movies are popular in China and the movie industry is one of the few sectors enjoying a trade surplus.

He said it was important for the U.S. to strengthen its efforts to fight piracy, admitting that in this field, the United States and China had many concerns.

Tags: Community, Economy, Law, Law Enforcement, Legislation, Science, Technology
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Adam Schiff for Congress