The Riverside County Sheriff and Coroner's offices appear to be poised to split. Senate Bill 1379 passed an Assembly vote and is now sitting on Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk.
The bill, authored by state Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, was prompted by concerns about a lack of transparency in investigating deaths in Riverside County jails.
SB 1379 would require the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to separate the offices of sheriff and coroner, abolish the coroner's office and create a medical examiner's office. If signed, the board would have until July 1, 2027, to comply.
"This is not a radical proposal. It is a proven model," Cervantes said at a June hearing. "Counties, including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Ventura, operate independent medical examiner systems."
In 2022, a rash of in-custody deaths claimed 18 lives — the most in any given year in two decades. Since January 2021, 45 people have died in Riverside County jails, making them some of the deadliest in the state.
SB 1379 would also prohibit anyone other than the county's medical examiner from signing a death certificate. Riverside County would have to provide information about in-custody deaths online, including number of deaths by facility, cause of death, demographic data of the deceased and medical response times to the incident resulting in the death. Families of the deceased would have to be notified of the cause within 72 hours.
"We owe families the truth. We owe our communities transparency and accountability, and we owe taxpayers a system that they can trust," Cervantes said.
Meanwhile, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco opposes the bill. He said in a statement to KVCR, "the bill is exactly what is wrong with state government and one party rule." He also called the bill politically motivated.
Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign the bill.
