Assemblyman Gregg Hart introduced legislation last month that would allow California counties to appoint an official to oversee their jail systems instead of a sheriff.
The legislation, AB 2257, would allow a county board of supervisors to choose between appointing an official to run its jail system or allowing the sheriff’s office to oversee it.
Before 1993, counties were allowed to make this choice, but a state law granted sole authority to local sheriffs.
Hart, who represents District 37, previously served on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Barbara City Council.
During his tenure as a supervisor, Hart said he was in the room when Sheriff Bill Brown announced that he had exceeded his annual budget and expected the board to cover the shortfall.
Hart added that the budget issue has grown over the years and affects the county’s ability to fund other projects.
“That funding has to come from somewhere,” Hart told Noozhawk, “and that means other really important public priorities suffer as a result of those overtime costs and his failure to manage his budget properly.”
Overtime costs at Santa Barbara County jails have been an ongoing issue for years, with the Sheriff’s Office spending tens of millions of dollars more than its budget.
In the current fiscal year, the Sheriff’s Office has already used its entire overtime budget and is expected to overspend by $9 million.
The Board of Supervisors is legally required to fund the jail system, but the sheriff is an elected official and operates more independently than non-elected department heads.
Hart said he has heard that the issues facing Santa Barbara County are not unique, and that other counties have faced similar challenges with their jail budgets. Sheriffs run the jail systems in 57 out of 58 counties across the state.
Napa County is the only county in California that has a separate Department of Corrections.
Hart added that other states across the country have different systems where jails are not operated by local sheriffs. States such as New Jersey have a mixture of sheriff-operated jails and county departments.
“I don’t think it’s a revolutionary idea,” Hart said. “The idea (is) to give the board options when they feel it is necessary. I think it is a good government reform.”
Hart added that the bill would not force county supervisors to appoint a new official but would only give them the option to do so.
Hart said the bill will have its first hearing in the Public Safety Committee in April. If it is ultimately passed and signed into law, it would take effect on the first day of the next year.
Sheriff Brown has criticized the legislation, saying it is misguided and uncollaborative.
His Sheriff’s Office oversees the custody operations, including the two jails, the law enforcement patrol division and the Coroner’s Bureau.
Brown said the sheriffs and their staff have been given oversight of the state’s jail systems because they have “the experience, the knowledge and the legal authority to run those jails in the most efficient and effective ways possible.”
Brown also said that Napa County faced legal, political and operational hurdles in trying to shift its jail system to a county department of corrections.
Brown disagreed with the idea that the bill is about accountability for elected sheriffs.
“They are held accountable by the governor, the attorney general, the grand jury, the Board of State and Community Corrections, the federal, state and local courts, by the boards of supervisors who control their budgets, and by the ultimate authority — the voters who elect them to office,” Brown said. “As such, they receive far more scrutiny and oversight than most other appointed or elected officials.”
More Jail Oversight Legislation
Hart introduced the Forensic Accountability, Custodial Transparency, and Safety (FACTS) Act of 2025, which requires deaths in jail custody to be investigated by an independent coroner instead of the one contracted by the Sheriff’s Office.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law last year.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors supported the bill and urged Newsom to sign it.
Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County are among the 48 counties in the state that have combined sheriff-coroner offices. The 10 other counties, including Ventura, have independent coroners.
