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Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assemblymember Gregg Hart’s Assembly Bill 2257 into law, giving county boards of supervisors the option to confirm a sheriff’s nominee to lead county jail operations. The law establishes a direct role for supervisors in approving jail leadership, helping close an accountability gap between sheriffs who operate jails and county leaders responsible for funding them.
Since 1993, sheriffs have held exclusive authority over county jail operations, while county supervisors have maintained responsibility for funding jails and addressing costly failures when things go wrong. AB 2257 gives supervisors – in any county that chooses to participate – confirmation authority over jail administrators serving three-year terms, creating a regular point of accountability and encouraging closer collaboration between sheriffs and boards of supervisors.
“As a county supervisor, I saw firsthand what happens when responsibility for funding a jail comes without meaningful authority to address its failures,” said Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara). “We faced preventable deaths, persistent budget overruns, and a sheriff’s office that often rowed in a different direction than the other county justice agencies. My colleagues and I were put in a position of writing blank checks to the sheriff for the jail. AB 2257 gives county supervisors a practical tool to demand stronger leadership, safer jails, and better use of taxpayer dollars.”
The new law comes as California’s county jails face persistent challenges. Despite a declining statewide jail population, deaths have reached record-high levels. Jails serve large numbers of people with mental health needs, correctional employees face increasingly complex demands, and rising spending has not consistently delivered better outcomes.
AB 2257 allows participating boards to evaluate a nominee’s correctional management experience, knowledge of physical and mental health care standards, expertise in rehabilitation, ability to manage public budgets, and commitment to protecting the rights of people in custody. Sheriffs retain responsibility for selecting nominees for consideration by boards of supervisors. Boards of supervisors have final say in the appointment of the jail administrator – an executive officer overseeing one of the county government’s largest operations.
“County supervisors are elected to protect public safety and ensure our jails are safe, humane, and accountable. Yet for far too long, counties have carried that responsibility without meaningful oversight tools. Assemblymember Hart’s bill, now signed by the governor, is a common-sense reform that strengthens collaboration and accountability. It will help ensure our jails are led by experienced professionals who have the confidence of both the sheriff and the county leaders the public elects,” said Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps.
Hart developed the legislation in collaboration with county supervisors from Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and other counties, along with law enforcement officials, advocacy organizations, and labor unions. The bill was informed by research and analysis conducted at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy by Ethan Bertrand, Hart’s District Director.
AB 2257 builds on Hart’s AB 1108, the California FACTS Act, enacted in 2025. Effective January 2027, that law ends the practice of sheriffs overseeing death investigations in the jails they operate.
Assemblymember Hart received support from Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón in passing this bill.
AB 2257 is one of nine bills that Assemblymember Hart passed out of the Legislature and sent to Governor Newsom’s desk in 2026. The Governor signed eight of these bills into law.
What the experts are saying:
“Although the vast majority of people in California jails have not been convicted or sentenced for the charges that led to their incarceration, they may endure some of the worst conditions of confinement in the state. With AB 2257, California has an opportunity to implement a new mechanism for jail oversight that can be replicated throughout the nation,” said Piper Kerman, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison — the book that inspired the Netflix series.
“The conditions in California’s county jails today do not align with the values of Californians, the need for public safety, or the promises of the Constitution. People are dying at record-high levels, county jails are our state’s de facto mental health institutions, and correctional staff are often not set up for success in meeting the needs of the people in their custody. With AB 2257, boards of supervisors will have a formal mechanism to confront these issues,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti (Ret.).
“When boards of supervisors have the option to exercise confirmation authority over jail administrators, sheriffs have a greater incentive to work with boards of supervisors and the community—before more families are left waiting, before more people die, and before years-long audit findings continue to document preventable failures,” said Paul Parker, Executive Officer of the San Diego County Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board (Ret.), a former police officer and chief investigator.
“Leading oversight of the nation’s largest sheriff’s office, I saw firsthand how issuing findings and recommendations is not enough—our elected leaders need to have agency to confront issues in the jails they fund. Now that AB 2257 is law, we must call on county leaders throughout California to begin using this tool,” said Los Angeles County Inspector General Max Huntsman (Ret.).
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