5020. (a) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall establish a Peace Officer Peer Support Labor Management Committee tasked with crafting, updating, and monitoring the implementation of a standardized statewide peace officer policy for the department’s peer support program. program to provide substantive assistance to the peace officers employed by the department.
(b) The committee shall be composed of an equal number of representatives of the employer and the peace officer employees. The members of the committee who are peace officer employees shall be appointed by the peace officer employee organization that represents the majority of the participants in the department’s current peer support program.
(c) The policy shall address, at minimum, the selection process for peer support team members, training of peer support team members, as approved by the Commission on Correctional Peace
Officer Standards and Training, and guidelines for the types of communication that will remain confidential within the peer support program. The committee members shall come to an agreement regarding an updated peer support policy.
(d) A copy of the policy shall be accessible to members of the public upon request.
(e) Members of the committee shall be selected and hold their first meeting on or before July 1, 2020. The committee shall hold at least quarterly meetings until the initial policy is finalized and thereafter, the committee shall meet at least annually to assess and update the policy as needed. The policy developed pursuant to this section shall be fully implemented by January 1, 2022.
(f) The
department shall submit, beginning July 1, 2020, an annual report to the Legislature that contains data pertaining to the utilization rates of the peace officer peer support program statewide. The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.