Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, on Sept. 3, signed a bill that no longer requires any able-bodied person over the age of 18 to help an officer who requests assistance during an arrest.
The California Posse Comitatus Act of 1872 was used in the days before there was a centralized police force. Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a Los Angeles Democrat who sponsored the bill, called the old law a “vestige of a bygone era.” Hertzberg press secretary Katie Hanzlik said that Sen. Hertzberg told his staff to “take a look into bills that were still on the books that were antiquated or no longer needed.
