Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday signed into law Senate Bill 1379, which calls for the separation of the Riverside County sheriff and coroner.
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The bill, authored by Sen. Sabrina Cervantes (R-Riverside), gives the county until July 1, 2027, to separate the two offices, currently held by Sheriff Chad Bianco, and establish an independent office of the medical examiner. SB 1379 also includes additional requirements for publicly reporting in-custody deaths and notifying the individual’s next-of-kin.
“The goal of this new law is simple: When an individual dies in custody in a Riverside County jail, their family and the public deserve transparency,” Cervantes said in a news release. “We owe the families the truth; we owe our communities accountability; and we owe county taxpayers a system they can trust.”
Cervantes said the bill was a “targeted solution” to fix a “long-broken system” in the county.
In a statement to The Record, County Executive Officer Jeff Van Wagenen said separating the offices in approximately nine months would be a “significant undertaking.”
“While the law provides direction regarding the structure of the new office and includes important protections for affected county employees, there are substantial costs that are not covered by this new state mandate,” he said. “Our focus today is on implementation. We will work closely with our employees, labor partners, the sheriff’s department and other stakeholders to ensure continuity of these critical services while creating the new medical examiner’s office.”
Bianco did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Record.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors in late 2023 directed county staff to look into the feasibility of separating the two offices after weeks of public comment from residents demanding increased transparency and oversight, but ultimately decided against separating them after county staff brought up concerns about increased budgets, the duplication of efforts and decreased overall effectiveness.
Historically, the two roles were separate in Riverside County up until 1999, three years after a vote by the board of supervisors to consolidate the two offices at the recommendation of the Riverside County Commission on Reorganization and Structure as allowed by state law.
After Cervantes introduced SB 1379 earlier this year, residents, including members of the Riverside Sheriff Accountability Coalition (RSAC), resumed their calls for the two offices to be separated as supervisors discussed creating an ad hoc committee on sheriff oversight.
Chani Beeman, a member of RSAC, thanked Cervantes and Newsom for “standing with Riverside County residents,” in a release from Cervantes’ office.
“Removing the conflict of interest created when the Sheriff also oversees in-custody death determinations is a significant victory for transparency, accountability and justice — and a vital step toward supporting families seeking answers after the death of a loved one in custody,” she said.
According to data obtained from the California Department of Justice’s Open Justice data portal, there were 262 reported in-custody deaths between 2011 and 2024 in Riverside County, which includes people who died while incarcerated in a Riverside County jail as well as during the process of arrest or at crime/arrest scenes.
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