Thread by @ReecieColbert

Thread: Not enough ink has been dedicated to educating people on Kamala Harris' role as CA Attorney General & her record. This thread is CA AG 101 answering: what was Kamala's role and what did she do in that role? Feel free to bookmark/RT #Kamala2020 #ForThePeople #KHive

First lets get some basic things established. Kamala was CA AG (1st Black woman) from 2011-Jan 2017. She oversaw an office of more than 4,500 employees incl.: 1,000 lawyers, investigators, sworn peace officers, & professional staff. She had an operating budget of over $700M/yr.

Kamala's AG duties were: "safeguarding the public from violent criminals, preserving California's spectacular natural resources, enforcing civil rights laws, and helping victims of identity theft, mortgage-related fraud, illegal business practices, and other consumer crimes."

Under Kamala's leadership she re-organized the Department of Justice into 4 divisions (resource allocation in parenthesis): Legal Services (35%), Division of Law Enforcement (22%), Calif. Justice Information Services (23%), Directorate and Administration (20%)

As AG, Kamala CREATED the: Bureau of Children's Justice, Racial & Identity Profiling Advisory Board, Open Justice Initiative, eCrime Unit, Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, Div of Recidivism Reduction & Re-Entry, Human Trafficking Work Group, and Privacy Enforcement & Protection Unit

CA Legal Services Div is comprised of Public Rights,Civil Law,&Criminal Law covering ~30 areas of law. Reps the People in civil/criminal matters b4 trial/appellate/supreme courts of CA/US & state/ fed courts.Also is legal counsel to state officers/agencies/boards/ commissions.

CA DOJ's Division of Law Enforcement (DLE) is an investigative law enforcement agency "dedicated to enhancing public safety and protecting Californians". The division is comprised of the following 4 bureaus: Firearms, Forensic Services, Gambling Control, Investigation.

CA Justice Info Services Division provides criminal history data/analysis to law enforcement, DAs, and local and state regulatory agencies. Its primary focus is Criminal Identification and Investigative Services, Criminal Information and Analysis, and Technology Support.

Now that we've established the breadth of the CA AG's duties, let's talk about what Kamala walked into in 2011: a damaged economy leading to a 71M DOJ budget shortfall & a foreclosure crisis in which CA had the most foreclosure filings (several CA cities the worst hit) in the US.

Kamala got right to work tackling CA's mortgage crisis. Months into her role, she created the Mortgage Fraud Strike Force to investigate/prosecute misconduct at all stages of the mortgage process.

By Feb 2012 Kamala secured a record setting $18 Billion settlement against major lenders including $12B in principal reductions. She was relentless, she angered the Obama admin/AGs who wanted her to take just $2B, but she proved her strategy was best for CA voters.

Kamala's AG work protecting homeowners wasn’t limited to big settlements. She shut down and obtained judgements in mortgage fraud scams like fraudulent loan modifications, false advertising, and deceptive "mass joinder" lawsuits where attorneys charged up $10K for retainers.

Kamala's Mortgage Fraud Strike Force also secured $36.6M against LPS over robo-signing and other misconduct. She also sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. for using unlawful procedural shortcuts to obtain default judgments against tens of thousands of Californians.
latimes.com/archives/la-xp…

To recap: in response to CA's foreclosure crisis Kamala lead the charge on creating a Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, a landmark package of homeowner and borrower protections via the CA Homeowner Bill of Rights, prosecuted mortgage fraud schemes; & secured billions in settlements.

Kamala's AG tenure offers proof that she fiercely defended consumer protections and secured 100s of millions of settlements in cases ranging from price fixing, deceptive marketing practices, anticompetitive practices, and more.
sfgate.com/business/artic…

Kamala did not back down from going after even the largest corporations to protect consumers and labor rights. Some of the big name companies she sued as AG were: Walmart- overcharging, Ebay- anti-competitive, Delta- online privacy, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, & Citigroup

Kamala also stood up to pharmaceutical companies securing record breaking settlements. IE with other AGs, she helped secure $2.2billion settlement w/Johnson&Johnson over alleged unlawful practices, incl. off-label promotion/kickbacks, to promote the sales of 2 antipsychotic drugs

Kamala with other AGs reached a wide ranging agreement with Volkswagen totaling over $10 billion as well as extracting $86M in addtl penalties for CA
-$10B for vehicles buyback/mods
-$2.7B for environmental programs
-$2B investments in zero emissions vehicles
-$86M in penalties

Here are some settlement highlights from Kamala's tenure:
-$1.1 Billion from for profit Corinthian Colleges for predatory/unlawful practices
-$1B recovered for CA Pensions
-$750M from utility company Powerex for manipulation of energy prices
-$533 Million in price fixing case

As AG, Kamala CREATED the Bureau of Children’s Justice in February 2015. It ushered in a new focus and streamlined approach to enforce civil/ criminal laws that uphold children's rights and pursue policies that improve the lives of children.

With Kamala's leadership the CA DOJ was 1 of 3 state agencies accepted by the US DOJ to be part of its national Defending Childhood State Policy Initiative which developed shared priorities to prevent and address children's exposure to violence and the impacts of trauma.

Kamala's BCJ increased DOJ resources for foster kids. I.E. BCJ collaborated to develop statewide guidelines for school districts, county offices of education,& child welfare agencies to better facilitate secure sharing of critical data for the success of students in foster care.

During her tenure, BCJ secured a $168.5million settlement with K12 Inc (for-profit online charter school) for deceptive practices misleading parents/students. As of Kamala's departure, BCJ had 5 major investigations involving juvenile justice, education,& the child welfare system

Long before the national spotlight we see today, as AG Kamala stood up for immigrant children. Mar 2016, she filed an amicus brief in J.E.F.M. v. Loretta Lynch supporting the right of children to have attorneys appointed in immigration removal proceedings
oag.ca.gov/news/press-rel…

Years earlier, Kamala enlisted major law firms to provide pro-bono legal services to address the humanitarian crisis of unaccompanied children entering the US. She also supported legislation to provide $3 million to qualified CA nonprofits to provide legal aid for these children.

Kamala formed partnerships to serve the immigrant community. For instance, she partnered with Service Employees International Union and Univision to host forums across the state to provide info about deferred action programs and help protect immigrants from fraud and wage theft.

In Dec 2012 Kamala issued a bulletin to law enforcement agencies that compliance with an I.C.E. deportation program was not mandatory. Her review showed that 28% of those targeted for deportation in CA as a result of the program were not criminals.

As AG, Kamala issued important bulletins and guidance to CA law enforcement agencies. One such example is her Oct 2015 guidance outlining the law enforcement agencies responsibilities to assist immigrant crime victims in applying for U-visas.

During her tenure Kamala stood up for the rights of workers. In one case, her office secured more than $1 million from eight Northern and Southern California car washes that underpaid workers, denied rest and meal breaks, and created false records of time worked.

As AG Kamala got to work against human trafficking. She convened an anti-trafficking work group of ~100 reps from law enforcement, victim service providers, NGOs, tech co's, and academic institutions to assess challenges/opportunities to fight the $32Billion trafficking industry.

Kamala did not let human traffickers off the hook as AG. In one case, her DOJ-led task force took down a sex trafficking that trafficked young women from Boston/NY to multiple brothels in Sacramento/San Mateo counties rotated them between residential brothels.

Kamala backed reforms in the treatment of trafficking victims by supporting AB1585, a bill providing that a defendant convicted of solicitation or prostitution may petition the court to set aside the conviction if it was the result of his/her status as a victim of trafficking.

Kamala investigated companies suspected of violating the CA Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 requiring large retailers/manufacturers to disclose efforts to eradicate slavery/ human trafficking from their supply chains. She also issued extensive educational materials.

As AG Kamala secured an agreement with major online dating providers to help protect members from identity theft, financial scams & sexual predators by via online safety tools i.e. checking sex offender registries & implementing an abuse reporting system. [Thread To be continued]