Valley officials react to new law separating Riverside County Sheriff and Coroner offices

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KESQ) – Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will require the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to separate the offices of county sheriff and coroner by July 1, 2027, as well as establish an independent office of the medical examiner.

The bill, authored by Senator Sabrina Cervantes, also creates clear requirements for the county to publicly report information regarding in-custody deaths on its website.

“Senate Bill 1379—which is a targeted solution to fix a long-broken system in my home county of Riverside—has been a long time coming. 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 explained. “We owe the families the truth; we owe our communities accountability; and we owe county taxpayers a system they can trust.”

“Thank you to Senator Sabrina Cervantes and Governor Gavin Newsom for standing with Riverside County residents by enacting SB 1379. 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,” said Chani Beeman, member of the Riverside Sheriff Accountability Coalition. 

According to the Inland Empire Lives Lost report by Care First California, 226 individuals died in custody in Riverside County jails between 2011 and 2022. The group added that during that period, Riverside County accounted for approximately 10 percent of all in-custody deaths in California despite comprising only about 6 percent of the state's population.

In August, a federal jury found Sheriff’s personnel liable in an inmate’s fentanyl death, awarding his family $13.5 million in damages.

In 2024, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously not to separate the coroner's office from the Sheriff's Department. At the time, the Executive Office determined that dividing the coroner's office from the sheriff's department would invite a string of complications, including likely opposition from the nearly 70 coroner's employees -- virtually the entire bureau -- who are unionized and might choose to remain in the sheriff's department, leaving major gaps in coroner's operations that the county would have to rush to fill.

Earlier this month, the Palm Desert City Council also voted to issue a letter opposing the bill, citing legislature already enacted, AB 1108, that will require that determinations of the circumstances, manner, and cause of death for any in-custody death be made independently of the Sheriff-Coroner in every California county with a combined Sheriff-Coroner, including Riverside County. AB 1108 becomes operative on January 1.

"SB 1379 would require Riverside County alone to undertake a much broader structural reorganization only six months after that statewide independent-review requirement becomes operative and before its effectiveness can be evaluated," read city documents.

Palm Desert's letter also emphasizes the importance of preserving local control over the organization of local government.

You can read more about Senate Bill 1379 here. 

News Channel 3 spoke Thursday with both Cervantes and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco about the newly signed law and what it will mean for the county moving forward.

Cervantes said the legislation was driven by concerns surrounding the number of deaths inside Riverside County jails and the need for greater independence when those deaths are investigated.

“There have been a number of different reports that have highlighted the amount of deaths in Riverside County jails,” Cervantes told News Channel 3.

She pointed to data showing 226 people died in Riverside County custody between 2011 and 2022, adding that the county accounted for roughly 10% of California’s in-custody deaths during that period despite representing about 6% of the state’s population.

Cervantes said SB 1379 is intended to respond to concerns raised by families whose loved ones have died while in county custody.

“This bill will now require the county Board of Supervisors to bring in an independent medical examiner, someone who is a licensed physician, a surgeon qualified as a specialist in pathology,” Cervantes said.

Under SB 1379, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors will be required to appoint a medical examiner who is a licensed physician and surgeon qualified as a specialist in pathology. The law also requires the county to post an initial incident report within 24 hours of an in-custody death and a preliminary report within 72 hours. Next-of-kin must also be notified regarding the cause of death within 72 hours after that cause has been determined.

Cervantes told News Channel 3 those reporting requirements are an important part of the legislation.

“There will be a website where within a certain time frame, that report will be made public to families as to what had occurred in our Riverside County jails,” Cervantes said.

She added that families and community advocates have raised concerns about unanswered questions following deaths in custody.

“This, again, is a step in the right direction when it comes to transparency that the public has been asking for and the accountability reforms that they have been asking for,” Cervantes said.

Bianco strongly opposes the separation

Bianco, who currently oversees the combined Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office, strongly criticized the law in an interview with News Channel 3.

He disputed the argument that the current structure creates a conflict of interest when someone dies in county custody.

“Because there is no conflict of interest. We don't do our own death investigations. We never — we haven't done that for years,” Bianco said.

Bianco said he believes combining the Sheriff and Coroner functions has allowed the county to provide death-investigation services more efficiently and at a lower cost.

He said separating the operations will require Riverside County to recreate systems and resources that are currently shared between the Sheriff’s Office and Coroner’s Bureau.

“There’s a lot of things that have to happen,” Bianco said.

According to Bianco, contracts and agreements currently held by the Sheriff’s Office for coroner services will need to be reviewed and, in some cases, renegotiated for the new medical examiner’s office.

He said the new department will also need its own records management system and other infrastructure currently provided through the Sheriff’s Office.

“They’ll have to get their own records management system. They’ll have to get their own, everything really,” Bianco said. “Policies have to be changed. Union negotiations have to happen and take place.”

Bianco also said the transition will affect employees currently working within the Coroner’s Bureau.

Those workers are currently Sheriff’s Office employees, but once the separation takes effect, Bianco said they would instead work under a separate county medical examiner’s department.

“There will be a lot of changes in people's lives that didn't necessarily want that,” Bianco said.

He said some employees who moved into the Coroner’s Bureau did so knowing they would remain part of the Sheriff’s Office, meaning the county will now have to address whether those employees transition to the medical examiner’s office, move into other positions within the Sheriff’s Office or are replaced by newly hired employees.

Disagreement over taxpayer costs

Cervantes and Bianco also offered sharply different assessments of what the change could mean financially for Riverside County taxpayers.

Cervantes described SB 1379 as a cost-saving measure, pointing to money Riverside County has paid to resolve litigation involving deaths in county custody.

“This is actually a cost saving measure, because the county has paid out over $100 million in settlement because of what has been occurring in our county jails that has cost taxpayers many, many millions of dollars,” Cervantes said.

Cervantes’ office has cited nearly $100 million in settlements related to in-custody deaths between 2014 and 2024 as part of its argument for the legislation.

Bianco rejected the argument that separating the offices will save taxpayers money.

He said the transition will instead require additional spending on equipment, technology, staffing and administrative systems that are currently shared.

“There is a lot going to go into this,” Bianco said. “The cost of new equipment, the cost of duplicate equipment, of redundant equipment — that’s why the offices were combined in the first place.”

Bianco did not provide News Channel 3 with a specific dollar estimate for the cost of implementing the new system during Thursday’s interview.

Transition already beginning

Despite his opposition to the legislation, Bianco said his office and Riverside County will comply with the law and are already beginning preparations for the separation.

Bianco said the goal is to make sure residents do not experience an interruption in services when the new structure takes effect.

“We are going to do everything in our power in this short time that we have to make sure that the split of these two offices is absolutely seamless,” Bianco said.

He added that county and Sheriff’s Office officials want the framework for the new system in place before the July 1 deadline.

“July 1st will be absolutely no different of a day than two weeks before that,” Bianco said. “It is our goal. It is our mission to provide the best service we can to Riverside County residents.”

Bianco said preparation began almost immediately after the bill was signed and will continue over the coming months.

“Death happens every single day, and death doesn't stop for politics,” Bianco said. “So we have to make sure that we have the systems in place, that it's going to be a seamless transition.”

For Cervantes, the measure of the new system will be whether families receive more information and greater transparency when someone dies in county custody.

“These are not just statistics,” Cervantes said. “Behind every number is a family that has been waiting for answers that often never come.”

Cervantes said she believes SB 1379 responds directly to concerns raised by those families and community groups.

“We want to make sure that these families' voices are heard,” she said. “And that is what we're doing.”

The separation must be completed by July 1, 2027.