2023 California Code › Penal Code - PEN › PART 1 - OF CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS › TITLE 5 - OF CRIMES BY AND AGAINST THE EXECUTIVE POWER OF THE STATE › Section 70.

70. (a) Every executive or ministerial officer, employee, or appointee of the State of California, or any county or city therein, or any political subdivision thereof, who knowingly asks, receives, or agrees to receive any emolument, gratuity, or reward, or any promise thereof excepting such as may be authorized by law for doing an official act, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) This section does not prohibit deputy registrars of voters from receiving compensation when authorized by local ordinance from any candidate, political committee, or statewide political organization for securing the registration of voters.
(c) (1) Nothing in this section precludes a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2, from engaging in, or being employed in, casual or part-time employment as a private security guard or patrolman for a public entity while off duty from his or her principal employment and outside his or her regular employment as a peace officer of a state or local agency, and exercising the powers of a peace officer concurrently with that employment, provided that the peace officer is in a police uniform and is subject to reasonable rules and regulations of the agency for which he or she is a peace officer. Notwithstanding the above provisions, any and all civil and criminal liability arising out of the secondary employment of any peace officer pursuant to this subdivision shall be borne by the officer’s secondary employer.
(2) It is the intent of the Legislature by this subdivision to abrogate the holdings in People v. Corey, 21 Cal.3d 738, and Cervantez v. J.C. Penney Co., 24 Cal.3d 579, to reinstate prior judicial interpretations of this section as they relate to criminal sanctions for battery on peace officers who are employed, on a part-time or casual basis, by a public entity, while wearing a police uniform as private security guards or patrolmen, and to allow the exercise of peace officer powers concurrently with that employment.
(d) (1) Nothing in this section precludes a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2, from engaging in, or being employed in, casual or part-time employment as a private security guard or patrolman by a private employer while off duty from his or her principal employment and outside his or her regular employment as a peace officer, and exercising the powers of a peace officer concurrently with that employment, provided that all of the following are true:
(A) The peace officer is in his or her police uniform.
(B) The casual or part-time employment as a private security guard or patrolman is approved by the county board of supervisors with jurisdiction over the principal employer or by the board’s designee or by the city council with jurisdiction over the principal employer or by the council’s designee.
(C) The wearing of uniforms and equipment is approved by the principal employer.
(D) The peace officer is subject to reasonable rules and regulations of the agency for which he or she is a peace officer.
(2) Notwithstanding the above provisions, a peace officer while off duty from his or her principal employment and outside his or her regular employment as a peace officer of a state or local agency shall not exercise the powers of a police officer if employed by a private employer as a security guard during a strike, lockout, picketing, or other physical demonstration of a labor dispute at the site of the strike, lockout, picketing, or other physical demonstration of a labor dispute. The issue of whether or not casual or part-time employment as a private security guard or patrolman pursuant to this subdivision is to be approved shall not be a subject for collective bargaining. Any and all civil and criminal liability arising out of the secondary employment of any peace officer pursuant to this subdivision shall be borne by the officer’s principal employer. The principal employer shall require the secondary employer to enter into an indemnity agreement as a condition of approving casual or part-time employment pursuant to this subdivision.
(3) It is the intent of the Legislature by this subdivision to abrogate the holdings in People v. Corey, 21 Cal. 3d 738, and Cervantez v. J. C. Penney Co., 24 Cal. 3d 579, to reinstate prior judicial interpretations of this section as they relate to criminal sanctions for battery on peace officers who are employed, on a part-time or casual basis, while wearing a police uniform approved by the principal employer, as private security guards or patrolmen, and to allow the exercise of peace officer powers concurrently with that employment.
(e) (1) Nothing in this section precludes a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2, from engaging in, or being employed in, other employment while off duty from his or her principal employment and outside his or her regular employment as a peace officer of a state or local agency.
(2) Subject to subdivisions (c) and (d), and except as provided by written regulations or policies adopted by the employing state or local agency, or pursuant to an agreement between the employing state or local agency and a recognized employee organization representing the peace officer, no peace officer shall be prohibited from engaging in, or being employed in, other employment while off duty from his or her principal employment and outside his or her regular employment as a peace officer of a state or local agency.
(3) If an employer withholds consent to allow a peace officer to engage in or be employed in other employment while off duty, the employer shall, at the time of denial, provide the reasons for denial in writing to the peace officer.
(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 104, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)