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CoHNA says no to CA bill fearing adverse impact on Hindus
The organization has raised concerns about the bill’s wide language and the possible ramifications on the Hindu community.
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Pranavi Sharma - Tue, 08, Apr 2025
- 23:11 EDT
- 487
Introduced by Senator Anna Caballero, SB509 proposes the creation of a training program by the Office of Emergency Services to help law enforcement recognize and respond to acts of transnational repression. / Wikipedia
The Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) on Apr.9 expressed deep disappointment after the California Senate Standing Committee on Governmental Organization voted to move forward with SB509, a bill aimed at combating transnational repression through police training.
Introduced by Senator Anna Caballero, SB509 proposes the creation of a training program by the Office of Emergency Services to help law enforcement recognize and respond to acts of transnational repression. The bill defines such repression as threats, surveillance, online harassment, and physical violence carried out by foreign governments or their proxies against individuals or communities living in exile.
Disappointed to see the California Senate Standing Committee on Governmental Organization pass SB509 to the next phase. Many Hindu organizations showed up to oppose and we thank our Board Member Sudha Jagannathan who spoke eloquently as one of the two opposing witnesses.
— CoHNA (Coalition of Hindus of North America) (@CoHNAOfficial) April 8, 2025
She… pic.twitter.com/V4zGUZrOjs
But for CoHNA, the bill raises more questions than it answers. In a public statement, the organization said it was "disappointed to see the California Senate Standing Committee on Governmental Organization pass SB 509 to the next phase”. The group thanked its board member, Sudha Jagannathan, for speaking as one of only two official witnesses in opposition to the bill during the committee hearing.
Jagannathan, representing concerns from multiple Hindu organizations, argued that the bill is overly vague and could be “weaponized against the Hindu community”. She pointed to the lack of California-specific data justifying such a measure, saying, “the extreme insensitivity of California choosing to focus on this ghost of a problem” was troubling, especially, she noted, when “its own documentation shows anti-Hindu hate has risen to alarming levels”.
Under SB509, the California Specialized Training Institute would be tasked with creating a comprehensive training module for law enforcement by Jul.1, 2026. The training would teach officers to identify tactics such as spyware attacks, online threats, or coercion of family members abroad and forms of harassment that authoritarian regimes may allegedly use to target dissidents living in California.
Senator Caballero has said the bill is about helping officers recognize “patterns of behavior” linked to transnational repression. But CoHNA challenged that framing, asking, “How will the training be equitable and not used to weaponize the police against immigrant-heavy communities?”
The organization also questioned the lack of outreach to Hindu and South Asian groups who had previously opposed similar legislation namely AB 3027, a now-defunct precursor to SB 509. “Senator Caballero’s words about inclusion ring hollow when one notes she made NO attempt to reach out to the California communities that had publicly and on record opposed the previous version of this bill,” the CoHNA statement said.
The hearing came exactly one month after a major vandalization attack on the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills, California’s largest Hindu temple. CoHNA said this context made the bill’s advancement all the more concerning. “When we see temples founded by Caribbean Hindus attacked with anti-India slogans, the ‘pattern’ of using geo-politics to give cover to anti-Hindu hate becomes clear.”
While SB509 does not name any specific ethnic or religious group, it does call for training that includes awareness of “communities targeted by transnational repression and misinformation” and urges law enforcement to be alert to misuse of international systems like INTERPOL.
The bill passed through the committee with a majority vote and now heads to the next stage in the legislative process.
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