California's Legislature muscled through a first-in-the-nation ban on wearable electroshock devices this week, racing a midnight session deadline to respond to news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had signed a $16.7 million contract to arm officers with so-called "shock gloves." Assembly Bill 2760 passed both chambers Monday night and now sits on Governor Gavin Newsom's desk, who has until September 30 to sign or veto it.

The bill, authored by Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins, D-San Diego, would bar state, local and federal law enforcement officers from using the devices anywhere in California, block agencies from spending state funds to buy them, and order the state Department of Justice to conduct a safety review — with the prohibition set to sunset in 2030 unless renewed.

The gloves at the center of the fight, known as the G.L.O.V.E. (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), look like standard patrol gear until an officer flips a wrist-mounted switch, delivering up to 380 volts on skin contact. ICE awarded the no-bid contract to Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies LLC for 6,000 pairs, with delivery expected by March 2027. The company markets the device as a "wearable de-escalation" tool and says it has no documented history of causing injury.

A Bill Written in Days

Sharp-Collins used a legislative maneuver known as "gut and amend," rewriting an unrelated bill with only about 11 days left before lawmakers adjourned, to get the measure to a vote at all. "AB 2760 draws a clear line: public safety technology must be proven safe before deployment, not after someone is killed," she said in pressing for the bill, adding that she didn't want to wait "for a tragedy to act."

"Electroshock gloves by any law enforcement agency makes Californians less safe," civil rights advocate Anallely Martin of the California Immigrant Policy Center said in backing the bill, one of several groups that rallied behind the measure as it moved through Sacramento.

Law enforcement groups, including the California State Sheriffs' Association and a lobbyist for the state's police chiefs, opposed the bill, arguing it strips officers of a non-lethal option. Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio criticized the rushed process for a bill he said would make California the first state in the country to enact such a ban. The fight in Sacramento echoes a broader clash in Washington, where a coalition of 15 Senate Democrats and, separately, House Homeland Security Committee Democrats have demanded ICE halt or explain the purchase, citing the agency's record of use-of-force incidents. A DHS spokesperson has dismissed the criticism as "despicable" political interference with officer safety.

Even if Newsom signs AB 2760, its reach over federal agents is expected to face an immediate legal challenge, since courts have repeatedly struck down state attempts to restrict federal immigration enforcement equipment and tactics. Newsom's office has not signaled which way he is leaning. For now, the bill stands as the most direct legislative pushback yet from a state government against the Trump administration's expanding immigration-enforcement toolkit — and a test of how far California can go in regulating federal officers operating within its borders.