OC Weekly -- A bill that had been devised as an answer to the federal government's controversial Secure Communities program won approval on the California state Senate floor Thursday after a slight tweak in the packaging made it a dig at Arizona's divisive immigration reform law.

Authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), and presented by state Senate floor manager Kevin de Leün (D-Los Angeles), AB 1081, or "The TRUST Act," passed by a vote of 21-13 Thursday.

Read AB 1081

It had cleared a Senate committee in June with a 5-2 vote and was originally crafted long before the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down most of Arizona's SB 1070, save the anti-immigrant law's most-controversial "show your papers" provision that many assume fosters racial profiling.

"Today's vote signals to the nation that California cannot afford to be another Arizona," Ammiano said in a statement after the Senate floor vote. "The bill also limits unjust and onerous detentions for deportation in local jails of community members who do not pose a threat to public safety."

The TRUST Act, which was originally crafted to respond to the federal government's Secure Communities program that has been blamed for more than 72,000 deportations in California, would set clear standards for local governments to comply with requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain people for deportation.

Protections against racial profiling would be undertaken to guarantee only those with serious or violent felony convictions would be turned over for deportation, according to TRUST Act sponsors, who add 7 in 10 of those deported under Secure Communities in California had either no convictions or only minor offenses on their records.

Supporters, who include the California Catholic Conference, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Oakland and Palo Alto's police chiefs, have also shared heartbreaking stories about domestic violence victims facing deportation after ICE sweeps and parents allowing crimes against their children to go unreported out of fears their kids would be whisked away as well.

The bill now goes back for a concurrence vote in the Assembly, where an approval would send it on to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk in search of a signature.  Read more at OC Weekly and Reuters