California 2021-2022 Regular Session Status: Enacted Bipartisan · 11 D · 1 R cosponsors

AB 256 — Criminal procedure: discrimination.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 739, Statutes of 2022.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  4. ✓
    Passed Senate
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 14, 2021. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 98% · high confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 21 sponsors

    1 primary, 20 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Bipartisan support

    Sponsored across 2 parties (11 D · 1 R) — cross-party backing.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 9 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

Existing law prohibits the state from seeking a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin, as specified, and, in a case in which judgment has not been entered prior to January 1, 2021, allows a petition to be filed alleging a violation of that prohibition. Existing law authorizes a court that finds a violation of that prohibition to impose specified remedies, including, among other things, vacating the conviction or sentence and ordering new proceedings. This bill would additionally authorize that petition to be filed for cases in which a judgment was entered as final prior to January 1, 2021, as specified, and in cases in which a juvenile disposition resulted in a commitment to the Division of Juvenile Justice, as specified. The bill would, if a motion under these provisions is based on the conduct or statements by the judge, require the judge to disqualify themselves from those proceedings. The bill would additionally make other technical changes. Existing law allows a defendant to file a motion requesting disclosure of all evidence related to a potential violation of the prohibition on seeking a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin, and requires the court to order the records to be released upon a showing of good cause. If the records are not privileged, existing law allows the court to permit the prosecution to redact information prior to disclosure. This bill would require the court, upon a showing of good cause, to order disclosure unless a statutory privilege or constitutional privacy right cannot be adequately protected by redaction or a protective order. Under existing law, a conviction or sentence is unlawfully imposed on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin if the defendant proves, among other things, that the defendant was charged or convicted of a more serious offense than defendants of other races, ethnicities, or national origins, or received a longer or more severe sentence, and the evidence establishes that the prosecution more frequently sought or obtained convictions for more serious offenses against people who share the defendant's race, ethnicity, or national origin, as specified, or if a longer or more severe sentence was more frequently imposed on defendants of a particular race, ethnicity, or national origin, as specified. Existing law requires this determination to be made pursuant to statistical evidence or aggregate data, as specified. This bill would allow that evidence to include nonstatistical evidence and would require the court to consider the totality of the evidence in determining whether a significant difference in seeking or obtaining convictions or in imposing sentences has been established. The bill would require the court to consider whether systemic and institutional racial bias, racial profiling, and historical patterns of racially biased policing and prosecution may have contributed to, or caused differences observed in, the data or impacted the availability of data overall. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1473 of the Penal Code proposed by SB 467 to be operative only if this bill and SB 467 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 739, Statutes of 2022.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.

  4. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 46. Noes 25.).

  5. From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 30).

  6. Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended.

  7. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2.

  8. In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

  9. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 10. Page 5207.).

  10. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  11. Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  12. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  13. Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.

  14. From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 11).

  15. In committee: Held under submission.

  16. In committee: Referred to suspense file.

  17. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 1720.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  18. Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

  19. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

  20. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 45. Noes 21. Page 1752.)

  21. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  22. Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.

  23. From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (May 20).

  24. In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

  25. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (March 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  26. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S.

  27. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended.

  28. Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

  29. From printer. May be heard in committee February 14.

  30. Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 20 co-sponsors · 101 not signed on · 20 voted No

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (20)

Not signed on (101)

101 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 101 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

AB 256 Kalra Concurrence in Senate Amendments

Passed 46 Yea · 25 Nay · 9 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 24305
Unaffiliated 221304
Republican 0900
Total 462509
% of votes cast 58%31%0%11%
How each member voted (80)
Member Party Vote
Bloom — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Holden — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Wood — Yea
Ting — Yea
Low — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Levine — Yea
Daly — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Medina — Yea
Voepel — Nay
Cooley — Nay
Mathis — Nay
Bigelow — Nay
Salas — Nay
Kiley — Nay
Mayes — Nay
Waldron — Nay
Gray — Nay
Smith — Nay
Cunningham — Nay
Rodriguez — Not Voting
Nazarian — Not Voting
Cooper — Not Voting
Villapudua — Not Voting
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Jim Patterson — Nay
Luz Rivas — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Vince Fong — Nay
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Not Voting
Alvarez, David Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Not Voting
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bennett, Steve Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Not Voting
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Bryan, Isaac G. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Haney, Matt Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Nay
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
McKinnor, Tina Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Not Voting
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Nay
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Nay
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Not Voting
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Wilson, Lori D. Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Nay
Choi, Steven S. Republican Nay
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Davies, Laurie Republican Nay
Flora, Heath Republican Nay
Gallagher, James Republican Nay
Lackey, Tom Republican Nay
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Nay
Valladares, Suzette Martinez Republican Nay

Official roll call →

3rd Reading AB256 Kalra et al. By Kamlager

Passed 30 Yea · 10 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 18500
Democratic 12100
Republican 0400
Total 301000
% of votes cast 75%25%0%0%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Bradford — Yea
Newman — Yea
Wilk — Nay
Min — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Roth — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Gonzalez — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Pan — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Borgeas — Nay
Nielsen — Nay
Melendez — Nay
Bates — Nay
Allen, Benjamin Democratic Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Becker, Josh Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Cortese, Dave Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Nay
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Grove, Shannon Republican Nay
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay
Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended

Passed 5 Yea · 2 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 2000
Unaffiliated 3100
Republican 0100
Total 5200
% of votes cast 71%29%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Portantino — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Bates — Nay
Laird, John Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Placed on suspense file

Passed 7 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Republican 1000
Unaffiliated 5000
Democratic 1000
Total 7000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Wieckowski — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Bates — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea

Official roll call →

AB 256 Kalra Assembly Third Reading

Passed 45 Yea · 21 Nay · 13 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 19306
Unaffiliated 26807
Republican 01000
Total 4521013
% of votes cast 57%27%0%16%
How each member voted (79)
Member Party Vote
Bloom — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Holden — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Wood — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Ting — Yea
Low — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Levine — Yea
Daly — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Medina — Yea
Burke — Yea
Chau — Yea
Voepel — Nay
Mathis — Nay
Bigelow — Nay
Kiley — Nay
Waldron — Nay
Gray — Nay
Smith — Nay
Cunningham — Nay
Rodriguez — Not Voting
Cooley — Not Voting
Mayes — Not Voting
Cooper — Not Voting
Frazier — Not Voting
Villapudua — Not Voting
Salas — Not Voting
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Luz Rivas — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Not Voting
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Not Voting
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bennett, Steve Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Not Voting
Bryan, Isaac G. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Nay
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Not Voting
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Not Voting
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Nay
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Nay
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Not Voting
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Nay
Choi, Steven S. Republican Nay
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Davies, Laurie Republican Nay
Flora, Heath Republican Nay
Gallagher, James Republican Nay
Lackey, Tom Republican Nay
Patterson, Joe Republican Nay
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Nay
Valladares, Suzette Martinez Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended.

Passed 12 Yea · 4 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 7100
Democratic 5100
Republican 0200
Total 12400
% of votes cast 75%25%0%0%
How each member voted (16)
Member Party Vote
Levine — Yea
Holden — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Chau — Yea
Bigelow — Nay
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Luz Rivas — Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Nay
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Davies, Laurie Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Subjects

public-safety civil-rights
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Frequently asked questions

What does AB 256 do?
Existing law prohibits the state from seeking a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin, as specified, and, in a case in which judgment has not been entered prior to January 1, 2021, allows a petition to be filed alleging a violation of that prohibition. Existing law authorizes a court that finds a violation of that prohibition to impose specified remedies, including, among other things, vacating the conviction or sentence and ordering new proceedings. This bill would additionally authorize that petition to be filed for cases in which a judgment was entered as final prior to January 1, 2021, as specified, and in cases in which a juvenile disposition resulted in a commitment to the Division of Juvenile Justice, as specified. The bill would, if a motion under these provisions is based on the conduct or statements by the judge, require the judge to disqualify themselves from those proceedings. The bill would additionally make other technical changes. Existing law allows a defendant to file a motion requesting disclosure of all evidence related to a potential violation of the prohibition on seeking a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin, and requires the court to order the records to be released upon a showing of good cause. If the records are not privileged, existing law allows the court to permit the prosecution to redact information prior to disclosure. This bill would require the court, upon a showing of good cause, to order disclosure unless a statutory privilege or constitutional privacy right cannot be adequately protected by redaction or a protective order. Under existing law, a conviction or sentence is unlawfully imposed on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin if the defendant proves, among other things, that the defendant was charged or convicted of a more serious offense than defendants of other races, ethnicities, or national origins, or received a longer or more severe sentence, and the evidence establishes that the prosecution more frequently sought or obtained convictions for more serious offenses against people who share the defendant's race, ethnicity, or national origin, as specified, or if a longer or more severe sentence was more frequently imposed on defendants of a particular race, ethnicity, or national origin, as specified. Existing law requires this determination to be made pursuant to statistical evidence or aggregate data, as specified. This bill would allow that evidence to include nonstatistical evidence and would require the court to consider the totality of the evidence in determining whether a significant difference in seeking or obtaining convictions or in imposing sentences has been established. The bill would require the court to consider whether systemic and institutional racial bias, racial profiling, and historical patterns of racially biased policing and prosecution may have contributed to, or caused differences observed in, the data or impacted the availability of data overall. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1473 of the Penal Code proposed by SB 467 to be operative only if this bill and SB 467 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Who sponsors AB 256?
AB 256 is sponsored by Rivas, Robert (Democratic), Santiago, McCarty, Bradford, Bonta, Mia (Democratic), Bryan, Isaac G. (Democratic), Wiener, Scott D. (Democratic), Friedman, Lee, Alex (Democratic), Levine, McKinnor, Tina (Democratic), Ting, Durazo, Maria Elena (Democratic), Laird, John (Democratic), Skinner, Kalra, Ash (Democratic), Kamlager, Haney, Matt (Democratic), Carrillo, Juan (Democratic), Gonzalez, Jeff (Republican), and Mark Stone.
What is the current status of AB 256?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced January 14, 2021. Enacted.
Where can I track AB 256?
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