Ash Kalra
- Democratic
- Assemblymember
- District 25
Author
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.
Approved by the Governor.
Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 739, Statutes of 2022.
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 46. Noes 25.).
Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2.
From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 30).
Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended.
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 10. Page 5207.).
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 11).
In committee: Held under submission.
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.
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 45. Noes 21. Page 1752.)
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (May 20).
In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (March 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended.
From printer. May be heard in committee February 14.
Read first time. To print.
| Bill Text Versions | Format |
|---|---|
| AB256 | HTML |
| 01/14/21 - Introduced | |
| 03/16/21 - Amended Assembly | |
| 05/24/21 - Amended Assembly | |
| 08/11/22 - Amended Senate | |
| 08/24/22 - Amended Senate | |
| 09/02/22 - Enrolled | |
| 09/29/22 - Chaptered |
| Document | Format |
|---|---|
| 03/22/21- Assembly Public Safety | |
| 04/12/21- Assembly Appropriations | |
| 05/25/21- ASSEMBLY FLOOR ANALYSIS | |
| 06/27/21- Senate Public Safety | |
| 07/13/21- Senate Appropriations | |
| 08/11/22- Senate Appropriations | |
| 08/15/22- Sen. Floor Analyses | |
| 08/26/22- Sen. Floor Analyses | |
| 08/30/22- ASSEMBLY FLOOR ANALYSIS | PDF PDF |
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