SB 873 will prohibit ICE or others from making civil arrests in and around our courthouses without showing a judicial warrant. 

Passed out of Senate, in Assembly.

SB 1173 restores a criminal defendant's right to a jury instruction on lesser related offenses, reinstating the rule established in People v. Geiger (1984) and overruled in People v. Birks (1998). Upon the defendant's request and where specified conditions are met, a jury (or judge in a court trial) may find the defendant guilty of an offense closely related to, but not necessarily included in, the charged offense.

Passed out of Senate, in Assembly.

AB 690, the Fair Representation Act, will prohibit counties and courts from entering into flat-fee or per-case compensation contracts for indigent defense services starting January 1, 2027. Flat-fee contracts pay attorneys a fixed sum regardless of caseload, creating a financial incentive to spend less time on each case and undermining the right to effective representation. 

2-year bill, currently in Senate Appropriations.

AB 1958 makes it easier to prove a charging or sentencing disparity claim by letting defendants rely on either statistical or non-statistical evidence rather than requiring both; shifting the burden to prosecutors to show a disparity is explained by race-neutral factors; easing access to relevant data; and making clear that no part of the criminal process (including plea deals and diversion) is exempt from the RJA. These changes clear the procedural barriers that have allowed only four such disparity claims to be litigated to completion in the five years since the law passed.

This bill failed to pass off the Assembly floor.

"This bill would prohibit a law enforcement officer from seeking statements or information while working undercover, or by individuals working in collaboration with, or acting as agents of, law enforcement, from a person who was 17 years of age or younger during the commission of crime and who is in custody. The bill would direct a court to consider any willful failure of a law enforcement officer in violation of these provisions in determining the credibility of that law enforcement officer."

This bill passed out of the Assembly and is now in the Senate.

(This bill was held in committee by the author and is not moving forward this year.)

This bill requires prosecutors to work with the defense during plea negotiations to try to avoid immigration consequences for the defendant. If the defendant can show that they offered to plead to a more serious charge in order to avoid those consequences and the prosecutor said no, the court must hold a hearing. At that hearing, the prosecutor must show a good reason for refusing the immigration-neutral plea. If they can't, the court must impose a remedy.

ACR 159 affirms the fundamental importance of indigent defense to due process, equal justice, and democratic governance, and recognizes public defenders as essential protectors of constitutional rights and the rule of law. This resolution further recognizes that California "has both a constitutional obligation and a moral responsibility to ensure that its indigent defense systems are adequately funded, appropriately staffed, and capable of providing effective representation consistent with constitutional mandates"

This resolution passed overwhelmingly in the Assembly, now in the Senate.