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 Bill Text - AB-938 Criminal procedure: sentencing.

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 |Add To My Favorites |Track Bill | Version: 07/09/25 - Amended Senate
 06/25/25 - Amended Senate
 03/28/25 - Amended Assembly
 02/19/25 - Introduced

 AB-938 Criminal procedure: sentencing.(2025-2026)

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 Date Published: 07/09/2025 09:00 PM

AB938:v96#DOCUMENTBill Start

 Amended
 IN 
 Senate
 July 09, 2025

 Amended
 IN 
 Senate
 June 25, 2025

 Amended
 IN 
 Assembly
 March 28, 2025

 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

 Assembly Bill

No. 938

Introduced by Assembly Member Bonta
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Haney and Pellerin)

February 19, 2025

An act to amend Sections 236.14, 236.15, 236.23, and 236.24 of the Penal Code, relating to criminal procedure. 

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 938, as amended, Bonta.
 Criminal procedure: sentencing.

Existing law allows a person who was arrested or convicted of a nonviolent offense while they were a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence, or sexual violence, to petition the court, under penalty of perjury, for vacatur relief. Existing law requires, to receive that relief, that the crime for which the person was arrested or convicted was a nonviolent offense and that the person establish, by clear and convincing evidence, that the arrest or conviction was the direct result of being a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence, or sexual violence. Existing law authorizes the court to vacate the conviction if it concludes that the petitioner was a victim of one of those crimes at the time of the alleged commission of the offense, the arrest was a direct result of being a victim of that offense, and the vacatur is in the best interest of justice.

This bill would allow that relief for a person arrested or convicted of any offense. offense, except murder, as specified. Because this bill would authorize more petitions to be filed under penalty of perjury, by expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

If a court issues an order for a person who was arrested or convicted of an offense while they were a victim of intimate partner violence or sexual violence, existing law requires the court to order the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the offense, the Department of Justice, and any law enforcement agency that arrested the petitioner or participated in the arrest of the petitioner to seal their records of the arrest
 and the court order to seal and destroy the records within 3 years from the date of the arrest, or within one year after the court order is granted, whichever occurs later, and thereafter to destroy their records of the arrest and the court order to seal and destroy those records.

This bill would require the court to also order any law enforcement agency that has taken action or maintains records related to or because of the offense, including, but not limited to, departments of probation, rehabilitation, corrections, and parole, to seal and destroy their records. The bill would require those agencies to seal their records of arrest and the court order to seal and destroy the records within one year from the date of arrest, or within 90 days after the court order is granted, whichever occurs later. The bill would require the agencies to destroy these records within one year of the date of the court order. By increasing duties on local law enforcement, this bill
 would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the Department of Justice to notify the petitioner and the petitioner’s counsel that the department has complied with the order to seal the arrest records by the applicable deadline.

Existing law creates an affirmative defense against a charge of a crime that the person was coerced to commit the offense as a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence, or sexual violence at the time of the offense and when the person had reasonable fear of harm. Existing law prohibits this defense from being used with respect to a violent felony, as defined.

This bill would allow that defense to be used with respect to a violent felony, except for murder, as specified.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain
 costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reim