Bill Commons

CA AB 1359

enacted

Jury service exemptions.

California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · lower

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Quick answers

Did CA AB 1359 pass?

Yes. CA AB 1359 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-09-15): Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 195, Statutes of 2026.

What is CA AB 1359 about?

Existing law allows for an eligible person to be excused from jury service only for undue hardship upon themselves or the public, as defined by the Judicial Council. Existing rules of court allow a person with a disability or their representative to seek a permanent medical excuse from jury service and require the individual to submit a written request accompanied by a supporting letter, memo, or note from a treating health care provider, as specified. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2028, authorize a person 80 years of age or older to seek a permanent excuse from jury service due to a medical impairment without providing a supporting letter, memorandum, or note from a treating health care provider. The bill would require the court to permanently excuse a person who seeks the above-described permanent excuse from jury service upon the jury commissioner's receipt of a written attestation stating that the person has an impairment, as specified. The bill would authorize the Judicial Council to adopt or amend a rule of court and publish related judicial forms as necessary to implement these provisions.

Who sponsors CA AB 1359?

Ahrens is the primary sponsor of CA AB 1359, joined by 1 cosponsor.

Description

Existing law allows for an eligible person to be excused from jury service only for undue hardship upon themselves or the public, as defined by the Judicial Council. Existing rules of court allow a person with a disability or their representative to seek a permanent medical excuse from jury service and require the individual to submit a written request accompanied by a supporting letter, memo, or note from a treating health care provider, as specified. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2028, authorize a person 80 years of age or older to seek a permanent excuse from jury service due to a medical impairment without providing a supporting letter, memorandum, or note from a treating health care provider. The bill would require the court to permanently excuse a person who seeks the above-described permanent excuse from jury service upon the jury commissioner's receipt of a written attestation stating that the person has an impairment, as specified. The bill would authorize the Judicial Council to adopt or amend a rule of court and publish related judicial forms as necessary to implement these provisions.

Introduced
2025-02-21
Latest action
2026-09-15 — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 195, Statutes of 2026.
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Subjects

Sponsors

  • Ahrensauthor
  • Bryancoauthor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2026-09-15

    Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 195, Statutes of 2026.

    became-law

  2. 2026-09-15

    Approved by the Governor.

    executive-signature

  3. 2026-09-14

    Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 195, Statutes of 2026.

    became-law

  4. 2026-09-14

    Approved by the Governor.

    executive-signature

  5. 2026-08-27

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

  6. 2026-08-20

    Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 0.).

  7. 2026-08-20

    Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling.

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  8. 2026-08-20

    Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 6313.).

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  9. 2026-08-19

    In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

  10. 2026-08-19

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0.).

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  11. 2026-08-19

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 5559.).

  12. 2026-08-17

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  13. 2026-08-13

    From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 13).

    amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage

  14. 2026-08-13

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

    amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2

  15. 2026-07-01

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

    amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  16. 2026-06-29

    In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

    referral-committee

  17. 2026-06-17

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 16). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  18. 2026-05-06

    Referred to Com. on JUD.

    referral-committee

  19. 2026-01-27

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

    reading-1,referral-committee

  20. 2026-01-26

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 1. Page 3837.)

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  21. 2026-01-22

    Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Page 3806.)

  22. 2026-01-22

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  23. 2026-01-22

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 1.) (January 22).

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  24. 2026-01-22

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

    referral-committee

  25. 2026-01-13

    Coauthors revised.

  26. 2026-01-13

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (January 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  27. 2026-01-05

    Re-referred to Com. on H. & C.D.

    referral-committee

  28. 2026-01-05

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on H. & C.D. Read second time and amended.

    amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  29. 2026-01-05

    Re-referred to Com. on JUD. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96.

    referral-committee

  30. 2025-04-01

    Re-referred to Com. on H. & C.D.

    referral-committee

  31. 2025-03-28

    Referred to Coms. on H. & C.D. and L. GOV.

    referral-committee

  32. 2025-03-28

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on H. & C.D. Read second time and amended.

    amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  33. 2025-02-24

    Read first time.

    reading-1

  34. 2025-02-22

    From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.

  35. 2025-02-21

    Introduced. To print.

    introduction

Versions

  • 02/21/25 - Introduced — 2025-02-21Compare
  • 03/28/25 - Amended Assembly — 2025-03-28Compare
  • 01/05/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-01-05Compare
  • 07/01/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-07-01Compare
  • 08/13/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-08-13Compare
  • 08/24/26 - Enrolled — 2026-08-24Compare
  • 09/14/26 - Chaptered — 2026-09-14Compare
  • (document, no version)Compare
  • AB1359Compare

Documents

Votes

  • Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

    2026-01-13 · pass · 11-0

    Member-level votes (12)
    • Bauer-Kahan: yes
    • Kalra: yes
    • Bryan: yes
    • Macedo: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Harabedian: yes
    • Connolly: yes
    • Papan: yes
    • Sanchez: yes
    • Zbur: yes
    • Stefani: yes
    • Dixon: other

  • Do pass.

    2026-01-22 · pass · 13-1

    Member-level votes (15)
    • Hoover: yes
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Bauer-Kahan: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Krell: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Stefani: yes
    • Solache: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Calderon: yes
    • Fong: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Dixon: no
    • Ta: other

  • AB 1359 Ahrens Assembly Third Reading

    2026-01-26 · pass · 73-1

    Member-level votes (80)
    • Ahrens: yes
    • Johnson: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Quirk-Silva: yes
    • Gipson: yes
    • Rogers: yes
    • Addis: yes
    • Ward: yes
    • Haney: yes
    • Hart: yes
    • Fong: yes
    • Calderon: yes
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Wilson: yes
    • Carrillo: yes
    • Bains: yes
    • Ransom: yes
    • Soria: yes
    • Michelle Rodriguez: yes
    • Berman: yes
    • Valencia: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Connolly: yes
    • Schultz: yes
    • Bauer-Kahan: yes
    • Bennett: yes
    • Ávila Farías: yes
    • Schiavo: yes
    • Bonta: yes
    • Aguiar-Curry: yes
    • Jeff Gonzalez: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Boerner: yes
    • Alvarez: yes
    • Castillo: yes
    • Lee: yes
    • Alanis: yes
    • Wallis: yes
    • Patterson: yes
    • Stefani: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Hoover: yes
    • Sharp-Collins: yes
    • Nguyen: yes
    • Ortega: yes
    • Solache: yes
    • Lowenthal: yes
    • Blanca Rubio: yes
    • Jackson: yes
    • Bryan: yes
    • Gallagher: yes
    • Petrie-Norris: yes
    • Harabedian: yes
    • Gabriel: yes
    • Ellis: yes
    • Macedo: yes
    • Davies: yes
    • McKinnor: yes
    • Zbur: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Muratsuchi: yes
    • Hadwick: yes
    • Krell: yes
    • Irwin: yes
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Lackey: yes
    • Ramos: yes
    • Patel: yes
    • Kalra: yes
    • Sanchez: yes
    • Rivas: yes
    • Chen: yes
    • Garcia: yes
    • DeMaio: no
    • Dixon: other
    • Celeste Rodriguez: other
    • Arambula: other
    • Papan: other
    • Flora: other
    • Ta: other

  • Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

    2026-06-16 · pass · 11-0

    Member-level votes (13)
    • Wahab: yes
    • Allen: yes
    • Durazo: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Umberg: yes
    • Wiener: yes
    • Reyes: yes
    • Niello: yes
    • Valladares: yes
    • Laird: yes
    • Ashby: other
    • Weber Pierson: other

  • Placed on suspense file

    2026-06-29 · pass · 7-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Cervantes: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Dahle: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Grayson: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1359

Attribution

Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-10-06T12:31:23.902448Z

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