Bill Commons

CA AB 1962

introduced

California Indigent Defense Commission.

California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · lower

Follow this bill’s action updates (Atom)

Subscribe in a feed reader. The feed covers recorded actions from the last 30 days; Bill Commons may record an action after it happened at the legislature.

Quick answers

Did CA AB 1962 pass?

Not yet. CA AB 1962 has been introduced but has not advanced to a vote. Latest recorded action (2026-02-14): From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.

What is CA AB 1962 about?

Existing law affords a defendant in a criminal case a federal and state constitutional right to have the assistance of counsel for the defendant's defense. Under existing law, if the defendant in a criminal case is unable to employ counsel, the court is required to assign counsel to defend them, as specified. Under existing law, one of the primary responsibilities of the State Public Defender is to engage in efforts to improve the quality of indigent defense. Existing law authorizes the State Public Defender to administer and award grants to improve indigent defense services. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish the California Indigent Defense Commission, an entity responsible for ensuring that indigent defense services meet constitutional and professional standards.

Who sponsors CA AB 1962?

Hart is the primary sponsor of CA AB 1962.

Description

Existing law affords a defendant in a criminal case a federal and state constitutional right to have the assistance of counsel for the defendant's defense. Under existing law, if the defendant in a criminal case is unable to employ counsel, the court is required to assign counsel to defend them, as specified. Under existing law, one of the primary responsibilities of the State Public Defender is to engage in efforts to improve the quality of indigent defense. Existing law authorizes the State Public Defender to administer and award grants to improve indigent defense services. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish the California Indigent Defense Commission, an entity responsible for ensuring that indigent defense services meet constitutional and professional standards.

Introduced
—
Latest action
2026-02-14 — From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Subjects

Sponsors

  • Hartauthor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2026-02-14

    From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.

  2. 2026-02-13

    Read first time. To print.

    reading-1

Versions

Documents

Votes

Not provided by source.

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T01:34:27.960412Z

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

Session-wide evidence can include changes to other bills:

Use this data

Every field on this page is available from the free public API — no key or licence required. Fetch this bill as JSON: GET /api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=CA&identifier=AB 1962. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.

Known limitations

  • Sponsor party and chamber affiliation are not yet captured by this API.
  • Committee referrals are not yet captured.

See the methodology page for data sources and limitations.