Bill Commons

CA AB 528

in committee

Criminal procedure: child pornography.

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 528 pass?

Not yet. CA AB 528 is in committee and has not come to a final vote. Latest recorded action (2026-08-13): In committee: Held under submission.

What is CA AB 528 about?

Existing law requires a prosecuting attorney to disclose to the defendant or their attorney all relevant real evidence seized or obtained as a part of the investigation of the offenses charged that is in the possession of the prosecuting attorney or known to be in the possession of the investigating agencies. Existing law prohibits an attorney from disclosing or permitting to be disclosed to a defendant, members of the defendant's family, or anyone else copies of child pornography evidence, unless specifically permitted to do so by the court after a hearing and a showing of good cause. Existing law authorizes an attorney to disclose or permit to be disclosed copies of child pornography evidence to persons employed by the attorney or to persons appointed by the court to assist in the preparation of a defendant's case if that disclosure is required for that preparation. This bill would repeal the provisions allowing disclosure of copies to a defendant, the defendant's family, person's employed by an attorney or appointed by the court, or anyone else. The bill would instead require any material that constitutes child pornography, as defined, to remain in the care, custody, or control of either a law enforcement agency, the prosecution, or the court. The bill would prohibit a defendant, their attorney, or anybody else from copying, photographing, duplicating, or reproducing any material that constitutes child pornography so long as the prosecution makes the material, and any hardware, media, or other property containing, storing, or housing the material, reasonably available to the defendant, as specified. The bill would also require this material to be made available, as specified, to a victim or the victim's attorney or to any individual the victim may seek to qualify to furnish expert testimony. By requiring new duties on prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, and the courts, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. 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 reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Who sponsors CA AB 528?

Alanis is the primary sponsor of CA AB 528.

Description

Existing law requires a prosecuting attorney to disclose to the defendant or their attorney all relevant real evidence seized or obtained as a part of the investigation of the offenses charged that is in the possession of the prosecuting attorney or known to be in the possession of the investigating agencies. Existing law prohibits an attorney from disclosing or permitting to be disclosed to a defendant, members of the defendant's family, or anyone else copies of child pornography evidence, unless specifically permitted to do so by the court after a hearing and a showing of good cause. Existing law authorizes an attorney to disclose or permit to be disclosed copies of child pornography evidence to persons employed by the attorney or to persons appointed by the court to assist in the preparation of a defendant's case if that disclosure is required for that preparation. This bill would repeal the provisions allowing disclosure of copies to a defendant, the defendant's family, person's employed by an attorney or appointed by the court, or anyone else. The bill would instead require any material that constitutes child pornography, as defined, to remain in the care, custody, or control of either a law enforcement agency, the prosecution, or the court. The bill would prohibit a defendant, their attorney, or anybody else from copying, photographing, duplicating, or reproducing any material that constitutes child pornography so long as the prosecution makes the material, and any hardware, media, or other property containing, storing, or housing the material, reasonably available to the defendant, as specified. The bill would also require this material to be made available, as specified, to a victim or the victim's attorney or to any individual the victim may seek to qualify to furnish expert testimony. By requiring new duties on prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, and the courts, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. 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 reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Introduced
2025-07-02
Latest action
2026-08-13 — In committee: Held under submission.
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Subjects

Sponsors

  • Alanisauthor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2026-08-13

    In committee: Held under submission.

  2. 2025-08-29

    In committee: Held under submission.

  3. 2025-08-18

    In committee: Referred to suspense file.

    referral-committee

  4. 2025-07-03

    Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

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

  5. 2025-07-02

    From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 1).

    amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,referral-committee

  6. 2025-06-11

    Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

    referral-committee

  7. 2025-06-03

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

    reading-1,referral-committee

  8. 2025-06-02

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1924.)

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  9. 2025-05-27

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  10. 2025-05-23

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (May 23).

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  11. 2025-04-09

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

    referral-committee

  12. 2025-03-26

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (March 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

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

  13. 2025-02-24

    Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

    referral-committee

  14. 2025-02-12

    From printer. May be heard in committee March 14.

  15. 2025-02-11

    Read first time. To print.

    reading-1

Versions

Documents

Votes

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

    2025-03-25 · pass · 9-0

    Member-level votes (9)
    • Harabedian: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Alanis: yes
    • Schultz: yes
    • Haney: yes
    • Ramos: yes
    • Sharp-Collins: yes
    • Nguyen: yes
    • Lackey: yes

  • Do pass.

    2025-05-23 · pass · 14-0

    Member-level votes (15)
    • Calderon: yes
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Dixon: yes
    • Hart: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Arambula: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Solache: yes
    • Ta: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Fong: yes
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Sanchez: other

  • AB 528 Alanis Assembly Third Reading

    2025-06-03 · pass · 76-0

    Member-level votes (79)
    • Addis: yes
    • Garcia: yes
    • Rivas: yes
    • Petrie-Norris: yes
    • Bryan: yes
    • Michelle Rodriguez: yes
    • Rogers: yes
    • Gallagher: yes
    • Irwin: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Arambula: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Ahrens: yes
    • Krell: yes
    • Stefani: yes
    • Harabedian: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Calderon: yes
    • Nguyen: yes
    • Patterson: yes
    • Ward: yes
    • Carrillo: yes
    • Blanca Rubio: yes
    • Muratsuchi: yes
    • Patel: yes
    • Solache: yes
    • Chen: yes
    • Bonta: yes
    • Lowenthal: yes
    • Papan: yes
    • Ellis: yes
    • Jeff Gonzalez: yes
    • Schiavo: yes
    • Gabriel: yes
    • Dixon: yes
    • DeMaio: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Ávila Farías: yes
    • Aguiar-Curry: yes
    • Ransom: yes
    • Connolly: yes
    • Celeste Rodriguez: yes
    • Fong: yes
    • Quirk-Silva: yes
    • Ramos: yes
    • Soria: yes
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Davies: yes
    • Kalra: yes
    • Wallis: yes
    • Alanis: yes
    • Haney: yes
    • Gipson: yes
    • Macedo: yes
    • Castillo: yes
    • Hart: yes
    • Boerner: yes
    • Alvarez: yes
    • Bauer-Kahan: yes
    • Sanchez: yes
    • Schultz: yes
    • Berman: yes
    • Sharp-Collins: yes
    • Jackson: yes
    • Wilson: yes
    • Hoover: yes
    • Lackey: yes
    • Ta: yes
    • Zbur: yes
    • Flora: yes
    • Hadwick: yes
    • Ortega: yes
    • Bains: yes
    • Valencia: yes
    • Lee: other
    • Bennett: other
    • McKinnor: other

  • Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations]

    2025-07-01 · pass · 6-0

    Member-level votes (6)
    • Wiener: yes
    • Gonzalez: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Pérez: yes

  • Placed on suspense file

    2025-08-18 · pass · 7-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Richardson: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Dahle: 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=202520260AB528

Attribution

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

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

Source and document changesStatus and relationship changes

Session-wide evidence can include changes to other bills:

Bulk imports for this sessionSession dates and activity

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 528. 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.
  • Some documents have no extracted text yet, so version comparison may be limited.

See the methodology page for data sources and limitations.