Bill Commons

CA AB 690

enacted

Criminal procedure: indigent defense compensation.

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 690 pass?

Yes. CA AB 690 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-09-20): Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 359, Statutes of 2026.

What is CA AB 690 about?

Existing law grants a defendant the right to counsel in a noncapital case, and requires a defendant to be represented by counsel in a capital case. Existing law requires specified assigned counsel to receive a reasonable sum for compensation and for necessary expenses, as determined by the court, to be paid out of the general fund of the county. This bill would, commencing with contracts or memoranda of understanding for indigent defense services entered into after January 1, 2028, revise the process and require a county or court, when contracting for the provision or administration of indigent defense services, to include certain elements in the contract or other agreement for indigent services, as specified. The bill would prohibit a county or court from entering into flat fee contracts, as defined, or per case compensation contracts in cases involving the death penalty or the potential sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The bill would require the structure of the contract for indigent defense services to ensure that attorneys have the resources and time necessary to provide competent legal representation. The bill would require counties that contract with a private entity or law firm to provide indigent defense services to provide all those contracts to the Office of the State Public Defender every 2 years. The bill would make related findings and declarations.

Who sponsors CA AB 690?

Schultz is the primary sponsor of CA AB 690.

Description

Existing law grants a defendant the right to counsel in a noncapital case, and requires a defendant to be represented by counsel in a capital case. Existing law requires specified assigned counsel to receive a reasonable sum for compensation and for necessary expenses, as determined by the court, to be paid out of the general fund of the county. This bill would, commencing with contracts or memoranda of understanding for indigent defense services entered into after January 1, 2028, revise the process and require a county or court, when contracting for the provision or administration of indigent defense services, to include certain elements in the contract or other agreement for indigent services, as specified. The bill would prohibit a county or court from entering into flat fee contracts, as defined, or per case compensation contracts in cases involving the death penalty or the potential sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The bill would require the structure of the contract for indigent defense services to ensure that attorneys have the resources and time necessary to provide competent legal representation. The bill would require counties that contract with a private entity or law firm to provide indigent defense services to provide all those contracts to the Office of the State Public Defender every 2 years. The bill would make related findings and declarations.

Introduced
2025-03-18
Latest action
2026-09-20 — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 359, Statutes of 2026.
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Subjects

Sponsors

  • Schultzauthor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2026-09-20

    Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 359, Statutes of 2026.

    became-law

  2. 2026-09-20

    Approved by the Governor.

    executive-signature

  3. 2026-09-08

    Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.

    executive-receipt

  4. 2026-08-28

    Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 59. Noes 11.).

  5. 2026-08-28

    Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 59. Noes 11. Page 6802.).

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

  6. 2026-08-27

    In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

  7. 2026-08-27

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 11.).

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  8. 2026-08-17

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  9. 2026-08-13

    From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 13).

    amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage

  10. 2026-08-13

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

    amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2

  11. 2025-08-29

    In committee: Held under submission.

  12. 2025-07-14

    In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

    referral-committee

  13. 2025-07-01

    In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

  14. 2025-06-24

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

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

  15. 2025-06-11

    Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

    referral-committee

  16. 2025-06-03

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

    reading-1,referral-committee

  17. 2025-06-02

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 64. Noes 9. Page 1905.)

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  18. 2025-05-27

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  19. 2025-05-23

    Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 51. Noes 16. Page 1644.)

  20. 2025-05-23

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

    amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2

  21. 2025-05-23

    From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 2.) (May 23).

    amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage

  22. 2025-04-23

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

    referral-committee

  23. 2025-03-28

    Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    referral-committee

  24. 2025-03-27

    Read second time and amended.

    amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2

  25. 2025-03-26

    From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (March 25).

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

  26. 2025-03-19

    Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S.

    referral-committee

  27. 2025-03-18

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

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

  28. 2025-03-03

    Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

    referral-committee

  29. 2025-02-15

    From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.

  30. 2025-02-14

    Read first time. To print.

    reading-1

Versions

  • 02/14/25 - Introduced — 2025-02-14Compare
  • 03/18/25 - Amended Assembly — 2025-03-18Compare
  • 03/27/25 - Amended Assembly — 2025-03-27Compare
  • 05/23/25 - Amended Assembly — 2025-05-23Compare
  • 08/13/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-08-13Compare
  • 09/02/26 - Enrolled — 2026-09-02Compare
  • (document, no version)Compare
  • AB690Compare

Documents

Votes

  • Do pass as amended 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 as amended.

    2025-05-23 · pass · 12-2

    Member-level votes (15)
    • Calderon: yes
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Hart: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Arambula: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Solache: yes
    • Ta: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Fong: yes
    • Dixon: no
    • Tangipa: no
    • Sanchez: other

  • AB 690 Schultz Assembly Third Reading

    2025-06-03 · pass · 64-9

    Member-level votes (79)
    • Addis: yes
    • Garcia: yes
    • Lee: yes
    • Rivas: yes
    • Petrie-Norris: yes
    • Bryan: yes
    • Michelle Rodriguez: yes
    • Rogers: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Irwin: yes
    • Arambula: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Ahrens: yes
    • Krell: yes
    • Stefani: yes
    • Harabedian: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Calderon: yes
    • Nguyen: yes
    • Ward: yes
    • Carrillo: yes
    • Blanca Rubio: yes
    • Muratsuchi: yes
    • Patel: yes
    • Solache: yes
    • McKinnor: yes
    • Bonta: yes
    • Lowenthal: yes
    • Papan: yes
    • Schiavo: yes
    • Gabriel: 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
    • Wallis: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Kalra: yes
    • Alanis: yes
    • Haney: yes
    • Gipson: yes
    • Hart: yes
    • Boerner: yes
    • Alvarez: yes
    • Bauer-Kahan: yes
    • Schultz: yes
    • Sharp-Collins: yes
    • Berman: yes
    • Jackson: yes
    • Wilson: yes
    • Lackey: yes
    • Ta: yes
    • Zbur: yes
    • Bennett: yes
    • Ortega: yes
    • Bains: yes
    • Valencia: yes
    • Gallagher: no
    • Tangipa: no
    • Davies: no
    • Ellis: no
    • Patterson: no
    • Hadwick: no
    • Macedo: no
    • Dixon: no
    • DeMaio: no
    • Hoover: other
    • Chen: other
    • Flora: other
    • Jeff Gonzalez: other
    • Castillo: other
    • Sanchez: other

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

    2025-06-24 · pass · 4-1

    Member-level votes (6)
    • Wiener: yes
    • Gonzalez: yes
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Pérez: yes
    • Seyarto: no
    • Caballero: other

  • Placed on suspense file

    2025-07-14 · pass · 7-0

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

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB690

Attribution

Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-09-22T00:47:41.374905Z

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 690. 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.