Legislation: batch E — CA TN VA VT WA WI WV WY

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/ab-1261.md

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+---
+type: "Bill"
+title: "Crime: witnesses and informants."
+description: "Existing state law requires, upon request by specified persons, that a certifying official from a certifying entity, as defined, certify \"victim helpfulness\" or \"victim cooperation\" on specified federal supplemental forms relating to immigration when the person was a victim of a qualifying criminal activity or human trafficking, and has, is, or is likely to be helpful or cooperative regarding the investigation or prosecution of that qualifying criminal activity, as specified."
+jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
+legislature: "California Legislature"
+session: "20232024"
+identifier: "AB 1261"
+citation: "California AB 1261 (20232024)"
+classification: ["bill"]
+subjects: ["Crime", "witnesses and informants"]
+status: "enacted"
+primary_sponsors: ["Santiago"]
+version_count: 7
+action_count: 28
+vote_count: 8
+first_action: "2023-02-16"
+last_action: "2023-10-10"
+source: "openstates"
+source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e627481d-0a9a-4382-ad99-0e149b651a45"
+source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1261"
+source_hash: "3c6f0e4934f9975fac01e922d73dc70f7eb292903c2926f18c5c50dad74572b7"
+vintage: "2026-07-01"
+source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
+retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
+confidence: "reported"
+tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
+---
+
+# California AB 1261 (20232024) — Crime: witnesses and informants.
+
+Existing state law requires, upon request by specified persons, that a certifying official from a certifying entity, as defined, certify "victim helpfulness" or "victim cooperation" on specified federal supplemental forms relating to immigration when the person was a victim of a qualifying criminal activity or human trafficking, and has, is, or is likely to be helpful or cooperative regarding the investigation or prosecution of that qualifying criminal activity, as specified.
+
+## Version chain
+
+The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
+
+1. **02/16/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1261&version=20230AB126199INT)
+2. **03/09/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1261&version=20230AB126198AMD)
+3. **04/03/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1261&version=20230AB126197AMD)
+4. **06/15/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1261&version=20230AB126196AMD)
+5. **10/10/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1261&version=20230AB126194CHP)
+6. **AB1261** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1261)
+7. **09/18/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1261&version=20230AB126195ENR)
+
+## Votes
+
+- Special Consent AB1261 Santiago et al. By Rubio — **39–0** (pass) · upper
+- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
+- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
+- AB 1261 Santiago Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
+- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–0** (pass) · lower
+- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
+- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
+- AB 1261 Santiago Consent Calendar Second Day — **66–0** (pass) · lower
+
+## Sponsors
+
+- Santiago — primary (person)
+- Bryan — coauthor (person)
+- Juan Carrillo — coauthor (person)
+- McKinnor — coauthor (person)
+
+## Timeline
+
+The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
+
+- **2023-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
+- **2023-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
+- **2023-03-09** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
+- **2023-03-09** 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, reading-1, reading-2`
+- **2023-03-13** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
+- **2023-04-03** 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, reading-1, reading-2`
+- **2023-04-04** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
+- **2023-04-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
+- **2023-04-26** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
+- **2023-05-03** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 3). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
+- **2023-05-04** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
+- **2023-05-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 66. Noes 0. Page 1524.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
+- **2023-05-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
+- **2023-05-24** Referred to Com. on PUB S. `referral-committee`
+- **2023-06-05** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
+- **2023-06-08** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
+- **2023-06-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB S. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
+- **2023-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
+- **2023-08-14** In committee: Referred to APPR suspense file. `referral-committee`
+- **2023-09-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
+- **2023-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
+- **2023-09-08** Ordered to special consent calendar.
+- **2023-09-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2688.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
+- **2023-09-12** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
+- **2023-09-13** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3446.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
+- **2023-09-21** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
+- **2023-10-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
+- **2023-10-10** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 679, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`
+
+## Source
+
+OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e627481d-0a9a-4382-ad99-0e149b651a45`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).
+