---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sentencing: misdemeanors."
description: "Existing law provides that every offense punishable by imprisonment in a county jail up to or not exceeding one year is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed 364 days."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 1242"
citation: "California SB 1242 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Sentencing: misdemeanors."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lara"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 21
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2016-02-18"
last_action: "2016-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5b8f3dc7-1b20-4a15-93b2-e5ec9b532540"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1242"
source_hash: "bfeb13b9c7f7164e9b09cc46f09b98b85cb14cd8f0e331cb5cf5f08f15aa6902"
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 SB 1242 (20152016) — Sentencing: misdemeanors.

Existing law provides that every offense punishable by imprisonment in a county jail up to or not exceeding one year is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed 364 days.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/18/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1242&version=20150SB124299INT)
2. **03/28/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1242&version=20150SB124298AMD)
3. **06/16/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1242&version=20150SB124297AMD)
4. **08/11/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1242&version=20150SB124296AMD)
5. **09/28/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1242&version=20150SB124294CHP)
6. **SB1242** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1242)
7. **08/26/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1242&version=20150SB124295ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **31–8** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB1242 Lara Concurrence — **31–8** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–1** (pass) · upper
- SB 1242 Lara Senate Third Reading By THURMOND — **52–21** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **5–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lara — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2016-02-18** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2016-02-19** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 20.
- **2016-03-03** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-15** Set for hearing April 12.
- **2016-03-28** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-13** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1. Page 3522.) (April 12). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-04-14** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-04-21** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 31. Noes 8. Page 3626.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-21** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2016-05-05** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-15** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 14). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-06-16** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-06-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-11** Read third time and amended. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-11** Ordered to third reading.
- **2016-08-15** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 52. Noes 21. Page 5826.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-19** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2016-08-24** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 31. Noes 8. Page 5359.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.
- **2016-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 789, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5b8f3dc7-1b20-4a15-93b2-e5ec9b532540`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).