---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal procedure: discrimination."
description: "Existing law prohibits the state from seeking a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin, as specified, and, in a case in which judgment has not been entered prior to January 1, 2021, allows a petition to be filed alleging a violation of that prohibition. Existing law authorizes a court that finds a violation of that prohibition to impose specified remedies, including, among other things, vacating the conviction or sentence and ordering new proceedings."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 256"
citation: "California AB 256 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal procedure: discrimination."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kalra"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 30
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-01-14"
last_action: "2022-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8f169a32-8e95-4a2e-9926-ac9054b581be"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB256"
source_hash: "7441a4bdfcf05c3bd095b8696499d2938c315ca0266ed7ea949406475f76f4ee"
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 256 (20212022) — Criminal procedure: discrimination.

Existing law prohibits the state from seeking a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin, as specified, and, in a case in which judgment has not been entered prior to January 1, 2021, allows a petition to be filed alleging a violation of that prohibition. Existing law authorizes a court that finds a violation of that prohibition to impose specified remedies, including, among other things, vacating the conviction or sentence and ordering new proceedings.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/14/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB256&version=20210AB25699INT)
2. **03/16/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB256&version=20210AB25698AMD)
3. **05/24/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB256&version=20210AB25697AMD)
4. **08/11/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB256&version=20210AB25696AMD)
5. **08/24/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB256&version=20210AB25695AMD)
6. **09/29/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB256&version=20210AB25693CHP)
7. **AB256** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB256)
8. **09/02/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB256&version=20210AB25694ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. — **12–4** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB256 Kalra et al. By Kamlager — **30–10** (pass) · upper
- AB 256 Kalra Assembly Third Reading — **45–21** (pass) · lower
- With recommendation: That Senate amendments be concurred in. — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 256 Kalra Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **46–25** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Kalra — primary (person)
- Bradford — principal coauthor (person)
- Bryan — coauthor (person)
- Carrillo — coauthor (person)
- Durazo — coauthor (person)
- Friedman — coauthor (person)
- Gonzalez — principal coauthor (person)
- Haney — coauthor (person)
- Kamlager — author (person)
- Laird — coauthor (person)
- Lee — coauthor (person)
- Levine — coauthor (person)
- McCarty — principal coauthor (person)
- McKinnor — coauthor (person)
- Mia Bonta — coauthor (person)
- Robert Rivas — author (person)
- Santiago — author (person)
- Skinner — coauthor (person)
- Stone — coauthor (person)
- Ting — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-01-15** From printer. May be heard in committee February 14.
- **2021-01-28** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-16** 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`
- **2021-03-17** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (March 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-14** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (May 20). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2021-05-24** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 45. Noes 21. Page 1752.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-09** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-30** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 1720.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-15** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** In committee: Held under submission.
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 11). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2022-08-11** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-24** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 10. Page 5207.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-29** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2022-08-30** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. `referral-committee`
- **2022-08-30** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended.
- **2022-08-30** From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 30). `committee-passage`
- **2022-08-31** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 46. Noes 25.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2022-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 739, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8f169a32-8e95-4a2e-9926-ac9054b581be`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).