---
type: "Bill"
title: "California Law Enforcement Accountability Reform Act."
description: "Existing law requires that a candidate for a peace officer position be of good moral character, as determined by a thorough background investigation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 655"
citation: "California AB 655 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["California Law Enforcement Accountability Reform Act."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kalra"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 29
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-02-12"
last_action: "2022-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cc1a461e-e7e9-4336-99a1-897f04744158"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB655"
source_hash: "c57041c7a5925a2c5c3faa367d3f1722b0e3733a399eaddd7ce3d03a5ed29961"
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 655 (20212022) — California Law Enforcement Accountability Reform Act.

Existing law requires that a candidate for a peace officer position be of good moral character, as determined by a thorough background investigation.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/12/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB655&version=20210AB65599INT)
2. **01/24/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB655&version=20210AB65596AMD)
3. **03/02/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB655&version=20210AB65598AMD)
4. **03/25/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB655&version=20210AB65597AMD)
5. **08/18/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB655&version=20210AB65595AMD)
6. **09/30/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB655&version=20210AB65593CHP)
7. **AB655** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB655)
8. **08/29/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB655&version=20210AB65594ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB655 Kalra et al. By Bradford — **30–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 655 Kalra Assembly Third Reading — **48–18** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 655 Kalra Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **53–14** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **12–3** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Kalra — primary (person)
- Levine — coauthor (person)
- Stone — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-12** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-13** From printer. May be heard in committee March 15.
- **2021-02-25** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-02** 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`
- **2021-03-03** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-25** 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`
- **2021-03-26** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 3.) (April 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-28** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2022-01-20** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 3.) (January 20). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2022-01-24** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-01-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-01-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 48. Noes 18. Page 3437.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-02-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2022-05-04** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-02** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-18** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 0. Page 5129.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-25** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 27 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2022-08-25** Assembly Rule 77(a) suspended.
- **2022-08-25** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 53. Noes 14.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-31** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2022-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 854, 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/cc1a461e-e7e9-4336-99a1-897f04744158`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).