---
type: "Bill"
title: "Contempt of court: victim intimidation."
description: "Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to willfully disobey the terms, as written, of a process or court order or out-of-state court order, lawfully issued by a court. Under existing law, if a person violates this provision by willfully contacting a victim by telephone or mail or directly and has a prior conviction for stalking, as defined, the person is punished by not more than one year in county jail, a fine of $5,000, or both that fine and imprisonment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 764"
citation: "California AB 764 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Contempt of court: victim intimidation."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cervantes"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-02-16"
last_action: "2021-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ab5f0fad-0ea1-42b2-a4f6-542a609857e7"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB764"
source_hash: "e762bef82cfb0907c7eb8a8971673fc411ef2bd12e3c2cfe25b14d780d3eca5c"
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 764 (20212022) — Contempt of court: victim intimidation.

Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to willfully disobey the terms, as written, of a process or court order or out-of-state court order, lawfully issued by a court. Under existing law, if a person violates this provision by willfully contacting a victim by telephone or mail or directly and has a prior conviction for stalking, as defined, the person is punished by not more than one year in county jail, a fine of $5,000, or both that fine and imprisonment.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB764&version=20210AB76499INT)
2. **03/24/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB764&version=20210AB76498AMD)
3. **07/15/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB764&version=20210AB76497AMD)
4. **10/08/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB764&version=20210AB76495CHP)
5. **AB764** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB764)
6. **09/09/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB764&version=20210AB76496ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 764 Cervantes Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **73–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 764 Cervantes Assembly Third Reading — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent AB764 — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Cervantes — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2021-02-25** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-24** 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`
- **2021-03-25** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-14** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-28** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 28). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1330.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-06** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-19** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-14** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 13). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-15** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-16** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-31** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2021-09-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2391.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-03** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 5 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2021-09-07** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 2847.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2021-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 704, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ab5f0fad-0ea1-42b2-a4f6-542a609857e7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).