---
type: "Bill"
title: "Contempt of court: domestic violence."
description: "Existing law authorizes a court to punish for acts of contempt, including authorizing a court to direct the incarceration of a defendant until he or she complies with the court's order. Existing law prohibits a court from imprisoning or otherwise taking into custody the victim of a sexual assault or domestic violence crime for contempt of court when the contempt consists of refusing to testify about the sexual assault or domestic violence crime. Additionally, under existing law, a victim of domestic violence has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing, confidential communications between the victim and a domestic violence counselor, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 2051"
citation: "California AB 2051 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Contempt of court: domestic violence."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Campos"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2012-02-23"
last_action: "2012-09-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/81d0e938-75f4-4818-b93d-d89ab3baa300"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2051"
source_hash: "b8e9e6db2a6d2ac193088ec07ca66649b4717d7844636ef13b9102fa97166740"
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 2051 (20112012) — Contempt of court: domestic violence.

Existing law authorizes a court to punish for acts of contempt, including authorizing a court to direct the incarceration of a defendant until he or she complies with the court's order. Existing law prohibits a court from imprisoning or otherwise taking into custody the victim of a sexual assault or domestic violence crime for contempt of court when the contempt consists of refusing to testify about the sexual assault or domestic violence crime. Additionally, under existing law, a victim of domestic violence has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing, confidential communications between the victim and a domestic violence counselor, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/23/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2051&version=20110AB205199INT)
2. **03/29/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2051&version=20110AB205198AMD)
3. **05/16/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2051&version=20110AB205197AMD)
4. **09/24/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2051&version=20110AB205195CHP)
5. **AB2051** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2051)
6. **08/16/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2051&version=20110AB205196ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB2051 Campos By Price — **33–4** (pass) · upper
- AB 2051 CAMPOS Assembly Third Reading — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **6–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Campos — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-23** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-02-24** From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
- **2012-03-29** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-15** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (May 8). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-16** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-05-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 4921.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-21** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-31** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-12** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 12). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-06-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-06-20** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2012-06-21** From consent calendar.
- **2012-06-21** Ordered to third reading.
- **2012-08-13** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 33. Noes 4. Page 4470.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-13** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2012-08-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2012-09-24** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-24** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 510, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/81d0e938-75f4-4818-b93d-d89ab3baa300`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).