republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-648.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Clemency."
description: "The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to grant reprieves, pardons, or commutations after sentence has been entered, but prohibits the Governor from granting a pardon or commutation to a person twice convicted of a felony except on recommendation of the Supreme Court, 4 judges concurring. The California Constitution further requires the Governor to report to the Legislature each reprieve, pardon, and commutation stating the pertinent facts and reasons for granting it. Existing statutory law provides that at least 10 days before the Governor acts upon an application for a pardon, written notice of the intention to apply therefor, signed by the person applying, shall be served upon the district attorney of the county where the conviction was had, and proof, by affidavit, of the service is required to be presented to the Governor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 648"
citation: "California AB 648 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Clemency."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Block"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 25
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2011-02-16"
last_action: "2011-10-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9a137575-5b9a-4047-9626-5734776ce8c5"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB648"
source_hash: "512e414d93ae11403a460189178705338843d257830cb680b52f34ce64035fb4"
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 648 (20112012) — Clemency.

The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to grant reprieves, pardons, or commutations after sentence has been entered, but prohibits the Governor from granting a pardon or commutation to a person twice convicted of a felony except on recommendation of the Supreme Court, 4 judges concurring. The California Constitution further requires the Governor to report to the Legislature each reprieve, pardon, and commutation stating the pertinent facts and reasons for granting it. Existing statutory law provides that at least 10 days before the Governor acts upon an application for a pardon, written notice of the intention to apply therefor, signed by the person applying, shall be served upon the district attorney of the county where the conviction was had, and proof, by affidavit, of the service is required to be presented to the Governor.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB648&version=20110AB64899INT)
2. **04/06/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB648&version=20110AB64898AMD)
3. **06/20/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB648&version=20110AB64897AMD)
4. **07/06/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB648&version=20110AB64896AMD)
5. **08/15/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB648&version=20110AB64895AMD)
6. **10/03/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB648&version=20110AB64893CHP)
7. **AB648** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB648)
8. **08/30/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB648&version=20110AB64894ENR)

## Votes

- Special Consent #8 AB648 Block By Hancock — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 648 BLOCK Assembly Third Reading — **68–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 648 BLOCK Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Block — primary (person)
- Fletcher — author (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2011-03-07** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (March 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-04-07** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-13** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 13). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-14** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-04-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 68. Noes 0. Page 1043.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-04-25** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-08** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-20** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-07-12** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (July 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-15** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-08-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-17** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2011-08-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 2019.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-08-22** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 24 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2011-08-29** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2627.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-09-01** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2011-10-03** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-03** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 437, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9a137575-5b9a-4047-9626-5734776ce8c5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).