republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20132014/ab-2397.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Criminal procedure: defendant's appearance by video.	Existing law generally requires a defendant in a criminal trial in which a felony is charged to be present at the arraignment, at the time of plea, during the preliminary hearing, during those portions of the trial when evidence is taken before the trier of fact, and at the time of the imposition of sentence. Existing law requires the accused to be personally present at all other proceedings unless he or she executes a written waiver of his or her right to be personally present. Existing law authorizes a court to permit the initial court appearance and arraignment of a defendant held in any state, county, or local facility within the county on felony or misdemeanor charges, except for those defendants who were indicted by a grand jury, to be conducted by 2-way electronic audiovideo communication between the defendant and the courtroom in lieu of the physical presence of the defendant in the courtroom. Existing law requires the defendant to execute a written waiver if the defendant decides not to exercise the right to be physically present in the courtroom to make his or her plea.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20132014	AB 2397	California AB 2397 (20132014)	bill	Criminal procedure: defendant's appearance by video.	enacted	Frazier	6	20	6	2014-02-21	2014-07-21	openstates	ocd-bill/f69c8cf9-3c0e-4a4a-a3f8-5d6ff6111b61	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2397	e1e859c4a973891476c06feabff905252be79f2e69f0d6b59ebfad29db4c4460	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California AB 2397 (20132014) — Criminal procedure: defendant's appearance by video.

Existing law generally requires a defendant in a criminal trial in which a felony is charged to be present at the arraignment, at the time of plea, during the preliminary hearing, during those portions of the trial when evidence is taken before the trier of fact, and at the time of the imposition of sentence. Existing law requires the accused to be personally present at all other proceedings unless he or she executes a written waiver of his or her right to be personally present. Existing law authorizes a court to permit the initial court appearance and arraignment of a defendant held in any state, county, or local facility within the county on felony or misdemeanor charges, except for those defendants who were indicted by a grand jury, to be conducted by 2-way electronic audiovideo communication between the defendant and the courtroom in lieu of the physical presence of the defendant in the courtroom. Existing law requires the defendant to execute a written waiver if the defendant decides not to exercise the right to be physically present in the courtroom to make his or her plea.

Version chain

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

1. 02/21/14 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 05/12/14 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
3. 06/16/14 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
4. 07/21/14 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
5. AB2397 (committee substitute) — source
6. 07/02/14 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Special Consent #17 — 32–0 (pass) · upper
• AB 2397 FRAZIER Concurrence in Senate Amendments — 78–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass as amended. — 6–0 (pass) · upper
• AB 2397 FRAZIER Assembly Third Reading — 76–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass as amended. — 7–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass as amended. — 6–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Frazier — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2014-02-21 Introduced. To print. introduction
• 2014-02-23 From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
• 2014-02-24 Read first time. reading-1
• 2014-03-10 Referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
• 2014-05-08 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (May 6). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2014-05-12 Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage
• 2014-05-13 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1
• 2014-05-19 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 5002.) reading-3, reading-1, passage
• 2014-05-19 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. reading-1
• 2014-05-28 Referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
• 2014-06-02 In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
• 2014-06-15 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 10). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2014-06-16 Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage
• 2014-06-18 Ordered to special consent calendar.
• 2014-06-26 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 32. Noes 0. Page 4148.). reading-3, reading-1, passage
• 2014-06-26 In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after June 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
• 2014-06-30 Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 5735.). committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage
• 2014-07-09 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
• 2014-07-21 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2014-07-21 Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 167, Statutes of 2014.

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/f69c8cf9-3c0e-4a4a-a3f8-5d6ff6111b61. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).