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

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal procedure: defendant's appearance by video."
description: "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."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "AB 2397"
citation: "California AB 2397 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal procedure: defendant's appearance by video."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Frazier"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2014-02-21"
last_action: "2014-07-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f69c8cf9-3c0e-4a4a-a3f8-5d6ff6111b61"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2397"
source_hash: "e1e859c4a973891476c06feabff905252be79f2e69f0d6b59ebfad29db4c4460"
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 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](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2397&version=20130AB239799INT)
2. **05/12/14 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2397&version=20130AB239798AMD)
3. **06/16/14 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2397&version=20130AB239797AMD)
4. **07/21/14 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2397&version=20130AB239795CHP)
5. **AB2397** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2397)
6. **07/02/14 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2397&version=20130AB239796ENR)

## 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](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f69c8cf9-3c0e-4a4a-a3f8-5d6ff6111b61`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).