republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-1459.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Murder: peace officers."
description: "Under existing law, a murder perpetrated by specified means or under certain circumstances, including a killing that is willful, deliberate, and premeditated, is defined as murder of the first degree. All other kinds of murder are of the 2nd degree. Under existing law, a person convicted of first degree murder is subject to a punishment of death, life in prison without the possibility of parole, or confinement in the state prison for a term of 25 years to life. Under existing law, the 2nd degree murder of a peace officer, as specified, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of 25 years to life, and the 2nd degree murder of a peace officer, if specified facts are charged and found true, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of life without the possibility of parole."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1459"
citation: "California AB 1459 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Murder: peace officers."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Quirk-Silva"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 24
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-02-17"
last_action: "2017-09-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/75b58891-df6d-4446-b4d4-7633c185fd71"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1459"
source_hash: "2ea0ab15db10c2bed6d04c6341814dc119f4fc8096ba5504acf02d8a2e05c42c"
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 1459 (20172018) — Murder: peace officers.

Under existing law, a murder perpetrated by specified means or under certain circumstances, including a killing that is willful, deliberate, and premeditated, is defined as murder of the first degree. All other kinds of murder are of the 2nd degree. Under existing law, a person convicted of first degree murder is subject to a punishment of death, life in prison without the possibility of parole, or confinement in the state prison for a term of 25 years to life. Under existing law, the 2nd degree murder of a peace officer, as specified, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of 25 years to life, and the 2nd degree murder of a peace officer, if specified facts are charged and found true, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of life without the possibility of parole.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1459&version=20170AB145999INT)
2. **04/17/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1459&version=20170AB145998AMD)
3. **06/21/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1459&version=20170AB145997AMD)
4. **09/01/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1459&version=20170AB145995CHP)
5. **AB1459** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1459)
6. **08/22/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1459&version=20170AB145996ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB1459 Quirk-Silva et al. By Newman — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Quirk-Silva — primary (person)
- Anderson — coauthor (person)
- Stone — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2017-03-13** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-17** 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-2, reading-1`
- **2017-04-18** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 18). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-20** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2017-04-20** Ordered to second reading.
- **2017-04-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 1301.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-10** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-13** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 13). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-06-14** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-06-20** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2017-06-21** Ordered to third reading.
- **2017-06-21** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-06-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-07-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2076.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-07-17** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 19 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-08-21** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2681.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-08-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-09-01** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-01** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 214, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/75b58891-df6d-4446-b4d4-7633c185fd71`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).