republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-26.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Peace officers: use of force."
description: "Existing law requires each law enforcement agency, on or before January 1, 2021, to maintain a policy that provides a minimum standard on the use of force. Existing law requires that policy, among other things, to require that officers report potential excessive force to a superior officer when present and observing another officer using force that the officer believes to be unnecessary, and to require that officers intercede when present and observing another officer using force that is clearly beyond that which is necessary, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 26"
citation: "California AB 26 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Peace officers: use of force."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Holden"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 27
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-12-07"
last_action: "2021-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c01367f3-3f49-4155-b0b1-54b3fe1cf634"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB26"
source_hash: "bf62fd4f92f97488156ce22718c75f89b2f25677b115fddac7b2fe1aec6a2af0"
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 26 (20212022) — Peace officers: use of force.

Existing law requires each law enforcement agency, on or before January 1, 2021, to maintain a policy that provides a minimum standard on the use of force. Existing law requires that policy, among other things, to require that officers report potential excessive force to a superior officer when present and observing another officer using force that the officer believes to be unnecessary, and to require that officers intercede when present and observing another officer using force that is clearly beyond that which is necessary, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/07/20 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB26&version=20210AB2699INT)
2. **03/25/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB26&version=20210AB2698AMD)
3. **05/24/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB26&version=20210AB2697AMD)
4. **05/27/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB26&version=20210AB2696AMD)
5. **07/07/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB26&version=20210AB2695AMD)
6. **09/30/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB26&version=20210AB2693CHP)
7. **AB26** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB26)
8. **09/03/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB26&version=20210AB2694ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **12–4** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 26 Holden Assembly Third Reading — **49–18** (pass) · lower
- AB 26 Holden Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **51–16** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB26 Holden By Bradford — **26–9** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Holden — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-12-07** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2020-12-08** From printer. May be heard in committee January 7.
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-24** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (March 23). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-25** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-03-26** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-14** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (May 20). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2021-05-24** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-27** Assembly Rule 69(b) suspended. (Ayes 58. Noes 17. Page 1581.)
- **2021-05-27** Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 1639.) `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 49. Noes 18. Page 1747.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-09** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-30** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 1720.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-07** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-23** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 9. Page 2234.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 2 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2021-09-01** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 58. Noes 17. Page 2625.)
- **2021-09-01** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 51. Noes 16. Page 2626.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2021-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 403, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c01367f3-3f49-4155-b0b1-54b3fe1cf634`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).