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---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal procedure: arraignment and trial."
description: "Existing provisions of the California Constitution provide a criminal defendant the right to be personally present with counsel at trial. Existing law requires a defendant to be present at a felony trial or preliminary hearing. Existing law, however, also authorizes a court to proceed, in the defendant's absence, with a trial or preliminary hearing that has commenced in the presence of the defendant, but from which the defendant is voluntarily absent or has been removed from the courtroom for disruptive behavior, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 700"
citation: "California AB 700 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal procedure: arraignment and trial."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cunningham"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2021-02-16"
last_action: "2021-09-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/195a0a1a-5f3c-4666-a1fe-9bcde44528c4"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB700"
source_hash: "a3243357c43c44ed82507b0335d6aa15b89c1a90d8bcb20eeb7f06f44d9dd9ed"
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 700 (20212022) — Criminal procedure: arraignment and trial.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution provide a criminal defendant the right to be personally present with counsel at trial. Existing law requires a defendant to be present at a felony trial or preliminary hearing. Existing law, however, also authorizes a court to proceed, in the defendant's absence, with a trial or preliminary hearing that has commenced in the presence of the defendant, but from which the defendant is voluntarily absent or has been removed from the courtroom for disruptive behavior, as specified.
## Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
1. **02/16/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB700&version=20210AB70099INT)
2. **04/29/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB700&version=20210AB70098AMD)
3. **09/22/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB700&version=20210AB70096CHP)
4. **AB700** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB700)
5. **08/27/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB700&version=20210AB70097ENR)
## Votes
- Do pass — **50** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB700 Cunningham By Umberg — **360** (pass) · upper
- AB 700 Cunningham Assembly Third Reading — **780** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **80** (pass) · lower
## Sponsors
- Cunningham — primary (person)
## Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
- **2021-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2021-02-25** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-13** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2021-04-28** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 27). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2021-04-29** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1710.) `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. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 1721.) (June 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-01** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-26** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 2114.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-08-26** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2021-09-01** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2021-09-22** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-22** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 196, 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/195a0a1a-5f3c-4666-a1fe-9bcde44528c4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).