republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/ab-1261.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	Crime: witnesses and informants.	Existing state law requires, upon request by specified persons, that a certifying official from a certifying entity, as defined, certify "victim helpfulness" or "victim cooperation" on specified federal supplemental forms relating to immigration when the person was a victim of a qualifying criminal activity or human trafficking, and has, is, or is likely to be helpful or cooperative regarding the investigation or prosecution of that qualifying criminal activity, as specified.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20232024	AB 1261	California AB 1261 (20232024)	bill	Crime witnesses and informants	enacted	Santiago	7	28	8	2023-02-16	2023-10-10	openstates	ocd-bill/e627481d-0a9a-4382-ad99-0e149b651a45	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1261	3c6f0e4934f9975fac01e922d73dc70f7eb292903c2926f18c5c50dad74572b7	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California AB 1261 (20232024) — Crime: witnesses and informants.

Existing state law requires, upon request by specified persons, that a certifying official from a certifying entity, as defined, certify "victim helpfulness" or "victim cooperation" on specified federal supplemental forms relating to immigration when the person was a victim of a qualifying criminal activity or human trafficking, and has, is, or is likely to be helpful or cooperative regarding the investigation or prosecution of that qualifying criminal activity, as specified.

Version chain

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

1. 02/16/23 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 03/09/23 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
3. 04/03/23 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
4. 06/15/23 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
5. 10/10/23 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
6. AB1261 (committee substitute) — source
7. 09/18/23 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Special Consent AB1261 Santiago et al. By Rubio — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Placed on suspense file — 7–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass — 7–0 (pass) · upper
• AB 1261 Santiago Concurrence in Senate Amendments — 79–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 8–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 5–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — 16–0 (pass) · lower
• AB 1261 Santiago Consent Calendar Second Day — 66–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Santiago — primary (person)
• Bryan — coauthor (person)
• Juan Carrillo — coauthor (person)
• McKinnor — coauthor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2023-02-16 Read first time. To print. reading-1
• 2023-02-17 From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
• 2023-03-09 Referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
• 2023-03-09 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-1, reading-2
• 2023-03-13 Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
• 2023-04-03 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-1, reading-2
• 2023-04-04 Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
• 2023-04-12 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
• 2023-04-26 In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
• 2023-05-03 From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 3). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2023-05-04 Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. reading-1, reading-2
• 2023-05-11 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 66. Noes 0. Page 1524.) passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2023-05-11 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. reading-1
• 2023-05-24 Referred to Com. on PUB S. referral-committee
• 2023-06-05 In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
• 2023-06-08 In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
• 2023-06-15 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB S. amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
• 2023-06-28 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
• 2023-08-14 In committee: Referred to APPR suspense file. referral-committee
• 2023-09-01 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2023-09-05 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
• 2023-09-08 Ordered to special consent calendar.
• 2023-09-12 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2688.). passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2023-09-12 In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
• 2023-09-13 Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3446.). amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2023-09-21 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
• 2023-10-10 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2023-10-10 Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 679, Statutes of 2023. became-law

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/e627481d-0a9a-4382-ad99-0e149b651a45. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).