AB 1647 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Juveniles: transfer to criminal court: criminal procedure.

Summary

Existing law, as amended by the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, enacted by Proposition 57 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes the district attorney to make a motion to transfer a minor from juvenile court to a court of criminal jurisdiction in a case in which a minor is alleged to have committed a felony when the minor was 16 years of age or older, or in a case in which a specified serious offense is alleged to have been committed by a minor when the minor was 14 or 15 years of age, but the minor was not apprehended prior to the end of juvenile court jurisdiction. Existing case law prohibits the use of a minor's statements made at a transfer hearing or to a probation officer from being used during a criminal prosecution of the minor transferred to the court of criminal jurisdiction. This bill would codify existing case law to prohibit the use of the minor's statements made during a transfer hearing or to the minor's probation officer for the purposes of preparing a report for a transfer hearing from being used against the minor during subsequent juvenile proceedings or subsequent criminal proceedings, as specified. This bill would state that the provisions of this bill are declaratory of existing law.

Issues: ✗ Criminal Justice

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

May 2026

Assembly Passage

May 2026

Senate Passage

Aug 2026

Governor

Introduced Jan 27, 2026 Last action Aug 25, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

08/21/26 - Enrolled → AB1647 · 1 edit

MINOR

No substantive policy changes occurred between these two versions. The bill text of Section 707.3 (Welfare and Institutions Code) is identical in both. The differences are purely presentational: the first version is the formal enrolled legislative document with chapter numbering, clerk signatures, and governor approval lines, while the second is a web page rendering of the same enrolled bill from the California Legislature website, complete with navigation menus, search tools, and version history metadata.

TECHNICAL

The document changed from a formal legislative enrolled format (with chapter number placeholder, clerk signatures, and governor approval block) to a web page layout including site navigation, bill tracking links, version history, and status information. The underlying statutory text of Section 707.3 is unchanged.

04/15/26 - Amended Assembly → 06/25/26 - Amended Senate · 4 edits · Jun 25, 2026

MODERATE

The Senate significantly narrowed AB 1647 by removing the provision that would have raised the standard for transferring juveniles to criminal court from 'clear and convincing evidence' to 'beyond a reasonable doubt,' along with detailed criteria factors requiring courts to consider trauma, foster care history, trafficking victimization, and other mitigating circumstances. The Senate also narrowed the statement protection in new Section 707.3 so it only covers statements made to probation officers specifically for preparing a transfer hearing report, rather than all statements to probation officers. This eliminated the state-mandated local program concern that had been flagged in the Assembly version.

Scope change

The bill's scope was dramatically reduced. The Assembly version both (1) codified case law protecting minors' statements and (2) raised the legal standard for juvenile-to-criminal court transfers with new mandatory consideration factors. The Senate version retains only the statement protection provision, making it a much narrower declaratory-of-existing-law bill with no new operational requirements on courts.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the amendment to Section 707 that would have required courts to find 'beyond a reasonable doubt' (instead of 'clear and convincing evidence') that a minor is not amenable to rehabilitation before transferring them to criminal court.

Removed detailed criteria factors (A through E) requiring courts to consider the minor's age, maturity, childhood trauma, foster care involvement, trafficking victimization, impetuosity, family environment, and other mitigating factors when deciding transfer motions.

SCOPE

Narrowed Section 707.3 statement protection: statements made to a probation officer are now only protected if made 'for purposes of preparing a report for a transfer hearing,' rather than all statements made to the probation officer.

FISCAL

Removed Section 2 addressing state-mandated local program reimbursement, and changed the fiscal note from 'State-mandated local program: yes' to 'no,' since the removal of the heightened transfer standard eliminated the mandate on local agencies.

01/27/26 - Introduced → 04/15/26 - Amended Assembly · 5 edits · Apr 15, 2026

MODERATE

The amendment significantly expands the bill's scope by adding a new Section 707.3 to the Welfare and Institutions Code that codifies existing case law prohibiting the use of a minor's statements made at a transfer hearing or to their probation officer in subsequent juvenile or criminal proceedings for the same offense. The original standard-of-proof change (raising the threshold from 'clear and convincing evidence' to 'beyond a reasonable doubt' for transferring a minor to adult court) is retained. A co-author (Assembly Member Schultz) was added, and fiscal notes were updated to indicate no state-mandated local program or fiscal committee action is required.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from a single change to the standard of proof in Section 707 (raising it from clear and convincing evidence to beyond a reasonable doubt) to also include an entirely new statutory provision (Section 707.3) codifying protections for minors' statements made during transfer hearings and to probation officers, making those statements inadmissible in subsequent proceedings for the same offense.

REQUIREMENT

New Section 707.3 prohibits using a minor's statements made at a transfer hearing under Section 707 or to the minor's probation officer against the minor in subsequent juvenile proceedings or criminal proceedings for the same offense. Statements may still be used at sentencing.

DEFINITION

The new section explicitly states it is declaratory of existing law and does not restrict, expand, alter, or modify the decisions in Bryan v. Superior Court (1972) or Ramona R. v. Superior Court (1985).

SCOPE

The bill now amends Section 707 AND adds new Section 707.3 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, rather than only amending Section 707 as in the introduced version.

FISCAL

Fiscal notes changed from 'Fiscal committee: yes' and 'State-mandated local program: yes' to 'no' for both, indicating the amendment removed the state-mandated local program finding.

TECHNICAL

Assembly Member Schultz added as co-author of the bill.

Floor votes · Senate Aug 17, 2026 · Assembly May 4, 2026

How they voted

32–8

Passed

Total votes 40

Aug 17, 2026

D Democratic30

30 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican10

2 Yea 8 Nay

80% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Aug 19, 2026

Lower · Passed

Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 58. Noes 10.).

lower

Aug 17, 2026

Introduced

In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

lower

Aug 17, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 32. Noes 8.).

upper

Jun 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading.

upper

Jun 24, 2026

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 23).

upper

May 13, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

upper

May 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 71. Noes 0. Page 4901.)

lower

Apr 22, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 21).

lower

Apr 16, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S.

lower

Apr 15, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

lower

Feb 9, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee February 27.

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor