Human trafficking case continuances.

Header changed from amendment dates to passage dates (Passed the Assembly August 19, 2026; Passed the Senate August 17, 2026) and added a line indicating the bill was received by the Governor.

Line numbers were removed throughout the bill text, which is standard formatting for an enrolled bill versus an amended version.

An approval signature block with a blank date field was added at the end for the Governor's signature.

Human trafficking removed from the general list of crimes in Section 1050(g)(2) that qualify for a continuance when the assigned prosecutor has another proceeding in progress. It also removed from the one-continuance-per-case limitation in (g)(3). However, a separate paragraph (g)(4) still provides that courts must give 'great weight' to prosecutor scheduling conflicts in trafficking cases, limited to one continuance of up to 10 additional court days.

New Section 1.5 amends Penal Code Section 1050 to add 'a felony violation of Section 368 where the victim of the alleged offense is a cognitively impaired adult' to both the good cause crime list in (g)(2) and the one-continuance limitation in (g)(3).

New subdivision (l) added to Section 1050 defining 'cognitively impaired adult' with the same meaning as defined in Section 9157 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Former subdivision (l) renumbered to (m).

New Section 2 provides a coordination mechanism: Section 1.5 (the AB 2052 amendments) becomes operative only if both AB 1656 and AB 2052 are enacted and effective on or before January 1, 2027, both amend Section 1050, and AB 1656 is enacted after AB 2052. If those conditions are met, Section 1 of this bill shall not become operative.

Various grammatical and stylistic cleanups throughout: 'When' changed to 'If' in several places, 'shall does not' corrected to 'does not', 'must shall' corrected to 'shall', redundant words removed (e.g., 'Continuances A continuance'), and 'any a court hearing' corrected to 'a court hearing.'

Removed sexual exploitation of a child and extortion (violations of subdivision (b) of Section 236.1, except Sections 311.1, 311.2, and 311.5) from the list of crimes that can support a good cause finding for continuances. Only human trafficking as defined in Section 236.1 remains.

Added new subsection (g)(4) requiring that in human trafficking cases, the court must give great weight to the fact that the assigned prosecuting attorney has another trial, preliminary hearing, or motion to suppress in progress when determining if good cause for a continuance exists. This is limited to one continuance per case for a maximum of 10 additional court days.

Various grammatical and drafting changes throughout, including changing 'When' to 'If' in several conditions, 'shall' to 'must' in the Judicial Council notification provision, and minor rewording for clarity. These do not change substantive meaning.

The list of crimes being added to the good cause definition was narrowed from 'human trafficking, sexual exploitation of a child, or extortion' to only 'human trafficking, as defined.' Sexual exploitation of a child and extortion were removed.

Subdivision (g)(3) now includes human trafficking in the list of case types where only one continuance per case may be granted to the people (the prosecution). Previously this one-continuance limit applied only to stalking, hate crimes, and Career Criminal Prosecution Program cases.

Minor pronoun change from 'he or she has' to 'they have' in subdivision (b), and page numbering shifted from 99 to 98 due to text reflow.