Criminal procedure: interrogations.

A new Government Code chapter (Section 7287) was added, requiring every law enforcement and prosecutorial agency to maintain a written policy by January 1, 2027, governing formal interviews of immediate family members of people killed or seriously injured by peace officers. This shifts the obligation from individual officers to agency-level policy requirements.

The Government Code provision uses a narrower definition of 'immediate family member' (spouse, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child, or grandchild) compared to the retained Penal Code section, which also includes domestic partner, guardian, aunt, and uncle.

A new prohibition was added barring peace officers and prosecuting attorneys from using threats or deception, including knowingly using false information, fabricated evidence, or misleading statements, to coerce an interview or during any interview covered by the section.

A new exception was added allowing officers to skip the required advisements when a reasonable officer believes delay would result in loss or destruction of evidence or pose an imminent threat to public safety, or when the family member has already received substantially equivalent advisements under Miranda.

New definitions were added for 'formal' (an interview conducted in person or via secure remote communication designed to elicit specific material information and documented through written, audio, or video records), 'law enforcement agency,' 'prosecutorial agency,' and 'support person' (who cannot be a percipient witness, person of interest, or suspect in the incident).

Family members are now explicitly told they can have a trusted support person with them during the interview, and if asked to go to a station for a formal interview, they are informed they have a choice to come and can bring the support person.

Assembly Member Sharp-Collins was added as a coauthor. The bill's legislative digest was updated to reflect the new Government Code provisions and the deception prohibition.

Presentation changed from a clean chaptered document format (with page numbers and traditional bill layout) to a web-scraped rendering that includes site navigation, version history, digest key metadata, and publication date. No policy or legal language was altered.

Header changed from enrolled bill format (with passage dates and blank signature lines) to chaptered law format with Chapter 697 number, Governor approval date of October 13, 2025, and Secretary of State filing date.

Formatting changes throughout: reflowed line breaks, adjusted indentation, updated page numbers and running headers (from 'AB 572' to 'Ch. 697'). No substantive text was added, removed, or altered.

Private investigators retained by the prosecution are no longer covered. Only peace officers and prosecuting attorneys must comply with the identification and disclosure requirements before interviewing family members.

New subsection (c) creates an exception: the bill's requirements do not apply if the family member is already under custodial interrogation requiring Miranda warnings. This prevents the new duties from conflicting with existing Miranda procedures.

The requirement for the interviewer to state whether they represent or have been retained by the prosecution was removed from subsection (1).

New subsection (d) defines 'seriously injured' as suffering serious bodily injury as defined in Penal Code Section 243, providing a clear legal threshold for when the bill applies.

The defined term changed from 'immediate family' to 'immediate family member,' and the definition now explicitly ties the relationship to 'the person who was killed or seriously injured by a peace officer' rather than just 'the victim.'

Subsection (a)(4) now requires officers to inform the family member that the investigation 'may or may not involve the culpability' of the person killed or injured, rather than simply stating it 'may involve' their culpability. This makes the required disclosure more balanced and less presumptive.

Assembly Member Elhawary was added as a coauthor of the bill.