AB2428 - Criminal fees.

Enrolled August 30, 2026 Passed IN Senate August 26, 2026 Passed IN Assembly May 26, 2026 Amended IN Assembly May 18, 2026 Amended IN Assembly April 20, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 2428 Introduced by Assembly Member Celeste Rodriguez (Coauthors: Assembly Members Rogers and Schultz) February 20, 2026 An act to repeal and add Section 68635 of the Government Code, to amend Section 11374.5 of, and to add Section 11470.5 to, the Health and Safety Code, to amend Sections 597.3, 1203.1a, 1203.1i, 1205.3, 1209.5, 4011.1, and 4018.6 of, and to add Section 1210.2 to, the Penal Code, to amend Sections 42007 and 42008.8 of the Vehicle Code, and to repeal Section 730.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to fees. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2428, Celeste Rodriguez. Criminal fees. Existing law imposes various fees, contingent upon a criminal arrest, prosecution, or conviction, for the cost of administering the criminal justice system, including traffic violator school fees, costs for when a minor is adjudged a ward of the court, as specified, or costs incurred by a state or local agency for the disposal of various substances if the person is convicted of the sale, possession, or transportation of a controlled substance, as specified. This bill would repeal the authority to collect many of those fees, among others. The bill would make the unpaid balance of most court-imposed costs unenforceable and uncollectible and would require any portion of a judgment imposed by those costs to be vacated. The bill would relieve a person who is sentenced to state prison or confined in a county jail from being required to pay any trial court filing fees or costs related to the person’s underlying criminal conviction. The bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would also make various conforming changes. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Approximately 80 percent of criminal defendants in California are indigent and too many enter the criminal legal system due to the criminalization of their poverty. (b) State law authorizes or requires courts to impose criminal administrative fees on these disproportionately low-income Californians. These fees are used to fund government, including counties, courts, programs, state and local agencies, and law enforcement. (c) Because Black and brown Californians are subjected to targeted policing and are overrepresented at every state of the criminal legal system, they are disproportionately sanctioned with criminal fees and burdened with the associated debt. (d) The assessment of criminal fees creates a two-tiered legal system based on wealth. Those who can afford to pay avoid further consequences, while those who cannot are burdened by court-ordered debt and subject to additional penalties, including incarceration. (e) Many of these fees are assessed simply because Californians cannot immediately pay debt in full or are struggling to pay court-ordered debt. (f) Because these fees are often assigned to people who simply cannot afford to pay them, they make poor people, their families, and their communities poorer. (g) According to a report by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the average debt incurred for court-ordered fines and fees was roughly equal to the annual income for survey respondents. (h) A national survey of formerly incarcerated people found that families often bear the burden of fees, and that 83 percent of the people responsible for paying these costs are women. (i) Criminal administrative fees have no formal punitive or public safety function. Instead, they undermine public safety because the debt they cause can limit access to employment, housing, education, and public benefits. Court-ordered debt can also affect credit scores, result in wage or bank account garnishment, or tax return interception. (j) Research also shows that criminal administrative fees can push individuals into underground economies and undermine reentry by causing individuals to turn to criminal activity or predatory lending to pay their debts. (k) Since the fees are imposed on people who are unable to pay them, criminal administrative fees are difficult to collect and typically cost counties almost as much or more than they end up collecting in revenue. (l) Funding government on the backs of racially marginalized and poor communities is cruel and ineffective policy. Charging these fees traps families in cyclical poverty where families have to choose between paying off court-ordered debt and paying rent, or buying food and other necessities. SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Legislature to eliminate the assessment of certain fees on low-income Californians who cannot afford to pay court-ordered debt. SEC. 3. Section 68635 of the Government Code is repealed. SEC. 4. Section 68635 is added to the Government Code, to read: 68635. (a) This section applies only to waivers of trial court fees. (b) Notwithstanding any other law, a person who is sentenced to state prison or confined in a county jail shall not be required to pay trial court filing fees or costs related to the person’s incarceration for the underlying criminal conviction. (c) Beginning January 1, 2027, the unpaid balance of any court-imposed costs pursuant to this section as it read on December 31, 2026, is unenforceable and uncollectible and any portion of a judgment imposing those costs shall be vacated. SEC. 5. Section 11374.5 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 11374.5. (a) Any manufacturer of a controlled substance who disposes of any hazardous substance that is a controlled substance or a chemical used in, or is a byproduct of, the manufacture of a controlled substance in violation of any law regulating the disposal of hazardous substances or hazardous waste is guilty of a public offense punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for two, three, or four years or in the county jail not exceeding one year. (b) (1) In addition to any other penalty or liability imposed by law, a person who is convicted of violating subdivision (a), or any person who is convicted of the manufacture or disposal of any hazardous substance that is a controlled substance or a chemical used in, or is a byproduct of, the manufacture of a controlled substance in violation of any law, shall pay a penalty equal to the amount of the actual cost incurred by the state or local agency to remove and dispose of the hazardous substance that is a controlled substance or a chemical used in, or is a byproduct of, the manufacture of a controlled substance and to take removal action with respect to any release of the hazardous substance or any items or materials contaminated by that release, if the state or local agency requests the prosecuting authority to seek recovery of that cost. The court shall transmit all penalties collected pursuant to this subdivision to the county treasurer of the county in which the court is located for deposit in a special account in the county treasury. The county treasurer shall pay that money at least once a month to the agency that requested recovery of the cost for the removal action. The county may retain up to 5 percent of any assessed penalty for appropriate and reasonable administrative costs attributable to the collection and disbursement of the penalty. (2) If the Department of Toxic Substances Control has requested recovery of the cost of removing the hazardous substance that is a controlled substance or a chemical used in, or is a byproduct of, the manufacture of a controlled substance or taking removal action with respect to any release of the hazardous substance, the county treasurer shall transfer funds in the amount of the penalty collected to the Treasurer, who shall deposit the money in the Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account. The Department of Toxic Substances Control may expend the money in the Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the cost of taking removal actions pursuant to Article 16 (commencing with Section 79350) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 45. (c) As used in this section the following terms have the following meanings: (1) “Dispose” means to abandon, deposit, intern, or otherwise discard as a final action after use has been achieved or a use is no longer intended. (2) “Hazardous substance” has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 78075. (3) “Hazardous waste” has the same meaning as defined in Section 25117. (4) “Remove” or “removal” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 78135. SEC. 6. Section 11470.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 11470.5. Beginning January 1, 2027, the unpaid balance of any court-imposed costs pursuant to Section 11374.5 as that section read on December 31, 2026, is unenforceable and uncollectible and any portion of a judgment imposing those costs shall be vacated. SEC. 7. Section 597.3 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 597.3. (a) Every person who operates a live animal market shall do all of the following: (1) Provide that no animal will be dismembered, flayed, cut open, or have its skin, scales, feathers, or shell removed while the animal is still alive. (2) Provide that no live animals will be confined, held, or displayed in a manner that results, or is likely to result, in injury, starvation, dehydration, or suffocation. (b) As used in this section: (1) “Animal” means frogs, turtles, and birds sold for the purpose of human consumption, with the exception of poultry. (2) “Live animal market” means a retail food market where, in the regular course of business, animals are stored alive and sold to consumers for the purpose of human consumption. (c) Any person who fails to comply with any requirement of subdivision (a) shall for the first violation, be given a written warning in a written language that is understood by the person receiving the warning. A second or subsequent violation of subdivision (a) shall be an infraction, punishable by a fine of not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250), nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000). However, a fine paid for a second violation of subdivision (a) shall be deferred for six months if a course is available that is administered by a state or local agency on state law and local ordinances relating to live animal markets. If the person convicted successfully completes that course within six months of entry of judgment, the fine shall be waived. (d) Beginning January 1, 2027, any outstanding fees issued pursuant to this section are unenforceable and uncollectible and any portion of a judgment imposing those costs shall be vacated. SEC. 8. Section 1203.1a of the Penal Code is amended to read: 1203.1a. (a) The probation officer of the county may authorize the temporary removal under custody or temporary release without custody of any person confined in a county jail, honor farm, or other detention facility, who is confined or committed as a condition of probation, after suspension of imposition of sentence or suspension of execution of sentence, for purposes preparatory to their return to the community, within 30 days prior to their release date, if the probation officer concludes that the person confined or committed is a fit subject for return. (b) Beginning January 1, 2027, any outstanding fees issued pursuant to this section are unenforceable and uncollectible and any portion of a judgment imposing those costs shall be vacated. SEC. 9. Section 1203.1i of the Penal Code is amended to read: 1203.1i. (a) When a person is convicted of a violation of any building standards adopted by a local entity by ordinance or resolution, including, but not limited to, local health, fire, building, or safety ordinances or resolutions, or any other ordinance or resolution relating to the health and safety of occupants of buildings, by maintaining a substandard building, as specified in Section 17920.3 of the Health and Safety Code, the court, or judge thereof, in making an order granting probation, in addition to any other orders, may order the person placed under house confinement, or may order the person convicted to serve both a term of imprisonment in the county jail and to be placed under house confinement. (b) This section only applies to violations involving a dwelling unit occupied by persons specified in subdivision (a) of Section 1940 of the Civil Code who are not excluded by subdivision (b) of that section. (c) As used in this section, “house confinement” means confinement to a residence or location designated by the court and specified in the probation order. (d) Beginning January 1, 2027, any outstanding fees issued pursuant to this section are unenforceable and uncollectible and any portion of a judgment imposing those costs shall be vacated. SEC. 10. Section 1205.3 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 1205.3. (a) When a defendant is convicted of an offense and granted probation, and the court orders the defendant either to pay a fine or to perform specified community service work as a condition of probation, the court shall specify that if community service work is performed, it shall be performed in place of the payment of all fines and restitution fines on a proportional basis, and the court shall specify in its order the amount of the fine and restitution fine and the number of hours of community service work that shall be performed as an alternative to payment of the fine. (b) Beginning January 1, 2027, a county, municipality, or contracted entity shall not charge a fee to participate in a community service program or to otherwise fulfill court-ordered community service requirements pursuant to this section. A court shall not deny participation in community service programs based on an inability to charge fees or otherwise recoup costs. SEC. 11. Section 1209.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 1209.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the court shall permit a person convicted of an infraction, upon a showing that payment of the total fine would pose a hardship on the defendant or the defendant’s family, to elect to perform community service in lieu of the total fine that would otherwise be imposed. (b) For purposes of this section, the term “total fine” means the total bail, including the base fine and all assessments, penalties, and additional moneys to be paid by the defendant. (c) (1) For purposes of this section, the hourly rate applicable to community service performed pursuant to this section shall be double the minimum wage set for the applicable calendar year, based on the schedule for an employer who employs 25 or fewer employees, as established in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 1182.12 of the Labor Code. (2) Notwithsta [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]