Politics.AIAssembly BillPassed both housesCivil Procedure
AB 1544: Court proceedings: media access.
What AB 1544 does, verified August 25, 2026
<p>This bill aims to amend the California Code of Civil Procedure to ensure media access to court proceedings. The judicial power of the state is vested in various courts, and existing law requires court sittings to be public, except as authorized.</p> <p>The bill would prohibit judicial officers, peace officers, or law enforcement officers from blocking access to open court proceedings for duly authorized representatives of news services, online news services, newspapers, radio or television stations, networks, news publishers, or court observers.</p> <p>A violation of this provision would be subject to civil penalties, as specified by the bill.</p>
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
✓In CommitteeComplete
✓First Chamber FloorComplete
✓Second ChamberComplete
5GovernorCurrent
6ChapteredPending
Last action: In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. (2026-08-20)Alert me
Author and sponsors
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| Aug. 20, 2026 | In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. |
| Aug. 20, 2026 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0.). |
| Aug. 04, 2026 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
| Aug. 03, 2026 | From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. |
| Jun. 24, 2026 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (June 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |