Assembly Bill 1950
New Law Reducing/Terminating Probation Terms
Assembly Bill (AB) 1950, which went into effect in 2021, amends Penal Code (PC) section 1203(a) to set the maximum term of probation for most misdemeanor crimes at one year.
It also amends PC section 1203.1 to set the maximum term of probation for most felonies at two years. There are a number of crimes which are excluded from AB 1950 reduction and termination of probation terms. The court has worked with the probation department to develop the following petition and order forms to implement AB 1950.
For felony cases, a petition and order has been created to allow the probation department to file an ex parte petition with the court to recommend that a defendant's probation be terminated based on the application of AB 1950 using the following process:
- Probation will file the petition/order with the court recommending termination of probation, setting hearing date provided by clerks’ office, out a minimum of 25 days
- Probation will send a copy of the filed petition/order to the District Attorney's (DA) office and public defender, or last known attorney for the defendant
- If DA office office checks the concurs box, the petition and order will be sent to a judge for signature. The hearing on the matter will be removed from the calendar. Court clerk will distribute signed and filed copies of petition and order to DAs, probation and public defender or last known attorney for defendant
- If the DA office checks the objects box, the matter will remain on calendar
For felony cases, petition and order form have been created to allow defendants to file petitions requesting the court to terminate the defendant's probation based on the application of AB 1950 using the following process:
- Defendant files Petition with proof of service on DA and Probation, setting hearing date provided by clerks’ office, out a minimum of 25 days
- If both the DA office and probation checks concurs box, the petition and order will be sent to a judge for signature. The hearing on matter will be removed from the calendar. Court clerk will distribute signed and filed copies of petition and order to DAs, probation and filing party
- if DA or probation checks the object box, the matter will remain on calendar
- if either the DA or probation do not respond, the matter will remain on calendar
For misdemeanor cases, a petition in order form has been created to allow defendants to file petitions requesting the court terminate the defendant probation based on application of AB 1950 using the following process:
- defendant files petition with proof of service on DA, setting a hearing date provided by the clerk's office at least 25 days out
- if DA office checks concurs box, the petition and order will be sent to a judge for signature. The hearing on the matter will be removed from the calendar. Court clerk will distribute signed and filed copies of petition and order to DAs and filing party
- if DA checks the object box, the matter will remain on calendar
- if DA does not respond, the matter will remain on calendar