AB 2064 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Discrimination: criminal history.

Summary

Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, provides that all persons within the jurisdiction of this state are entitled to full and equal accommodations in all business establishments regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. This bill would add criminal history, as defined, to the list of protected characteristics under the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, declares the public policy of the state to be that it is necessary to protect and safeguard the right and opportunity of all persons to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination or abridgment on account of race, religious creed, or color, among other characteristics. The act declares discrimination in housing accommodations because of race, color, or religion, among other characteristics, to be against public policy. In that regard, the act prohibits various forms of employment and housing discrimination, including various types of discrimination because of a person's race, color, or national origin, among other characteristics. This bill would add criminal history, as defined, to the list of protected characteristics under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 18, 2026 Last action May 14, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

04/09/26 - Amended Assembly → AB2064 · 1 edit

MINOR

This diff reflects a formatting and presentation change only, not a substantive policy change. The formal legislative text of AB 2064 (which adds criminal history and formerly incarcerated status as protected characteristics under California anti-discrimination law) has been re-rendered from a traditional bill document layout into a web page format with navigation menus, search fields, and site chrome elements. No amendments to the bill's actual provisions are visible in this diff.

TECHNICAL

The bill text was converted from a formal legislative document format (with line numbers, page headers, and legislative counsel digest) into a web-based display format that includes site navigation (home, accessibility, FAQ, sitemap, login), search fields (Bill Number, Bill Keyword), and page metadata (Date Published: 04/09/2026). The underlying bill content - adding criminal history and formerly incarcerated status as protected classes under the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Fair Employment and Housing Act - is unchanged.

02/18/26 - Introduced → 04/09/26 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · Apr 9, 2026

MODERATE

AB 2064 was significantly expanded from a narrow bill that only added 'formerly incarcerated status' to the Unruh Civil Rights Act into a broader bill that also adds 'criminal history' as a protected characteristic under both the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The amended version now covers employment, housing, and public accommodations discrimination based on criminal history, while including an exception allowing employers to deny positions or terminate employees based on individualized assessments of criminal history with a five-business-day notice requirement.

SCOPE

The bill's scope expanded from amending only Civil Code Section 51 (Unruh Civil Rights Act) to also amending Government Code Sections 12920, 12921, 12926, 12940, and 12955 (California Fair Employment and Housing Act), extending protections to employment and housing discrimination.

The legislative digest was updated to reflect that the bill now covers both 'formerly incarcerated status' and 'criminal history' under both the Unruh Civil Rights Act and FEHA, rather than only 'formerly incarcerated status' under the Unruh Act alone.

DEFINITION

A new protected characteristic 'criminal history' was added. Under the Unruh Civil Rights Act it means a documented record of criminal offenses for which a person has been arrested, charged, convicted, incarcerated, or referred to a pretrial or posttrial diversion program. Under FEHA (Section 12926(aa)) it is defined more broadly to include any record of involvement with the state or federal criminal legal system, including sealed, pardoned, dismissed, expunged, statutorily eradicated, set aside, or otherwise resolved records, as well as juvenile court adjudications.

REQUIREMENT

Section 12940(a)(6) creates an exception: employers may deny a position or terminate an employee based on criminal history if they conduct an individualized assessment under Section 12952. The employer must provide written notice explaining the reasoning and give the applicant or employee at least five business days to respond before making a final decision.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 14, 2026

Lower · Passed

In committee: Held under submission.

lower

May 6, 2026

Committee

In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

lower

Apr 15, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 3.) (April 14). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Apr 13, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

lower

Apr 9, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 12, 2026

Lower · Passed

In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

lower

Mar 2, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on JUD.

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors