Protective orders.

The duration of post-conviction restraining orders was clarified. Previously the order could be valid for 'up to 10 years, as determined by the court.' Now it reads 'up to 10 years, either 10 years, or 1 year after the person's release from the state prison or a county jail, whichever is later.' This ensures victims remain protected for at least one year after the defendant is released from custody.

A new Section 1.5 was added containing the full text of Section 136.2 as proposed by AB 1889. This section only becomes operative if both AB 2261 and AB 1889 are enacted, both amend Section 136.2, and AB 2261 is enacted after AB 1889. In that scenario, Section 1 of AB 2261 would not become operative.

A new SEC. 2 was added as a coordination provision specifying the conditions under which the AB 1889 version of Section 136.2 (contained in SEC. 1.5) takes precedence over AB 2261's own amendments. The original no-reimbursement clause was renumbered from SEC. 2 to SEC. 3.

A typo in the definitions section was corrected: 'including through adoption adoption, domestic partnership' was fixed to 'including through adoption, domestic partnership.'

The definition of 'member of the victim's family' now includes persons related through domestic partnership, in addition to adoption, marriage, consanguinity, or affinity within the second degree. This broadens the class of people who can be protected by a court-issued restraining order under this section.

Subsection (j) was restructured from two separate paragraphs both labeled (j) into a single subsection with numbered subparts (1) and (2), fixing a drafting error where the definition of 'local government' appeared in duplicate.

Removed the provision allowing courts at sentencing to issue restraining orders protecting 'any other person' if there is competent evidence that individual was also a victim of an offense committed by the defendant. Previously, any co-victim could be protected; now only family and household members qualify.

Added a new definition in subdivision (j)(2): 'Member of the victim's family' means any person related to the named victim, including through adoption or marriage or by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree. This clarifies who qualifies as a protected family member for sentencing restraining orders.

Restructured subdivision (j) from a single definition of 'local government' into a two-part definitions section with numbered subsections, and repositioned the fiscal note language within the document. Page numbering changed from 98 to 97 throughout.

Page number changed from 99 to 98 throughout the document, causing all internal line numbers to shift by one. No statutory text was altered.

The legislative digest header was updated from 'AB 2261, as introduced' to 'AB 2261, as amended' and the amendment date (April 20, 2026) was added to the document header.

The vote, appropriation, fiscal committee, and state-mandated local program lines were repositioned from before the bill text to after the digest section.