Peace officers: theft.

New section amends Penal Code 13510.8(b) to add paragraph (10) defining 'serious misconduct' to include theft by a peace officer under color of authority, giving POST explicit authority to suspend or revoke certification for this conduct.

The bill's scope expanded from solely a criminal penalty change (elevating theft by public officers to grand theft) to also include an administrative/regulatory consequence (POST decertification), making it a dual-purpose bill affecting both the Penal Code's theft provisions and peace officer certification standards.

The vote requirement in the bill header was clarified from '2/3' to '2/3 majority.' The state-mandated local program designation appears to have been changed from 'yes' to 'no' in the header block.

New Section 1.5 adds a provision (paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Penal Code Section 13510.8) that the commission shall deny suitability for basic course enrollment for applicants who were previously employed as sworn law enforcement officers or individual contractors and personally engaged in immigration enforcement, unless a hiring agency grants their suitability on a case-by-case basis.

Suitability determinations under the new provision must be based on two factors: (1) standards the commission adopts by regulation, including whether an applicant personally assisted in immigration enforcement and to what degree, and (2) standards established for peace officers under all applicable California laws and regulations, including Government Code Section 1031.

New Section 2 provides that Section 1.5 only becomes operative if both AB 2337 and AB 1896 are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2027, each bill amends Penal Code Section 13510.8, and AB 2337 is enacted after AB 1896. If those conditions are met, Section 1 of AB 2337 shall not become operative.

The bill's summary description was updated to note the incorporation of additional changes proposed by AB 1896, and the amendment date was updated from June 29 to August 25, 2026. Remaining text changes are formatting and line renumbering only.

Removed Section 1 (amending Penal Code 487) which would have made theft by a public officer under color of authority grand theft regardless of property value

Removed Section 2 (amending Penal Code 490.2) which would have excluded theft by public officers under color of authority from the petty theft threshold under Prop 47

State-mandated local program designation changed from yes to no, since the bill no longer imposes new criminal penalties on local agencies

Removed Section 3, the no-reimbursement provision related to state-mandated local programs, since the bill no longer creates new crimes or changes penalties

Narrowed the POST decertification ground for theft by adding a requirement that the officer acted with specific intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property

Added an exclusion from the theft decertification ground for conduct resulting from mere negligence, administrative oversight, or good-faith error in evidence handling

Changed the required vote from two-thirds majority to simple majority, reflecting that the bill no longer amends a Proposition 47 initiative statute