AB 2553 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Real estate crimes: probation.

Summary

Existing law generally authorizes the court to suspend a criminal sentence and make and enforce terms of probation for a period not to exceed 2 years, and in misdemeanor cases, for a period not to exceed one year. Existing law imposes various penalties for theft- or fraud-related crimes, including, among others, the abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult, mortgage fraud, or identity theft. This bill would authorize the court, upon a conviction of certain felony offenses related to, among other things, the purchase or sale of real property or the recording or attempted recording of a real estate instrument, if the court grants the defendant probation, to impose up to a one-year extension to the probationary term. The bill would create a process for the court to impose the one-year extension if the defendant is on formal probation by requiring the probation department to file a petition to the court to extend the probationary period and requiring the court to make a finding that additional time is necessary for programming. By increasing the period of probation, and increasing the duties on local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Aug 2026

Assembly Passage

May 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 20, 2026 Last action Aug 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

07/02/26 - Amended Senate → AB2553 · 1 edit

MINOR

No substantive policy changes were made between these two versions. The bill text, including all provisions of new Penal Code Section 1203.094, is identical in both versions. The differences are purely presentational: the 'from' version uses a traditional printed legislative document format while the 'to' version is a web page rendering with navigation elements and reformatted headings.

TECHNICAL

Formatting changed from a printed legislative document layout to a web-based bill text display, including addition of site navigation elements (skip to content, home, accessibility, FAQ, etc.) and reformatting of the digest and fiscal notes into labeled fields.

03/16/26 - Amended Assembly → 04/23/26 - Amended Assembly · 5 edits · Apr 23, 2026

MODERATE

The April 23 amendment removed the entire mortgage fraud provision (amendment to Penal Code Section 532f) that was in the March 16 version, narrowing the bill to only address extended probation for real estate crimes. It also added detailed procedural requirements for how a court can extend probation by up to one year beyond the base term, requiring a petition from the probation department and a judicial finding that additional time is necessary for programming. A savings clause was added to preserve other punishment provisions including gang-related sentencing enhancements under Section 186.11.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed by removing the mortgage fraud amendment entirely, leaving only the extended probation provision for real estate-related crimes. The extension mechanism was made more specific with procedural safeguards (petition and judicial finding) rather than simply mandating a longer term.

SCOPE

The entire second section amending Penal Code Section 532f (mortgage fraud) was deleted, removing all provisions related to mortgage fraud definitions, record production orders for real estate recordholders, and related penalties. The bill now only addresses probation terms for real estate crimes.

A new subdivision (c) was added as a savings clause stating that nothing in the section precludes punishment under any other provision of law, specifically referencing gang-related sentencing enhancements under Section 186.11(h)(1)(B).

REQUIREMENT

New procedural requirements for extending probation: for formal probation, the probation department must file a petition to the court and the court must find that additional time is necessary for programming before ordering an extension of up to one year. For informal or summary probation, the court must make the same finding before extending.

The base probation language was restructured from a flat 'up to five years' statement into a framework where the base term applies and then a separate one-year extension mechanism is available, with different procedures depending on whether the defendant is on formal or informal/summary probation.

FISCAL

The fiscal committee determination changed from 'no' to 'yes' and the state-mandated local program determination changed from 'no' to 'yes', indicating the bill now carries a fiscal impact requiring reimbursement for costs imposed on local agencies.

02/20/26 - Introduced → 03/16/26 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · Mar 16, 2026

MODERATE

AB 2553 was substantially expanded from a purely technical amendment to Section 532f (mortgage fraud) into a bill that adds a new Penal Code section requiring courts to impose up to 5 years of probation for a wide range of real property-related fraud and theft offenses. The original technical fix to Section 532f was retained but is now secondary to the new probation mandate, which creates state-mandated local program costs for courts.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded dramatically from a single technical correction to the mortgage fraud statute into a broad probation sentencing mandate covering dozens of real property-related offenses across multiple codes (Penal Code, Civil Code, Government Code). It now imposes binding sentencing requirements on courts and creates state-mandated local program costs.

REQUIREMENT

New Penal Code Section 1203.094 requires that when a court grants probation for listed offenses related to the purchase or sale of real property, a mortgage involving real property, the recording or attempted recording of a real estate instrument, or a home loan modification, the probation term must be up to five years for both misdemeanor and felony convictions. This overrides the standard 1-year (misdemeanor) and 2-year (felony) probation limits.

SCOPE

The new probation requirement covers 24 specific offenses including elder abuse (Sections 115, 115.5, 154, 368), forgery and fraud (Sections 470, 470a, 470b, 475, 487, 529, 529.5, 530.5, 531, 531a, 532, 532f, 533, 534), identity theft (Section 639), real estate fraud (Civil Code 2944.7), and various other civil code and government code provisions related to property transactions.

FISCAL

A state mandates reimbursement provision was added, requiring the state to reimburse local agencies for costs associated with the new probation requirements. The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes' and state-mandated local program changed from 'no' to 'yes'.

TECHNICAL

The original technical amendment to Section 532f(a)(1) changing 'any other party' to 'another party' was retained but renumbered as a later section in the bill. This is a minor redundancy fix with no substantive policy impact.

Floor votes · Assembly May 26, 2026

How they voted

69–0

Passed · 10 other

Total votes 79

May 26, 2026

D Democratic59

49 Yea 10

83% Yea

R Republican20

20 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Aug 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

In committee: Held under submission.

upper

Aug 3, 2026

Committee

In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

upper

Jul 2, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Jul 1, 2026

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 30).

upper

Jun 10, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

upper

May 26, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate.

lower

May 14, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 14).

lower

May 6, 2026

Committee

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

lower

Apr 27, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Apr 23, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended.

lower

Apr 22, 2026

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 21).

lower

Apr 14, 2026

Lower · Passed

In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

lower

Mar 17, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S.

lower

Mar 16, 2026

Introduced

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

lower

Mar 16, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

lower

Feb 21, 2026

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors