Crimes: criminal threats.

The document changed from a formatted chaptered legal document (with page headers, footers, and traditional layout) to a web-scraped version that includes website navigation elements, search tools, bill tracking features, and additional metadata such as publication date and vote/appropriation information. The actual statutory text of Section 422(a), (b), and (c) is unchanged.

In subdivision (b), the mental state for the sentencing aggravating factor was reduced from 'knowingly and willfully threatened' to simply 'willfully threatened,' lowering the threshold a court must find before it can treat a threat against a state constitutional officer, legislator, or judge as an aggravating circumstance.

The bill was reformatted from an amended draft (with line numbers, amendment history, and vote information) to an enrolled version with passage dates (Assembly September 8, Senate September 4), enrollment language, and a signature block for the Governor.

New section amending Penal Code Section 422 (criminal threats) to add subdivision (b), which allows a court sentencing a person for a felony criminal threat to consider as an aggravating factor that the threatened victim was a judge or court commissioner (as defined in Government Code Section 7920.500).

The bill's title and digest were expanded from covering only 'Courts: obstruction of justice' to also cover 'Crimes: criminal threats,' reflecting the addition of the Section 422 amendment.

Added definitions for 'immediate family' and 'electronic communication device' within the new Section 422 provision, clarifying who is protected and what communication methods are covered.

Minor language corrections in the retained Section 169 provision, including changing 'Any A person' to 'A person' and updating gendered pronouns to 'their.'

The state-mandated local program designation was changed from 'yes' to 'yes no,' which appears to be a drafting error or unresolved markup in the amended version.

The knowledge requirement for the sentencing aggravation factor was expanded. Previously, the defendant only needed to know they were threatening a judge or court commissioner. Now the defendant must have known the victim was a state constitutional officer, a Member of the Legislature, or a judge or court commissioner. This makes it harder for prosecutors to use this aggravating factor in cases involving threats against state constitutional officers or legislators.

Subdivision (b) was restructured from two paragraphs into a single paragraph, consolidating the general rule and the judge-specific knowledge requirement into one unified provision. This also reduced the bill's page count from 96 to 95.

Removed the amendment to Penal Code Section 169 that would have created a new misdemeanor crime for picketing or parading in or near a building or residence occupied by or used by any judge, juror, witness, or officer of the court with intent to interfere with, obstruct, or impede the administration of justice. This was the bill's most expansive provision and its removal eliminates a new criminal offense.

Changed the state-mandated local program designation from 'yes' to 'no,' reflecting the removal of the new picketing crime that would have imposed costs on local agencies.

Removed Section 2, which provided that no state reimbursement was required for local agencies because the act created a new crime. This provision is no longer needed since the new crime was eliminated.

Added subdivision (b)(2) requiring that the court may only consider the judge/court commissioner aggravating factor if the defendant knew at the time of the threat that they were threatening a judge or court commissioner. This adds a mens rea (knowledge) element that was not present in the Assembly version, which only required that the defendant 'willfully threatened' to commit a crime against a judge.

The list of protected persons for the sentencing aggravating factor was expanded from judges and court commissioners to also include state constitutional officers and Members of the Legislature.

The mental-state requirement for the aggravating factor was changed from 'willfully threatened' to 'knowingly and willfully threatened,' adding an additional element the prosecution must establish.

The cross-reference to Government Code Section 7920.500 was expanded from subdivisions (c), (n), and (q) to also include subdivisions (a) and (b), which likely define state constitutional officers and Members of the Legislature.