Crimes: threats.

The bill text was reformatted from a chaptered document layout to a web page layout, adding navigation elements (home, FAQ, sitemap, login), version history listing, publication date metadata (10/13/2025), and vote/appropriation/fiscal committee/local program status indicators.

The bill was assigned Chapter 594 and received the Governor's approval date of October 11, 2025, replacing the blank signature line in the enrolled version.

Text was reformatted and reflowed throughout due to changes in page layout and headers (e.g., 'SB 19' headers replaced with 'Ch. 594' headers).

A minor typographical correction changed 'Article XIIIB' to 'Article XIII B' in Section 2, properly spacing the Roman numeral.

New Penal Code Section 422.3 creates a crime for threatening death or great bodily injury at daycares, schools, universities, workplaces, houses of worship, or medical facilities - expanding protected locations from just schools and places of worship to six types.

The bill's long title changed from 'relating to threats' to 'relating to threats. crimes.' reflecting the addition of the new criminal offense in Section 422.3.

Section 422.3 explicitly covers threats made 'by any means, including but not limited to an image or threat posted or published on an internet web page,' broadening the methods covered beyond the 'electronic act' definition used in Section 422.2.

Section 422.3 sets punishment as a wobbler: county jail up to one year or state prison for adults. For persons under 18, referral to services under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 654 if eligible; if ineligible, punished as a misdemeanor (not an infraction as in Section 422.2).

Coauthors updated: Assembly Member Patel added as principal coauthor; Berman Alanis and Berman removed; Rogers added. Blanca Rubio retained.

Reimbursement provisions restructured: a new Section 2 handles reimbursement for the 422.3 mandate (no reimbursement required because it creates a new crime), while the existing Section 4 retains the same language for the 422.2 mandate.

Added Senators Blakespear and Niello as Senate coauthors, and Assembly Members Berman and Blanca Rubio as Assembly coauthors, broadening the bill's sponsorship base.

Renumbered the final sections: the no-reimbursement clause changed from Section 4 to Section 3, correcting section numbering after a prior amendment likely removed or consolidated an earlier section.

Fixed a typo in the short title where 'to to' was corrected to 'to, to' and adjusted formatting/indentation throughout the legislative counsel's digest.

The entire amendment to Penal Code Section 1524 was deleted. This provision would have allowed law enforcement to obtain search warrants when evidence tended to show a misdemeanor or felony violation of the new Section 422.2 threat crime, or tended to show that a particular person had violated it. Removing this means the new offense does not get its own specific search warrant authorization.

The penalty for persons under 18 who violate Section 422.2 was reduced from a misdemeanor to an infraction, with a requirement that the person be referred to services pursuant to Section 654 of the Welfare and Institutions Code if eligible. This is a significant downgrade in severity for juvenile offenders.

A new Section 2 was added containing legislative findings and declarations. It documents the increase in threats at schools (noting educational facilities are now the most common target for bomb threats, with emergency responses costing at least $100,000 per incident), the rise of religious-based hate crimes targeting places of worship, and defines swatting as the malicious act of fraudulently reporting an emergency to generate a large law enforcement response to an unsuspecting victim's location.

The state mandate reimbursement provisions were restructured into two separate sections. A new Section 4 was added providing that if the Commission on State Mandates determines the act contains costs mandated by the state beyond those exempted, reimbursement shall be made pursuant to Part 7 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code. This is a more open-ended approach than the previous single-section provision.

Assembly Member Berman Alanis was added as a coauthor alongside existing coauthors Berman and Blanca Rubio. The act's short description was updated to remove reference to amending Section 1524, now reading only 'to add Section 422.2 to the Penal Code.'

New paragraph (a)(23) added to Penal Code Section 1524 authorizing search warrants when property or things to be seized consist of evidence tending to show a misdemeanor or felony violation of Section 422.2, or tending to show that a particular person has violated Section 422.2.

The bill's scope expanded from solely creating a new crime (Section 422.2) to also amending the search warrant statute (Section 1524), adding a specific evidentiary ground tied to the new threat offense.

The amendment to Section 1524 has an operative date of January 1, 2026, meaning the new search warrant authority for Section 422.2 violations will not take effect until then.

Section renumbering: the former Section 3 (reimbursement provision) is renumbered as Section 4 to accommodate the new Section 3 containing the Section 1524 amendment.