SB 485 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

County public defender: appointment.

Summary

Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors of a county to establish the office of public defender for the county. Existing law requires that a public defender of the county serve at the board of supervisors' will if the public defender is to be appointed. This bill would instead only allow the board of supervisors to remove an appointed public defender from office by a 35 vote for neglect of duty, malfeasance or misconduct in office, or other good cause. 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.

Bill status vetoed 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Aug 2025

Senate Passage

May 2025

Assembly Passage

Sep 2025

Vetoed

Mar 2026

Introduced Feb 19, 2025 Vetoed Mar 2, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

09/16/25 - Enrolled → SB485 · 1 edit

MINOR

No substantive policy changes occurred between these two versions. The difference is purely presentational: the first version is the formal enrolled legislative document with signature blocks and page numbers, while the second is a web page rendering of the same bill from the California Legislature website, complete with navigation menus and metadata panels.

TECHNICAL

The bill text was reformatted from a formal enrolled document (with signature lines, page numbers, and official headers) into a web page layout that includes site navigation, search tools, version history, and status information. The actual statutory language of Sections 1 and 2 is identical in both versions.

Floor votes · Senate May 8, 2025 · Assembly Sep 9, 2025

How they voted

36–0

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 40

May 8, 2025

D Democratic30

27 Yea 3

90% Yea

R Republican10

9 Yea 1

90% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 2, 2026

Vetoed

Veto sustained.

upper

Oct 13, 2025

Vetoed

In Senate. Consideration of Governor's veto pending.

upper

Oct 13, 2025

Vetoed

Vetoed by the Governor.

upper

Sep 11, 2025

Upper · Passed

Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2899.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

upper

Sep 9, 2025

Introduced

In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

upper

Sep 9, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 62. Noes 12. Page 3074.) Ordered to the Senate.

lower

Sep 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time and amended.

lower

Aug 29, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 2.) (August 29).

lower

Jul 16, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Jul 3, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (July 2). Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S.

lower

May 29, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on L. GOV. and PUB. S.

lower

May 8, 2025

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 1050.) Ordered to the Assembly.

upper

May 5, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar.

upper

Apr 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 841.) (April 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Apr 7, 2025

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Apr 3, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 637.) (April 2).

upper

Feb 26, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on L. GOV. and PUB. S.

upper

Feb 19, 2025

Introduced

Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors