SB 882 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Remote court appearances.

Summary

Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2027, a party to appear remotely and a court to conduct conferences, hearings, proceedings, and trials in civil cases, in whole or in part, through the use of remote technology. This bill would extend the operation of these provisions to January 31, 2029. The bill would additionally authorize any non-party witness to appear remotely pursuant to these provisions.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Apr 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

03/25/26 - Amended Senate → SB882 · 2 edits

MINOR

No substantive policy changes were made between these two versions. The diff reflects a transition from a traditional legislative document format (with line numbers and page headers) to a website rendering of the same bill text on the California Legislature's portal. All navigational elements, search tools, and web UI components were added while the underlying bill language remained identical.

TECHNICAL

The bill text was reformatted from a traditional legislative document layout (with line numbers, page headers/footers, and column formatting) to a plain web-page rendering. No changes to the actual statutory language or policy content were made.

Website navigation elements were added including skip-to-content links, accessibility options, FAQ, feedback, sitemap, login, quick search, bill information links, publications, and social sharing features.

01/13/26 - Introduced → 03/25/26 - Amended Senate · 7 edits · Mar 25, 2026

MODERATE

SB 882 was substantially expanded from a bill that merely expressed legislative intent to one that now directly amends Section 367.75 of the Code of Civil Procedure, establishing concrete rules for remote court appearances in civil cases. The amended version extends the sunset date for existing remote appearance authority from January 1, 2027 to January 31, 2029, and adds non-party witnesses as eligible for remote appearances. The bill also adds detailed procedural requirements including privacy protections, technology standards, and specific rules for juvenile dependency and adoption proceedings.

SCOPE

The bill now directly amends Section 367.75 of the Code of Civil Procedure rather than merely expressing legislative intent to do so in the future. This makes the remote appearance rules immediately operative law.

New subdivisions address juvenile dependency proceedings (allowing remote participation with consent requirements and confidentiality protections) and adoption finalization hearings (permitting remote participation without requiring a finding that in-person appearance is impossible or impracticable).

TIMELINE

The sunset date for the remote appearance provisions was extended from January 1, 2027 to January 31, 2029, giving courts an additional two years of authority to conduct proceedings remotely.

ELIGIBILITY

Non-party witnesses are now explicitly authorized to appear remotely under Section 367.75. The original bill only referenced parties appearing remotely.

REQUIREMENT

New detailed procedural requirements were added including: courts must have a process for alerting judicial officers of technology issues, remote appearances must have appropriate privacy and security, courts must inform self-represented parties about potential technology problems, and courts may not require any party to appear remotely.

New provisions require the official reporter (or pro tempore) to be physically present in the courtroom when a trial is conducted remotely, and court interpreters must be physically present upon request.

FISCAL

The fiscal committee review designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the amended bill now requires fiscal analysis due to its expanded scope.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 8, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

upper

Mar 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 11, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Jan 13, 2026

Introduced

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

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors