No. California’s AB 1509 did not pass. The bill, which would have sharply cut the state’s firearm sentence enhancements, died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on January 31, 2022, without ever reaching a floor vote in either chamber.1California Legislative Information. Bill Status – AB 1509 Enhancements: Firearms California’s firearm enhancement statutes remain fully in effect, and a person who uses a gun during certain felonies still faces 10 years, 20 years, or 25 years to life added to the base sentence. What has changed, through other legislation, is how much discretion judges have to strike those enhancements.
What AB 1509 Would Have Changed
Introduced during the 2021–2022 legislative session, AB 1509 targeted Penal Code 12022.53, the statute known as the “10-20-life” law. The bill proposed reducing the 10-year enhancement for personally using a firearm to 1 year, the 20-year enhancement for intentionally firing a gun to 2 years, and the 25-years-to-life enhancement for firing a gun and causing great bodily injury or death to 3 years.2California Legislative Information. AB 1509 – Enhancements: Firearms
It also would have repealed several other firearm enhancements outright, including those for being armed during a felony, being armed during a gang crime, and furnishing a firearm to help someone else commit a felony. A retroactive provision would have allowed anyone serving time under the old enhancement terms as of December 31, 2021, to petition for a sentence recall and resentencing under the reduced framework.2California Legislative Information. AB 1509 – Enhancements: Firearms
The bill cleared the Assembly Public Safety Committee but was held under submission in Appropriations and never moved again.1California Legislative Information. Bill Status – AB 1509 Enhancements: Firearms
What California Firearm Enhancement Law Says Today
Because AB 1509 failed, Penal Code 12022.53 still governs. The statute applies to a defined list of serious felonies, including murder, robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, and certain sex offenses. It adds mandatory consecutive prison time on top of the base sentence in three tiers:
- 10 years for personally using a firearm during a qualifying felony. The gun does not need to be loaded or functional.
- 20 years for personally and intentionally firing a gun during a qualifying felony.
- 25 years to life for personally and intentionally firing a gun and causing great bodily injury or death to someone other than an accomplice.
Because the enhancement runs consecutive to the base term, a robbery conviction with a 5-year base sentence and a personally-fired-gun finding produces a minimum of 25 years total.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 12022.53
Two related statutes handle firearm use outside the 12022.53 list. Penal Code 12022 adds 1 year for being armed with a firearm during any felony, whether or not the weapon is used, and 3 years if the firearm is an assault weapon, machinegun, or .50 BMG rifle. It can reach any principal in the crime if a co-participant was armed.4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 12022 Penal Code 12022.5 covers personally using a firearm during a felony not listed in 12022.53, and it adds 3, 4, or 10 years depending on the circumstances.5California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 12022.5
How Judges Can Now Strike Firearm Enhancements
While the sweeping cuts in AB 1509 never happened, two earlier laws have given courts real authority to reduce or eliminate these enhancements case by case.
SB 620 Restored Judicial Discretion
Before 2018, a true finding on a firearm enhancement meant the full added term, with no room for the judge to do otherwise. SB 620, effective January 1, 2018, added subdivision (h) to Penal Code 12022.53. Under that provision, a court may strike or dismiss a firearm enhancement in the interest of justice, and that discretion also applies at any resentencing that occurs under other laws.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 12022.53
SB 81 Tilted the Analysis Toward Dismissal
SB 81, effective January 1, 2022, went further by amending Penal Code 1385. The revised statute directs courts to dismiss an enhancement when doing so furthers justice, and it lists nine mitigating factors that “weigh greatly” in favor of dismissal.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1385 Several matter directly in firearm cases:
- The total sentence would exceed 20 years if the enhancement were applied. Because even the lowest 10-20-life tier adds 10 years, this factor comes up often.
- Multiple enhancements are charged in a single case. All enhancements beyond the first must be dismissed.
- Applying the enhancement would produce a racially discriminatory effect under Penal Code 745.
- The firearm used in the offense was inoperable or unloaded.
- The offense is connected to mental illness, prior victimization, or childhood trauma.
- The defendant was a juvenile at the time of the offense.
A court may still decline to dismiss if it finds that dismissal would endanger public safety, meaning a likelihood of physical injury or other serious danger. That is a demanding standard.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1385 In practice, the combination of SB 620 and SB 81 accomplishes on a case-by-case basis some of what AB 1509 tried to do wholesale.
Resentencing for People Already Serving Firearm Enhancements
The retroactive petition process AB 1509 would have created does not exist. For someone currently serving a firearm-enhanced sentence, the options are narrower.
Penal Code 12022.53(h) lets a court strike a firearm enhancement at any resentencing that occurs under other laws, but the subdivision itself does not create a right to reopen a case.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 12022.53 A separate legal basis is needed to get back before a judge.
Penal Code 1172.75 provides automatic resentencing review, but only for sentences that include prior-prison-term enhancements under Penal Code 667.5(b) that were invalidated by SB 136.7California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1172.75 It does not cover firearm enhancements. SB 483 similarly authorized resentencing for enhancements repealed by SB 180 and SB 136, again not for firearm enhancements under 12022.53.
The realistic paths back into court are a habeas corpus petition, a recall of sentence initiated on referral by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the district attorney, or a direct appeal raising an issue with the enhancement finding itself. Each requires its own legal grounds. Simply pointing out that judges now have discretion that didn’t exist at the time of the original sentencing is not, on its own, enough. But once a resentencing hearing is opened through any of these mechanisms, both Penal Code 12022.53(h) and the mitigating-factor framework of Penal Code 1385(c) apply, and the court can then consider striking the enhancement.