Voter Guide / California Bills

SB 239, explained

Crimes: criminal threats.

Active In Committee Process · Author: ArreguÃn

In plain English

This bill would allow courts to consider threatening an elections official or local elected official as a reason to give a harsher sentence. Currently, courts can only consider threats against state officials and judges as a reason for harsher sentences.

If this passes

What would actually change, according to the bill's official digest. No predictions, no opinions.

When someone is convicted of threatening to kill or seriously injure an elections official, the court could use that threat as a reason to impose a tougher sentence
When someone is convicted of threatening to kill or seriously injure an elected local agency official, the court could use that threat as a reason to impose a tougher sentence
This applies to elections officials and elected officials at the city, county, or public district level
The underlying crime (threatening death or great bodily injury) remains punishable as a misdemeanor or felony—this bill only expands what factors a court may consider during sentencing

Who's lobbying this bill

41 organizations reported lobbying activity mentioning this bill. California disclosures don't say which side an organization is on, only that they paid to influence it. Amounts shown are payments to lobbying firms where the filing discloses them.

Solano, County Of

paid to lobbying firms, quarters naming this bill · 4 filings

$169K

Marin, County Of

paid to lobbying firms, quarters naming this bill · 3 filings

$92K

La Verne, City Of

paid to lobbying firms, quarters naming this bill · 4 filings

$70K

What you do with this is up to you. BallotBase doesn't rate, rank, or endorse candidates or measures. Every number on this page comes from official disclosure filings, cited below.

Sources

Bill text and Legislative Counsel's Digest: California Legislative Information (leginfo).
Lobbying activity: quarterly lobbying disclosures (Forms 625/635) filed with the California Secretary of State (Cal-Access).

Explainer text is generated from the official source text above and reviewed for neutrality: it describes only what the text says, in conditional terms, with no evaluations or predictions. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it.

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