Did AB 1509 Pass in California? Firearm Enhancements and SB 620

No. California’s AB 1509 did not pass. The bill, which would have slashed firearm sentence enhancements to a small fraction of their current levels, died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on January 31, 2022, without a floor vote in either chamber.¹ California’s “10-20-life” enhancement scheme remains in effect, and a person who personally uses a gun during a qualifying felony still faces 10, 20, or 25 years to life in additional prison time on top of the base sentence.

What AB 1509 Would Have Changed

Introduced during the 2021–2022 session, AB 1509 proposed cutting the three main firearm enhancements down to the bone. The 10-year enhancement for personally using a firearm would have dropped to 1 year. The 20-year enhancement for intentionally firing a gun would have dropped to 2 years. The 25-years-to-life enhancement for firing a gun and causing great bodily injury or death would have dropped to 3 years.²

The bill also would have repealed several other firearm enhancements outright, including those for being armed during a felony, being armed during a gang crime, and furnishing a firearm to help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. It carried a retroactive resentencing provision: anyone serving time under the old enhancement terms as of December 31, 2021, could have petitioned for recall and resentencing under the reduced framework.² None of that happened. The bill stalled in Appropriations and was never revived.

The Firearm Enhancements Still in Force

Because AB 1509 failed, Penal Code 12022.53, the “10-20-life” statute, is unchanged. It adds mandatory consecutive prison time on top of the sentence for the underlying felony. The enhancements apply to a specific list of serious felonies, including murder, robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, and certain sex offenses.

10 years for personally using a firearm during a qualifying felony. The gun does not have to be loaded or even 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 during a qualifying felony.

These terms run consecutively, so they stack on top of the base sentence. A robbery with a 5-year base sentence becomes a minimum 25-year sentence if the defendant personally fired the gun, even where no one was hurt. If someone was seriously injured, the enhancement by itself is 25 years to life.³

Two other enhancement statutes also remain active. Penal Code 12022 adds 1 year of consecutive prison time for being armed with a firearm during any felony, whether or not the weapon is used, and the enhancement can reach any principal in the crime if a co-participant was armed. If the firearm is an assault weapon, machinegun, or .50 BMG rifle, the term rises to 3 years.⁴ Penal Code 12022.5 covers personally using a firearm during a felony that isn’t on the 12022.53 list; the enhancement is 3, 4, or 10 years at the court’s choice.⁵

How Judges Can Now Reduce or Strike Enhancements

AB 1509 would have cut the enhancements across the board. It failed, but two earlier reforms did pass, and together they give judges meaningful power to shrink or eliminate firearm enhancements case by case.

SB 620 Gave Judges the Power to Strike

Before 2018, a judge who heard a jury find a firearm enhancement true had no choice but to impose the full additional term. 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. The authority also applies at any later resentencing hearing.³

SB 81 Tilted the Analysis Toward Dismissal

SB 81, effective January 1, 2022, amended Penal Code 1385 to list nine mitigating factors that “weigh greatly” in favor of dismissing an enhancement. Several apply directly to firearm cases:⁶

If applying the enhancement would push the total sentence past 20 years, the enhancement must be dismissed. The 10-20-life floors trigger this often.
If more than one enhancement is charged in the same case, all enhancements beyond the first must be dismissed.
If the enhancement would produce a racially discriminatory effect under Penal Code 745, dismissal is favored.
If the firearm was inoperable or unloaded, dismissal is favored.
If the offense is connected to mental illness, childhood trauma, or prior victimization, dismissal is favored.
If the defendant was a minor at the time of the offense, dismissal is favored.

A court can still decline to dismiss if it finds that doing so would endanger public safety, meaning a likelihood of physical injury or other serious danger to others.⁶ That exception sets a high bar. On a case-by-case basis, these two statutes accomplish some of what AB 1509 aimed to do at the wholesale level.

Can Someone Already Sentenced Seek Relief?

This is where the failure of AB 1509 bites hardest. The retroactive petition process it envisioned does not exist. People serving old firearm-enhanced sentences have narrower options.

Penal Code 12022.53(h) lets a court strike a firearm enhancement at any resentencing that happens under other laws, but it does not by itself create a right to petition.³ A separate legal basis is needed to get back before a judge, such as a referral from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or a recommendation from the district attorney.

Penal Code 1172.75 does provide automatic resentencing review, but only for sentences that include prior prison term enhancements under Penal Code 667.5(b) that SB 136 rendered invalid.⁷ It does not cover firearm enhancements. SB 483 likewise authorized resentencing for enhancements repealed under SB 180 and SB 136, not for firearm enhancements under Penal Code 12022.53.

The practical result: someone who received a 10, 20, or 25-to-life firearm enhancement before SB 620 took effect in 2018 has limited paths. A habeas corpus petition arguing changed law, a CDCR or district attorney recall referral, or a direct appeal raising issues about the enhancement finding are the usual routes. Once a resentencing hearing is obtained through any of these mechanisms, the court can apply its discretion under 12022.53(h) and the mitigating factor framework of 1385(c). Getting through the door is the hard part.

What This Means If You’re Facing Charges Now

For a defendant charged today with a felony that triggers a firearm enhancement, the law AB 1509 would have replaced is still the law that will be read at sentencing. The base enhancements are 10, 20, or 25 to life. The difference is that the sentencing judge is no longer required to impose them.

The outcome often turns on how well the mitigating factors in Penal Code 1385(c) are developed before sentencing. Documentation of mental health history, childhood trauma, the defendant’s age at the time of the offense, whether the gun was loaded or operable, and the total length of the proposed sentence can each shift the analysis toward dismissal. Because the statute requires courts to give these factors great weight, a sentencing memorandum that addresses them squarely can change the sentence by years, in some cases by decades.⁶

Judicial discretion also reshapes plea negotiations. A prosecutor who expects the court to strike a 10-year enhancement has more reason to resolve the case without alleging it in the first place. That leverage only works for a defendant whose counsel can point to the specific statutory factors that apply.

1
California Legislative Information. Bill Status – AB 1509 Enhancements: Firearms
2
California Legislative Information. AB 1509 – Enhancements: Firearms
3
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 12022.53
4
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 12022
5
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 12022.5
6
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1385
7
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1172.75