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Gov. Code, § 68645.4 · Article 7. Ability to Pay Program

Gov. Code, § 68645.4

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) A court may offer trials by declaration through an online tool for all infractions for which a personal appearance is not required. If a court offers online trials pursuant to this section, all of the following shall apply, notwithstanding Section 40902 of the Vehicle Code:

(1) A defendant shall elect to have an online trial prior to the appearance date indicated on the notice to appear, unless the court grants the defendant an extension, or the court permits the defendant to have a trial at a later date.

(2) If a defendant elects to have a trial through the online tool pursuant to this section, the court shall not require the defendant to submit bail in advance, unless the court makes express findings as to why a particular defendant shall be required to submit bail.

(3) Testimony and other relevant evidence may be introduced in the form of a notice to appear, a business record or receipt, a sworn declaration of the arresting officer, and a sworn declaration by the defendant.

(4) If a defendant elects to have a trial through the online tool pursuant to this section, the defendant shall not have a right to a trial de novo.

(b) If a court elects to offer online trials pursuant to this section, it shall also make trials by written declaration available to defendants, and paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive, of subdivision (a) shall apply to all trials by written declaration.

(c) A court may adopt local rules or forms to be consistent with this section, and the rules and forms shall govern proceedings pursuant to this section unless the Judicial Council adopts rules of court or forms for purposes of this article.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 57, Sec. 8. (AB 199) Effective June 30, 2022.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&sectionNum=68645.4.
Text hash
sha256 0012184ced3362d550e5c55067e58d57487e98b18832fa4be828b729d916b7cd
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

This section cites

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Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.