Pen. Code, § 4904 · Chapter 5. Indemnity for Persons Erroneously Convicted and Pardoned
Pen. Code, § 4904
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) If the evidence shows that the crime with which the claimant was charged was either not committed at all, or, if committed, was not committed by the claimant, or for claims pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 4900, the Attorney General’s office has not met their burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the claimant committed the acts constituting the offense, and the California Victim Compensation Board has found that the claimant has sustained injury through their erroneous conviction and imprisonment, the California Victim Compensation Board shall approve payment for the purpose of indemnifying the claimant for the injury if sufficient funds are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The amount of the payment shall be a sum equivalent to one hundred forty dollars ($140) per day of incarceration served, and shall include any time spent in custody, including in a county jail, that is considered to be part of the term of incarceration. Notwithstanding any other provision in this section, the California Victim Compensation Board, prior to approving payment, may request from both parties additional documents or arguments as needed to calculate compensation. That payment shall not be treated as gross income to the recipient under the Revenue and Taxation Code.
(b) (1) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2024, only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if an appropriation is made to backfill the Restitution Fund to support the actions in this section. If those conditions are met, this section is repealed January 1, 2025.
(2) The amendments made by the act adding this subdivision shall become operative on January 1, 2023.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended (as amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 771, Sec. 20) by Stats. 2023, Ch. 702, Sec. 5. (SB 78) Effective January 1, 2024. Conditionally inoperative July 1, 2024, as prescribed by its own provisions. Conditionally repealed January 1, 2025, as prescribed by its own provisions. See later operative version, as amended by Sec. 6 of Stats. 2023, Ch. 702.
Another version listed by the Legislative Counsel
Conditionally operative July 1, 2024, as prescribed by its own provisions.
(a) If the evidence shows that the crime with which the claimant was charged was either not committed at all, or, if committed, was not committed by the claimant, or for claims pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 4900, the Attorney General’s office has not met their burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the claimant committed the acts constituting the offense, and the California Victim Compensation Board has found that the claimant has sustained injury through their erroneous conviction and imprisonment, the California Victim Compensation Board shall approve payment for the purpose of indemnifying the claimant for the injury if sufficient funds are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature. Notwithstanding any other provision in this section, the California Victim Compensation Board, prior to approving payment, may request from both parties additional documents or arguments as needed to calculate compensation. The amount of the payment shall include the following:
(1) A sum equivalent to one hundred forty dollars ($140) per day of incarceration served solely as a result of the former conviction, and shall include any time spent in custody, including in a county jail, that is considered to be part of the term of incarceration.
(2) A sum equivalent to seventy dollars ($70) per day served on parole pursuant to Section 3000 or 3000.1 or on supervised release solely as a result of the former conviction.
(b) The amounts provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) shall be updated annually to reflect changes in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, West Region, commencing one year after this section becomes effective.
(c) Funds received by the claimant under this section shall not be treated as gross income to the recipient under the Revenue and Taxation Code.
(d) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2024, only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if an appropriation is made to backfill the Restitution Fund to support the actions in this section.
History (another version listed by the Legislative Counsel)
Amended (as added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 771, Sec. 21) by Stats. 2023, Ch. 702, Sec. 6. (SB 78) Effective January 1, 2024. Conditionally operative July 1, 2024, as prescribed by its own provisions.
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=PEN§ionNum=4904.
- Text hash
- sha256 3847bcedec24b36cf097161254e3040acc519223c88be5273f6d51e6c97aed0c
- 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
- the Legislative Counsel lists 2 versions of this section; the version shown is the one in force by its history, the other is under "Another version listed by the Legislative Counsel" (conditional)
- the version shown operates conditionally by its own provisions (its history says so)
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