Pen. Code, § 688.5 · . PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
Pen. Code, § 688.5
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A city, county, or city and county, including an attorney acting on behalf of a city, county, or city and county, shall not charge a defendant for the costs of investigation, prosecution, or appeal in a criminal case, including, but not limited to, a criminal violation of a local ordinance. This prohibition shall not apply in any civil action or civil proceeding.
(b) This section shall not apply to any of the following:
(1) A violation of Section 186.8, 186.11, or 670.
(2) Costs ordered by a court pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 17062 of the Health and Safety Code.
(3) A violation of Section 1871.4 of the Insurance Code.
(4) A violation of Section 3700.5 of the Labor Code.
(5) A violation of Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
(6) A violation of Section 2126 of the Unemployment Insurance Code.
(7) A violation of any other provision of state law where recovery of the costs of investigation, prosecution, or appeal in a criminal case is specifically authorized by statute or ordered by a court. This paragraph does not apply to a local ordinance.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to affect the authority of a probation department to assess and collect fees or other charges authorized by statute.
(d) For the purposes of this section, the term “costs” means the salary, fees, and hourly rate paid to attorneys, law enforcement, and inspectors for hours spent either investigating or enforcing the charged crime. Costs shall not include the cost, including oversight, to remediate, abate, restore, or otherwise clean-up harms caused by criminal conduct.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 264, Sec. 1. (AB 2495) Effective January 1, 2019.
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=688.5.
- Text hash
- sha256 de2999537f271cd91522f1ff0044eca64e847ad5a5a549ce185337b901661bd8
- 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
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Health and Safety Code
Penal Code
Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 19542.3Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 19701Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 19701.5Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 19705Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 19706Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 19720Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 19721Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 30165.1Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 30482Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 38800Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 46701Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 46702Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 46704Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
- Rev. & Tax. Code, § 46705Printed as Section 19542.3, 19701, 19701.5, 19705, 19706, 19720, 19721, 30165.1, 30482, 38800, 46701, 46702, 46704, or 46705 of the Revenue and Taxation Code
Unemployment Insurance Code
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