Bill
AB 417
Expedited court orders allow testing for communicable diseases when the alleged act involved a public safety worker, prosecutor, or correctional staff, with costs paid as restituti
Status: Assembly Bill (2025). Includes Assembly Substitute Amendment 2 (A.S.A. 2). (Digest and amendment memo published Oct 10, 2025.)
Purpose
- Establish an expedited (emergency) court procedure allowing a district attorney to obtain an order requiring a person to submit immediately to testing for communicable diseases when the alleged victim is a public safety worker, a prosecutor, or correctional staff and the DA shows probable cause that the act involved the person’s bodily fluids and carried a risk of disease transmission.
- Preserve existing law’s procedures for other victim categories (e.g., prisoner-on-prisoner or visitor-to-prison incidents).
Key provisions
- New, separate expedited process (Assembly Substitute Amendment 2):
- Who may apply: the district attorney (DA) on behalf of an eligible victim.
- When: the DA may apply at any time — even before formal criminal proceedings begin.
- Standard to apply: probable cause that (1) the act or alleged act constitutes a crime; (2) the act involved the person’s blood, semen, vomit, saliva, urine, feces, or other bodily substance; and (3) requiring testing may prevent a public safety worker, prosecutor, or correctional staff member from experiencing bodily harm.
- Waiver and timing: the DA may request a waiver of the normal hearing requirements; the court must hear the application immediately and must grant the emergency order if it finds the probable-cause requirements are met and that expediting testing will prevent bodily harm.
- Testing: ordered tests are administered by a health-care professional to detect communicable diseases potentially transmitted by the alleged act.
- Restitution: if the person is later convicted of the crime for which the testing order was issued, the court must require the person to pay the costs of the testing as restitution.
Who is affected
- Alleged offenders accused of crimes that involved the expulsion or transfer of bodily fluids.
- Victims who are public safety workers, prosecutors, or correctional staff — they gain access to a faster testing route.
- District attorneys — gain authority to seek emergency testing orders and to request waiver of normal hearing timelines.
- Courts — required to hear such emergency applications immediately and make expedited probable-cause determinations.
- Health-care providers and public health agencies — responsible for performing ordered tests.
- Convicted defendants — potentially liable to reimburse testing costs as restitution.
Procedural/timeline points
- Current-law requirement of at least 72 hours’ notice for hearings (in non-expedited cases) is effectively bypassed when an emergency order is sought and the court waives normal hearing requirements.
- The court must hear the emergency application immediately and may enter an immediate test order if statutory conditions are met.
- The DA may apply regardless of whether formal criminal charges have been filed.
Potential impacts and considerations
- Public-safety benefit: faster identification of possible communicable disease risks to public safety personnel and prosecutors.
- Due-process and privacy concerns: expedited procedure narrows time for defendant notice and hearing; the bill uses a probable-cause judicial check but limits normal procedural timelines in emergency cases.
- Cost recovery: places testing costs on convicted defendants as restitution, shifting financial burden only on those later found guilty.
- Scope limitation: the expedited process applies only when the alleged victim is a public safety worker, prosecutor, or correctional staff; other victim contexts remain governed by existing law.
Status of amendment
- Assembly Substitute Amendment 2 creates the separate expedited process limited to public safety / prosecution / correctional staff victims and adds the restitution requirement for convicted defendants.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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