Senate Bill 672, the Youth Rehabilitation and Opportunity Act, passed the California Senate on Tuesday with a 24-11 vote along party lines. If enacted, the bill would allow inmates sentenced to life without parole to apply for early release—provided their crimes were committed before the age of 26.
Democratic Sen. Susan Rubio introduced the bill, which has since been amended to exclude individuals convicted of certain crimes, such as killing a law enforcement officer or carrying out a school mass shooting. The proposal now moves to the state Assembly for consideration.
Republicans strongly opposed the measure, calling it a dangerous policy that helps criminals over victims.
Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones slammed the bill, saying, “Democrat lawmakers across the aisle have proven time and time again they don’t care about the victim or their family. They don’t care about keeping the public safe. They care about defending killers.”
Jones added, “Democrats just opened the prison gates for over 1,600 cold-blooded killers.”
Sen. Kelly Seyarto echoed those concerns: “This bill isn’t about second chances for petty offenders. It grants opportunity for release to some of the most violent criminals. These individuals were sentenced to life without parole for crimes so extreme that the justice system deemed them beyond rehabilitation. Instead of weakening our justice system, we should be focusing on strengthening public safety and protecting Californians.”
Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil criticized the bill’s premise, arguing that the individuals in question “earned their sentence” and that lawmakers should not undermine the decisions of judges and juries. “We’re not talking about children who committed a ‘youthful indiscretion’; these are adults who committed planned murders with special circumstances,” she said. “We say kill this bill, not free these killers.”
On social media, State Assembly Republican Caucus press secretary George Andrews called the measure a “get-out-of-prison plan” for convicted murderers under the age of 26.
Crime Victims United also voiced strong opposition in a letter to Rubio, warning that the bill “threatens public safety and ignores the rights of crime victims and their families, as well as the efforts of local law enforcement, district attorneys, jurors, and the legal processes and resources that resulted in their conviction and sentence.”
Despite the criticism, the bill states that victims’ rights at parole hearings will remain unchanged under the proposal.
Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher pledged to fight the bill in the next legislative stage. “This is what happens when soft-on-crime activists make the rules,” Gallagher said. “They’re bending over backwards to help murderers while families are still grieving. These aren’t kids. They’re violent adults who earned life without parole. We’re going to kill this bill in the Assembly and make sure California doesn’t become a sanctuary for violent offenders.”
