(The Center Square) – The time for lifting restraining orders would be extended to 25 years in California if a new bill passes in the Golden State this year.
Senate Bill 1395, nicknamed “Kayleigh’s Law,” would increase the length of time for a restraining order from 10 years to 25 years, according to the bill author’s testimony during a Capitol hearing on Tuesday afternoon.
“In California today, a child who has already been through unimaginable trauma is forced to return to court over and over again, face their abuser and re-tell their story just to maintain basic protection,” Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Lancaster and the author of the bill, testified during the Senate Public Safety Committee meeting. “That is not justice.”
Recent amendments to the bill would allow a judge, at the time of sentencing, to issue a protective order for up to 25 years for felony sex offenses against minors, a change from the previous text of the bill, which would have allowed judges to grant permanent restraining orders. The most recent amendments also aim to make restraining orders longer so that survivors of those crimes don’t have to return to court multiple times to renew their restraining orders, which Valladares said re-traumatizes victims.
“Before amendments, this bill allowed for a lifetime protection,” Valladares testified. “That does remain a goal of Kayleigh and myself, both in California and nationally because if the threat doesn’t expire, the protection shouldn’t either.”
Kayleigh’s Law, which has passed in other states, was inspired by the experience of Kayleigh Kozak, who was sexually abused by her soccer coach as a child. According to NBC 12 News in Arizona, the coach was convicted and sentenced to lifetime probation. Kozak and her family got word in 2020 that he was petitioning to have the court lift his probation. “Kayleigh’s Law” passed in Arizona in 2022.
Efforts to get the law passed in California started two years later. In 2024, Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, tried to get Kayleigh’s Law passed, but it ultimately failed. Valladares introduced the bill again in 2025 – Senate Bill 421 – but it failed passage in committee on April 1, 2025. This year’s version of the bill was introduced in February 2026.
“As we know, women, who make up half our population, continue to face gender-based and sexual violence at disproportionately higher rates,” Katherine Squire, legislative analyst for the California Commission on Women and Girls, testified. “It can take tremendous courage and strength for survivors to come forward and face their abusers in court. It is unimaginable to consider what the long-term impacts are of having to repeatedly appear in court to re-justify their pain.”
Opponents of Kayleigh’s Law, however, testified on Tuesday that they took issue with the length of time restraining orders could be in place if the bill is passed.
“We appreciate the intention of protecting survivors of sexual violence, but we do not believe this bill is necessary given the sufficiency of existing law,” Alex Tuchman, deputy public defender for the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, testified. “The increase from 10 years is simply not needed.”
Opponents said there were logistical reasons for why the bill didn’t make sense.
“There are practical reasons why a 25-year protective order is not going to protect the victim,” Margo George, who spoke on behalf of the California Public Defender’s Association, testified. “To issue a protective order, the judge has to write on the protective order who the person is supposed to stay away from, and what location they’re supposed to stay away from, in order to give the notice.”
The Senate Public Safety Committee did not vote on the bill as of press time on Tuesday because there were not enough members of the committee to constitute a quorum.
