No. California ended narcotics offender registration. Every registration requirement under the old law was terminated effective January 1, 2020, so there is nothing to register, renew, or update.

What the old law required, and what changed

Before the change, a person convicted in California, or in another state under certain circumstances, of specified controlled substance offenses had to register with the chief of police of their city, or with the sheriff if they lived in an unincorporated area. Registration meant a signed written statement, fingerprints, and a photograph, which the police or sheriff forwarded to the Department of Justice, and knowingly violating the requirement was a misdemeanor.

Assembly Bill 1261 (Stats. 2019, ch. 580) deleted that requirement, repealing Health and Safety Code section 11590 and related sections of the same article. The change took effect January 1, 2020. Health and Safety Code section 11594 now says that all registration requirements in the old article, “as it read on January 1, 2019, are terminated.”

If you registered before the repeal

AB 1261 did not order old registration records destroyed. Instead, section 11594 limits who may see them: the statements, photographs, and fingerprints obtained under the old law “are not open to inspection by the public or by any person other than a regularly employed peace or other law enforcement officer.” The Legislature adopted that limit “to maintain the privacy of individuals who have previously been subject to registration requirements” (AB 1261, section 10).

So if you registered years ago, the old filing is not a public record, and there is no longer any duty to register again or update the old registration.

What the repeal does not change

Ending the registration duty is narrow. It does not:

  • Erase, seal, or dismiss the underlying drug conviction. Relief for the conviction itself is a separate process.
  • Affect any other registration law, such as sex offender registration under Penal Code section 290.

If you are unsure what applies to your record

An old plea form, probation paper, or a relative’s memory can still describe the pre-2020 duty, so confirm what, if anything, follows from your particular conviction today. Attorneys at the Law Offices of David S. Chesley can look at your record and explain which consequences of a past drug conviction still apply. Call (800) 755-5174 with questions about your situation.