Cal. PEN § 976

This is the official text of Cal. PEN § 976, part of California’s Penal Code — defines crimes and sets criminal procedure in California.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

(a) When the accusatory pleading is filed, the defendant shall be arraigned thereon before the court in which it is filed, unless the action is transferred to some other court for trial. However, within any county, if the defendant is in custody, upon the approval of both the presiding judge of the court in which the accusatory pleading is filed and the presiding judge of the court nearest to the place in which he or she is held in custody the arraignment may be before the court nearest to that place of custody.

(b) A defendant arrested in another county shall have the right to be taken before a magistrate in the arresting county for the purpose of being admitted to bail, as provided in Section 821 or 822. The defendant shall be informed of this right.

(c) Prior to being taken from the place where he or she is in custody to the place where he or she is to be arraigned, the defendent shall be allowed to make three completed telephone calls, at no expense to the defendant, in addition to any other telephone calls which the defendant is entitled to make pursuant to law.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.