---
type: "Bill"
title: "Civil actions: interpreter costs: indigent."
description: "Existing law provides that in a civil action, the prevailing party, as defined, is generally entitled to recover specified costs in an action or proceeding. These costs include court interpreter fees when the court has authorized a court interpreter for an indigent person represented by a legal services project serving indigent persons. Existing law also defines a pro bono attorney as an attorney, law firm, or legal corporation that undertakes representation of a party without charge to that party."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 2684"
citation: "California AB 2684 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil actions: interpreter costs: indigent."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Committee on Judiciary"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2012-03-12"
last_action: "2012-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/819f0548-f575-4406-bbe9-0ae07f6d6323"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2684"
source_hash: "d1d1e524e0989a5626e808fc8039dd229564322c1ea8af53644e4855206938b1"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 2684 (20112012) — Civil actions: interpreter costs: indigent.

Existing law provides that in a civil action, the prevailing party, as defined, is generally entitled to recover specified costs in an action or proceeding. These costs include court interpreter fees when the court has authorized a court interpreter for an indigent person represented by a legal services project serving indigent persons. Existing law also defines a pro bono attorney as an attorney, law firm, or legal corporation that undertakes representation of a party without charge to that party.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **03/12/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2684&version=20110AB268499INT)
2. **05/08/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2684&version=20110AB268498AMD)
3. **09/29/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2684&version=20110AB268496CHP)
4. **AB2684** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2684)
5. **09/11/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2684&version=20110AB268497ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB2684 Committee on JUD. (Wieckowski) By Leno — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **8–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 2684 JUD. Assembly Third Reading By FEUER — **59–14** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Committee on Judiciary — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2012-03-12** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-03-13** From printer. May be heard in committee April 12.
- **2012-03-19** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-07** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 8. Noes 2.) (May 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-08** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-05-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-10** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 59. Noes 14. Page 4780.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-10** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-24** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-25** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2012-07-05** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 3). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-07-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 4953.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-29** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2012-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2012-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 758, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/819f0548-f575-4406-bbe9-0ae07f6d6323`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).