---
type: "Bill"
title: "Witness testimony: support persons."
description: "Existing law authorizes a prosecuting witness in cases involving specified crimes, including, among others, murder, kidnapping, robbery, assault, and rape, to have up to 2 persons of his or her own choosing for support at a preliminary hearing and at trial, or at a juvenile court proceeding, during the testimony of the prosecuting witness."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "SB 1091"
citation: "California SB 1091 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Witness testimony: support persons."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Pavley"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 16
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2012-02-15"
last_action: "2012-07-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c8ed04e3-d37c-4d04-b8e2-872e335b9ab2"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1091"
source_hash: "1ca930c1f522a1e8f714f36ed6e4d062d1df963994c1246a2d9c1bcf0333e4a2"
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 SB 1091 (20112012) — Witness testimony: support persons.

Existing law authorizes a prosecuting witness in cases involving specified crimes, including, among others, murder, kidnapping, robbery, assault, and rape, to have up to 2 persons of his or her own choosing for support at a preliminary hearing and at trial, or at a juvenile court proceeding, during the testimony of the prosecuting witness.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1091&version=20110SB109199INT)
2. **07/17/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1091&version=20110SB109197CHP)
3. **SB1091** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1091)
4. **07/03/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1091&version=20110SB109198ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 1091 Pavley Consent Calendar Second Day — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **6–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Pavley — primary (person)
- Lieu — author (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-15** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2012-02-16** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 17.
- **2012-03-01** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-13** Set for hearing April 17.
- **2012-04-18** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 3208.) (April 17). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-04-23** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 3241.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-04-23** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2012-06-14** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-26** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-07-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 5564.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-07-02** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2012-07-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2012-07-17** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-07-17** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 148, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c8ed04e3-d37c-4d04-b8e2-872e335b9ab2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).