---
type: "Bill"
title: "Small claims court: jurisdiction."
description: "Existing law specifies that the jurisdiction of the small claims court includes various actions in which the demand does not exceed $7,500, with specified exceptions."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "SB 221"
citation: "California SB 221 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Small claims court: jurisdiction."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Simitian"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 25
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2011-02-09"
last_action: "2011-07-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8cd8081f-e23b-4f17-91af-867553096202"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB221"
source_hash: "aa759e0d431a42de5b3f2ab56b95e27fee2359fb0ba90ccd3145006a92f67989"
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 221 (20112012) — Small claims court: jurisdiction.

Existing law specifies that the jurisdiction of the small claims court includes various actions in which the demand does not exceed $7,500, with specified exceptions.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/09/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB221&version=20110SB22199INT)
2. **05/02/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB221&version=20110SB22198AMD)
3. **05/17/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB221&version=20110SB22197AMD)
4. **05/19/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB221&version=20110SB22196AMD)
5. **07/08/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB221&version=20110SB22194CHP)
6. **SB221** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB221)
7. **06/28/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB221&version=20110SB22195ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 221 Simitian Consent Calendar Second Day — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Rules. — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Simitian — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-09** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2011-02-10** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 12.
- **2011-02-17** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-01** Set for hearing April 12.
- **2011-04-12** Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2011-04-29** Set for hearing May 10.
- **2011-05-02** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-2, reading-1, committee-passage, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-05-16** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on RLS. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 950.) (May 10). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-17** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-05-18** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2011-05-18** Ordered to third reading.
- **2011-05-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-19** Read third time and amended. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-05-19** Ordered to second reading.
- **2011-05-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-31** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1182.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-06-01** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-09** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-21** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 21). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-22** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-06-27** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2076.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-06-27** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2011-07-01** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m.
- **2011-07-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-07-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 64, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8cd8081f-e23b-4f17-91af-867553096202`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).