---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal proceedings: mental competence."
description: "Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent. Existing law establishes a process by which a defendant's mental competency is evaluated, which includes requiring the court to appoint a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist, and any other expert the court may deem appropriate."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1962"
citation: "California AB 1962 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal proceedings: mental competence."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dodd"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2016-02-12"
last_action: "2016-09-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2d9f5aa9-938f-4296-935c-252e6088f8f3"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1962"
source_hash: "a2000f5ef35798cf6234d8bb865151edb86ae4c95a36cc2c01c70d76bb52ddac"
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 1962 (20152016) — Criminal proceedings: mental competence.

Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent. Existing law establishes a process by which a defendant's mental competency is evaluated, which includes requiring the court to appoint a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist, and any other expert the court may deem appropriate.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/12/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1962&version=20150AB196299INT)
2. **03/30/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1962&version=20150AB196298AMD)
3. **06/06/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1962&version=20150AB196297AMD)
4. **09/21/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1962&version=20150AB196295CHP)
5. **AB1962** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1962)
6. **08/25/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1962&version=20150AB196296ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1962 DODD Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1962 DODD Consent Calendar Second Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1962 Dodd By Pan — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **20–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Dodd — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-12** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-02-16** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2016-02-25** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-29** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2016-03-30** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-03-31** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-05** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 5). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-04-13** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (April 13). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-04-14** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-04-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 4463.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-21** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-05-05** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-01** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2016-08-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 11). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-18** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 5136.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-19** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 21 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-24** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 6189.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-31** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2016-09-21** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-21** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 405, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2d9f5aa9-938f-4296-935c-252e6088f8f3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).