---
type: "Bill"
title: "Evidence: immigration status."
description: "Existing law provides that all relevant evidence is admissible in an action before the court, including evidence relevant to the credibility of a witness or hearsay declarant, subject to specified exceptions."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 2159"
citation: "California AB 2159 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Evidence: immigration status."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gonzalez"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2016-02-17"
last_action: "2016-08-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4e3c6b75-5ed8-45a9-a457-5862e36652d5"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2159"
source_hash: "ee80cd7787f78739090b4543fbaa8333115653239f125f799c2da93a3fd8ee8e"
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 2159 (20152016) — Evidence: immigration status.

Existing law provides that all relevant evidence is admissible in an action before the court, including evidence relevant to the credibility of a witness or hearsay declarant, subject to specified exceptions.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2159&version=20150AB215999INT)
2. **03/31/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2159&version=20150AB215998AMD)
3. **08/17/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2159&version=20150AB215996CHP)
4. **AB2159** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2159)
5. **08/03/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2159&version=20150AB215997ENR)

## Votes

- AB 2159 GONZALEZ Assembly Third Reading — **53–20** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **8–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2159 Gonzalez By Hall — **28–11** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Gonzalez — primary (person)
- Bonta — author (person)
- Medina — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-02-18** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2016-02-29** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-30** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 8. Noes 1.) (March 29). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-03-31** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-04-04** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-04-07** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 53. Noes 20. Page 4229.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-07** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-04-28** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (June 14). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-06-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 28. Noes 11. Page 4726.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-02** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2016-08-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
- **2016-08-17** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-08-17** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 132, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4e3c6b75-5ed8-45a9-a457-5862e36652d5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).