---
type: "Bill"
title: "Postmortem examinations or autopsies: forensic pathologists."
description: "Existing law requires a county coroner to inquire into and determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of certain deaths. Existing law either requires or authorizes a county coroner, under certain circumstances, to perform, or cause to be performed, an autopsy on a decedent. Existing law imposes certain requirements on a postmortem examination or autopsy conducted at the discretion of a coroner, medical examiner, or other agency upon an unidentified body or human remains. Existing law requires the coroner to perform an autopsy pursuant to a standardized protocol developed by the State Department of Public Health in any case where an infant has died suddenly and unexpectedly."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 1189"
citation: "California SB 1189 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Postmortem examinations or autopsies: forensic pathologists."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Pan"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 32
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2016-02-18"
last_action: "2016-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a8f18100-7c0b-476a-b513-f0a58e14dc9e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189"
source_hash: "00a88d3bc5bf2313d5b0fc39d1bf04628d5be3c478576ea8ae72e2a23ed0a3ee"
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 1189 (20152016) — Postmortem examinations or autopsies: forensic pathologists.

Existing law requires a county coroner to inquire into and determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of certain deaths. Existing law either requires or authorizes a county coroner, under certain circumstances, to perform, or cause to be performed, an autopsy on a decedent. Existing law imposes certain requirements on a postmortem examination or autopsy conducted at the discretion of a coroner, medical examiner, or other agency upon an unidentified body or human remains. Existing law requires the coroner to perform an autopsy pursuant to a standardized protocol developed by the State Department of Public Health in any case where an infant has died suddenly and unexpectedly.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/18/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189&version=20150SB118999INT)
2. **03/28/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189&version=20150SB118998AMD)
3. **04/13/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189&version=20150SB118997AMD)
4. **04/26/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189&version=20150SB118996AMD)
5. **06/22/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189&version=20150SB118995AMD)
6. **08/03/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189&version=20150SB118994AMD)
7. **08/19/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189&version=20150SB118993AMD)
8. **09/28/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189&version=20150SB118991CHP)
9. **SB1189** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189)
10. **08/26/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1189&version=20150SB118992ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **24–14** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB1189 Pan Concurrence — **38–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–2** (pass) · upper
- SB 1189 Pan Senate Third Reading By IRWIN — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 1189 Pan Senate Third Reading Amendment Set #1 — **73–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Pan — primary (person)
- Irwin — coauthor (person)
- Jackson — author (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-18** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2016-02-19** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 20.
- **2016-03-03** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-17** Set for hearing April 13.
- **2016-03-28** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-06** April 13 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2016-04-07** Set for hearing April 20.
- **2016-04-13** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-25** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2. Page 3646.) (April 20). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-04-26** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-13** Set for hearing May 23.
- **2016-05-23** May 23 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2016-05-24** Set for hearing May 27.
- **2016-05-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 4005.) (May 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-06-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 24. Noes 14. Page 4121.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-02** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2016-06-13** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-22** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-03** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-03** August 3 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2016-08-10** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 19. Noes 0.) (August 10). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-19** Read third time and amended. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 5955.) `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-19** Ordered to third reading.
- **2016-08-23** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 6077.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-23** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2016-08-24** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 38. Noes 1. Page 5373.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.
- **2016-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 787, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a8f18100-7c0b-476a-b513-f0a58e14dc9e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).