---
type: "Bill"
title: "State hospital commitment: compassionate release."
description: "Existing law requires, when a defendant pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, that a jury determine whether the defendant was sane or insane at the time the offense was committed. Under existing law, if a defendant is found to be not guilty by reason of insanity, the court is required to commit the person to a state hospital, or a public or private treatment facility, or place him or her on outpatient status, as specified. Existing law, subject to exceptions, authorizes the release of a prisoner from state prison if the court finds that the prisoner is terminally ill with an incurable condition caused by an illness or disease that would produce death within 6 months, as determined by a physician employed by the department, and that conditions under which the prisoner would be released or receive treatment do not pose a threat to public safety."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 955"
citation: "California SB 955 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["State hospital commitment: compassionate release."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Beall"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 33
vote_count: 12
first_action: "2016-02-04"
last_action: "2016-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7a540678-bc06-4f9a-a9fe-4a710ffda711"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955"
source_hash: "a00fa02960b4c069a353068cd0602bc583db0fb489c8df55adeaad38384649eb"
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 955 (20152016) — State hospital commitment: compassionate release.

Existing law requires, when a defendant pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, that a jury determine whether the defendant was sane or insane at the time the offense was committed. Under existing law, if a defendant is found to be not guilty by reason of insanity, the court is required to commit the person to a state hospital, or a public or private treatment facility, or place him or her on outpatient status, as specified. Existing law, subject to exceptions, authorizes the release of a prisoner from state prison if the court finds that the prisoner is terminally ill with an incurable condition caused by an illness or disease that would produce death within 6 months, as determined by a physician employed by the department, and that conditions under which the prisoner would be released or receive treatment do not pose a threat to public safety.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/04/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955&version=20150SB95599INT)
2. **03/28/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955&version=20150SB95598AMD)
3. **04/04/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955&version=20150SB95597AMD)
4. **04/26/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955&version=20150SB95596AMD)
5. **06/22/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955&version=20150SB95595AMD)
6. **06/23/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955&version=20150SB95594AMD)
7. **08/01/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955&version=20150SB95593AMD)
8. **09/27/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955&version=20150SB95591CHP)
9. **SB955** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955)
10. **09/02/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB955&version=20150SB95592ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 955 Beall Senate Third Reading By JONES-SAWYER — **50–24** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Public Safety] — **10–3** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB955 Beall Concurrence — **27–12** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **24–13** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **14–6** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Public Safety] — **7–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- [05-27-2016] set for [First] hearing: Reconsideration of favorable vote granted — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Beall — primary (person)
- Hancock — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-04** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2016-02-05** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 6.
- **2016-02-18** Referred to Coms. on HEALTH and PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-17** Set for hearing March 30.
- **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`
- **2016-03-31** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. (Ayes 7. Noes 2. Page 3335.) (March 30). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-04-04** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-07** Set for hearing April 19.
- **2016-04-25** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 3612.) (April 19). `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`
- **2016-04-29** Set for hearing May 9.
- **2016-05-09** May 9 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2016-05-20** Set for hearing May 27.
- **2016-05-27** May 27 set for first hearing. Held in committee. Reconsideration of favorable vote granted.
- **2016-05-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 4000.) (May 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-31** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 24. Noes 13. Page 4039.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-01** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2016-06-06** Referred to Coms. on HEALTH and PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-14** June 14 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2016-06-21** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. (Ayes 10. Noes 3.) (June 21). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-06-22** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-23** 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 6. Noes 1.) (June 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-01** 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** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 6.) (August 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-04** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-22** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 50. Noes 24. Page 6015.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-29** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2016-08-30** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 27. Noes 12. Page 5513.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-09-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2016-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 715, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7a540678-bc06-4f9a-a9fe-4a710ffda711`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).