--- type: "Bill" title: "Civil actions: appointment of guardian ad litem." description: "Existing law authorizes a court to appoint a guardian ad litem to appear in a proceeding on behalf of a party who is a minor, a person who lacks legal capacity to make decisions, or a person for whom a conservator has been appointed, and establishes procedures for the appointed of a guardian ad litem. Existing law requires the title of the complaint in a civil action to include the names of all parties to the action." jurisdiction: "us/states/ca" legislature: "California Legislature" session: "20172018" identifier: "AB 2185" citation: "California AB 2185 (20172018)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["Civil actions: appointment of guardian ad litem."] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Chiu"] version_count: 9 action_count: 25 vote_count: 5 first_action: "2018-02-12" last_action: "2018-09-27" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/80bc53d2-6f07-4d8a-8e26-abddaea13514" source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185" source_hash: "9141452ec5707851a6d94d008e1cf6546f61e5e1c03935d30a3f2fe0808564d6" 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 2185 (20172018) — Civil actions: appointment of guardian ad litem. Existing law authorizes a court to appoint a guardian ad litem to appear in a proceeding on behalf of a party who is a minor, a person who lacks legal capacity to make decisions, or a person for whom a conservator has been appointed, and establishes procedures for the appointed of a guardian ad litem. Existing law requires the title of the complaint in a civil action to include the names of all parties to the action. ## Version chain The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment. 1. **02/12/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185&version=20170AB218599INT) 2. **03/15/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185&version=20170AB218598AMD) 3. **04/09/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185&version=20170AB218597AMD) 4. **05/17/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185&version=20170AB218596AMD) 5. **06/25/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185&version=20170AB218595AMD) 6. **08/23/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185&version=20170AB218594AMD) 7. **09/27/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185&version=20170AB218592CHP) 8. **AB2185** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185) 9. **08/31/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2185&version=20170AB218593ENR) ## Votes - AB 2185 CHIU Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–2** (pass) · lower - Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper - AB 2185 CHIU Assembly Third Reading — **61–6** (pass) · lower - Do pass. — **8–2** (pass) · lower - 3rd Reading AB2185 Chiu By Monning — **29–7** (pass) · upper ## Sponsors - Chiu — primary (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2018-02-12** Read first time. To print. `reading-1` - **2018-02-13** From printer. May be heard in committee March 15. - **2018-03-15** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee` - **2018-03-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1` - **2018-03-19** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee` - **2018-04-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1` - **2018-04-10** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee` - **2018-04-17** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 8. Noes 2.) (April 17). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage` - **2018-04-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1` - **2018-05-17** Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 5203.) `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1` - **2018-05-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 61. Noes 6. Page 5238.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1` - **2018-05-22** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1` - **2018-05-30** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee` - **2018-06-18** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. - **2018-06-25** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction` - **2018-07-03** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (July 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage` - **2018-07-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1` - **2018-08-23** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1` - **2018-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1` - **2018-08-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 7. Page 5825.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1` - **2018-08-27** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 29 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77. - **2018-08-29** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 2. Page 6869.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage` - **2018-09-06** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m. - **2018-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature` - **2018-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 817, Statutes of 2018. ## Source OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/80bc53d2-6f07-4d8a-8e26-abddaea13514`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).