---
type: "Bill"
title: "DNA evidence."
description: "Existing law establishes the Sexual Assault Victims' DNA Bill of Rights, which, among other things, encourages a law enforcement agency assigned to investigate specified sexual assault offenses to perform DNA testing of rape kit evidence or other crime scene evidence in a timely manner to ensure the longest possible statute of limitations. Existing law also requires a law enforcement agency to inform victims of certain unsolved sexual assault offenses if the law enforcement agency elects not to analyze DNA evidence within certain time limits."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 41"
citation: "California AB 41 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["DNA evidence."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chiu"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 27
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2016-12-05"
last_action: "2017-10-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c4d00172-f188-4cd6-a578-3c185e0d7ee2"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB41"
source_hash: "11a66c606f1933334227ce0b0232cd90903d6de48ca2c240de30ce0d594f58cc"
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 41 (20172018) — DNA evidence.

Existing law establishes the Sexual Assault Victims' DNA Bill of Rights, which, among other things, encourages a law enforcement agency assigned to investigate specified sexual assault offenses to perform DNA testing of rape kit evidence or other crime scene evidence in a timely manner to ensure the longest possible statute of limitations. Existing law also requires a law enforcement agency to inform victims of certain unsolved sexual assault offenses if the law enforcement agency elects not to analyze DNA evidence within certain time limits.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/05/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB41&version=20170AB4199INT)
2. **03/27/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB41&version=20170AB4198AMD)
3. **09/01/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB41&version=20170AB4197AMD)
4. **09/08/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB41&version=20170AB4196AMD)
5. **10/12/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB41&version=20170AB4194CHP)
6. **AB41** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB41)
7. **09/15/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB41&version=20170AB4195ENR)

## Votes

- Special Consent Calendar # AB41 — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 41 Chiu Special Consent Calendar 1st Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 41 CHIU Assembly Third Reading — **74–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chiu — primary (person)
- Acosta — coauthor (person)
- Anderson — coauthor (person)
- Atkins — coauthor (person)
- Baker — coauthor (person)
- Berman — coauthor (person)
- Cannella — coauthor (person)
- Cristina Garcia — coauthor (person)
- Gloria — coauthor (person)
- Hill — coauthor (person)
- Jackson — coauthor (person)
- Lackey — coauthor (person)
- Maienschein — coauthor (person)
- Mayes — coauthor (person)
- Skinner — principal coauthor (person)
- Waldron — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-05** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-12-06** From printer. May be heard in committee January 5.
- **2017-01-19** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2017-03-01** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (February 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-03-27** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-28** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-05** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 5). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-04-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-04-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 1261.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-04-27** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-10** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-26** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-01** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (September 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-09-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-08** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-12** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2017-09-14** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2912.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-14** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2017-09-14** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2017-09-14** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3421.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2017-10-12** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-12** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 694, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c4d00172-f188-4cd6-a578-3c185e0d7ee2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).