---
type: "Bill"
title: "Accomplice liability for felony murder."
description: "Existing law defines murder as the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought. Existing law defines malice for this purpose as either express or implied and defines those terms."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 1437"
citation: "California SB 1437 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Accomplice liability for felony murder."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Skinner"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 27
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2018-02-16"
last_action: "2018-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6e22d5cb-18fa-45e6-9417-6fd20fc8bc7a"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1437"
source_hash: "ba5caf695ccd4018ee28884a67729625131e3226c810692c21e64c364841d8c4"
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 1437 (20172018) — Accomplice liability for felony murder.

Existing law defines murder as the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought. Existing law defines malice for this purpose as either express or implied and defines those terms.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1437&version=20170SB143799INT)
2. **05/25/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1437&version=20170SB143798AMD)
3. **08/20/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1437&version=20170SB143797AMD)
4. **09/30/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1437&version=20170SB143795CHP)
5. **SB1437** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1437)
6. **09/05/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1437&version=20170SB143796ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB1437 Skinner et al. Concurrence — **27–10** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **12–1** (pass) · lower
- SB 1437 Skinner Senate Third Reading By MEDINA — **42–36** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB1437 Skinner et al. — **26–11** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Skinner — primary (person)
- Anderson — author (person)
- Bonta — coauthor (person)
- Burke — coauthor (person)
- Gipson — principal coauthor (person)
- Medina — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-16** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2018-02-20** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 22.
- **2018-03-08** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-06** Set for hearing April 24.
- **2018-04-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1. Page 4820.) (April 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-04-27** Set for hearing May 7.
- **2018-05-07** May 7 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2018-05-08** Set for hearing May 14.
- **2018-05-14** May 14 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2018-05-18** Set for hearing May 25.
- **2018-05-25** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 4310.) (May 25). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2018-05-25** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-05-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-30** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 26. Noes 11. Page 4393.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-05-31** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2018-06-11** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (June 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-08-08** August 8 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2018-08-16** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 1.) (August 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2018-08-20** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-08-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-29** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 42. Noes 36. Page 6925.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-29** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2018-08-30** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 27. Noes 10. Page 6034.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-09-07** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2018-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 1015, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6e22d5cb-18fa-45e6-9417-6fd20fc8bc7a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).