---
type: "Bill"
title: "Evidence: immigration status."
description: "Existing law provides that all relevant evidence is admissible in an action before the court, including evidence relevant to the credibility of a witness or hearsay declaring, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law also provides that, in civil actions for personal injury or wrongful death, evidence of a person's immigration status is not admissible and discovery of a person's immigration status is not permitted."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 785"
citation: "California SB 785 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Evidence: immigration status."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wiener"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 30
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-02-17"
last_action: "2018-05-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6ea16447-927a-44c7-b98e-ff91c7f457ac"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785"
source_hash: "3a1394d0c1e0daac0e6da7587478888bc7788bf78ce1a5092945c3df046b10d5"
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 785 (20172018) — Evidence: immigration status.

Existing law provides that all relevant evidence is admissible in an action before the court, including evidence relevant to the credibility of a witness or hearsay declaring, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law also provides that, in civil actions for personal injury or wrongful death, evidence of a person's immigration status is not admissible and discovery of a person's immigration status is not permitted.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785&version=20170SB78599INT)
2. **03/12/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785&version=20170SB78594AMD)
3. **04/23/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785&version=20170SB78593AMD)
4. **05/04/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785&version=20170SB78598AMD)
5. **05/17/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785&version=20170SB78591CHP)
6. **05/23/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785&version=20170SB78597AMD)
7. **07/10/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785&version=20170SB78596AMD)
8. **08/22/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785&version=20170SB78595AMD)
9. **SB785** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785)
10. **05/11/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB785&version=20170SB78592ENR)

## Votes

- SB 785 Wiener Third Reading Urgency By GONZALEZ FLETCHER — **69–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **5–1** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB785 Wiener et al. Urgency Clause Concurrence — **31–6** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB785 Wiener et al. Urgency Clause — **32–7** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Wiener — primary (person)
- Chiu — coauthor (person)
- Gonzalez Fletcher — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-17** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-21** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 23.
- **2017-03-09** Referred to Coms. on JUD. and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-04** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-08** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2017-05-08** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-10** Re-referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-11** Set for hearing May 16.
- **2017-05-22** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 1093.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2017-05-23** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-06-29** Set for hearing July 18.
- **2017-07-10** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-08-21** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 1. Page 2114.) (July 18). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2017-08-22** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-08-28** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 32. Noes 7. Page 2260.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-08-28** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2017-09-05** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-06** March 6 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2018-03-12** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2018-03-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 20). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-04-02** April 3 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2018-04-19** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (April 17). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2018-04-23** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-04-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-30** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 69. Noes 1. Page 4940.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-04-30** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2018-05-10** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 31. Noes 6. Page 5006.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-05-15** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
- **2018-05-17** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-05-17** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 12, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6ea16447-927a-44c7-b98e-ff91c7f457ac`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).