---
type: "Bill"
title: "Mental health: sexually violent predators: trial: continuances."
description: "Existing law provides for the civil commitment of criminal offenders who have been determined to be sexually violent predators for treatment in a secure state hospital facility, as specified. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to refer a prisoner for evaluation by the State Department of State Hospitals when the secretary determines that the person may be a sexually violent predator and specifies the judicial processes necessary for civil commitment as a sexually violent predator, including, but not limited to, the right to a jury trial."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 303"
citation: "California AB 303 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Mental health: sexually violent predators: trial: continuances."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cervantes"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-01-29"
last_action: "2019-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/48a457d0-6318-4d43-8ee0-dc3d17b8b5b7"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB303"
source_hash: "8e54ff16964c281868c395a58b4d63d60be7111d04b2878999818d913797be27"
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 303 (20192020) — Mental health: sexually violent predators: trial: continuances.

Existing law provides for the civil commitment of criminal offenders who have been determined to be sexually violent predators for treatment in a secure state hospital facility, as specified. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to refer a prisoner for evaluation by the State Department of State Hospitals when the secretary determines that the person may be a sexually violent predator and specifies the judicial processes necessary for civil commitment as a sexually violent predator, including, but not limited to, the right to a jury trial.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/29/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB303&version=20190AB30399INT)
2. **04/23/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB303&version=20190AB30398AMD)
3. **08/30/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB303&version=20190AB30397AMD)
4. **10/08/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB303&version=20190AB30395CHP)
5. **AB303** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB303)
6. **09/10/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB303&version=20190AB30396ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB303 Cervantes By Stern — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 303 Cervantes Assembly Third Reading — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 303 Cervantes Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Cervantes — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-29** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-01-30** From printer. May be heard in committee March 1.
- **2019-02-07** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-22** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 9). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-04-23** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-24** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-01** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1793.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-29** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-18** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 18). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-01** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-08-30** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 30). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-08-30** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2559.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-06** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 8 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-09-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3138.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 606, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/48a457d0-6318-4d43-8ee0-dc3d17b8b5b7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).