---
type: "Bill"
title: "Estates and trusts: instrument."
description: "Existing law defines \"instrument\" for purposes of the Probate Code to mean a will, trust, deed, or other writing that designates a beneficiary or makes a donative transfer of property. Existing law, the Trust Law, regulates the creation, modification, and termination of trusts and the administration of trusts by trustees on behalf of beneficiaries."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 308"
citation: "California SB 308 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Estates and trusts: instrument."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jones"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-02-15"
last_action: "2019-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2166c94a-2377-4417-85a3-6f30ade03e32"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB308"
source_hash: "cca94d2556d96971f6c7320eb3a227c1b894c1a75ed85745e1fd0e87b3609d2a"
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 308 (20192020) — Estates and trusts: instrument.

Existing law defines "instrument" for purposes of the Probate Code to mean a will, trust, deed, or other writing that designates a beneficiary or makes a donative transfer of property. Existing law, the Trust Law, regulates the creation, modification, and termination of trusts and the administration of trusts by trustees on behalf of beneficiaries.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB308&version=20190SB30899INT)
2. **03/21/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB308&version=20190SB30898AMD)
3. **07/01/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB308&version=20190SB30896CHP)
4. **SB308** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB308)
5. **06/26/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB308&version=20190SB30897ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar SB308 — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 308 Jones Consent Calendar Second Day — **77–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jones — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-15** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-02-19** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 21.
- **2019-02-28** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-08** Set for hearing March 26.
- **2019-03-21** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-27** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0. Page 438.) (March 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-03-28** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-04** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 563.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-04-04** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-02** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-18** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 18). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-06-19** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-06-24** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2402.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-06-24** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2019-06-28** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
- **2019-07-01** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-07-01** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 56, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2166c94a-2377-4417-85a3-6f30ade03e32`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).