---
type: "Bill"
title: "Subpoenas: service."
description: "Existing law provides that the process by which the attendance of a witness before a court or magistrate is required in a criminal action is a subpoena, which may be signed and issued by any of specified persons, including courts, district attorneys, and public defenders. A subpoena is required to be substantially in a prescribed form."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 471"
citation: "California SB 471 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Subpoenas: service."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stern"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 31
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-02-21"
last_action: "2019-10-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/659e3609-c1ba-4294-832e-fc1229b7f338"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB471"
source_hash: "c5bd1ef17ff10e555251e838dfb7cfb6a0b905b15487f9132eccbb976a5d1ab5"
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 471 (20192020) — Subpoenas: service.

Existing law provides that the process by which the attendance of a witness before a court or magistrate is required in a criminal action is a subpoena, which may be signed and issued by any of specified persons, including courts, district attorneys, and public defenders. A subpoena is required to be substantially in a prescribed form.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/21/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB471&version=20190SB47199INT)
2. **07/01/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB471&version=20190SB47198AMD)
3. **09/03/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB471&version=20190SB47197AMD)
4. **09/06/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB471&version=20190SB47196AMD)
5. **10/12/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB471&version=20190SB47194CHP)
6. **SB471** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB471)
7. **09/13/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB471&version=20190SB47195ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB471 Stern Concurrence — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 471 Stern Senate Third Reading By Irwin — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent SB471 — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Stern — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-21** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-02-22** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 24.
- **2019-03-07** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-21** Set for hearing April 9.
- **2019-04-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 624.) (April 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-12** Set for hearing April 22.
- **2019-04-22** April 22 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2019-04-24** Set for hearing April 29.
- **2019-04-29** April 29 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2019-05-10** Set for hearing May 16.
- **2019-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 1100.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-21** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2019-05-23** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1276.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-24** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2019-06-06** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-27** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 25). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-07-01** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-10** July 10 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2019-08-30** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (August 30). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-09-03** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-04** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-06** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-06** Ordered to third reading.
- **2019-09-10** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 3336.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-10** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2019-09-11** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2019-09-11** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2868.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2019-10-12** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-12** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 851, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/659e3609-c1ba-4294-832e-fc1229b7f338`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).