---
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: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 836"
citation: "California SB 836 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Evidence: immigration status."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wiener"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 22
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2022-01-06"
last_action: "2022-08-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6d794454-5e59-4ad0-b3b6-44c07e5a8c8c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB836"
source_hash: "13a661261eafd564483fc01def71b78903e0c2ef5b349334a481656fd4bc98f8"
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 836 (20212022) — 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. **01/06/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB836&version=20210SB83699INT)
2. **02/18/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB836&version=20210SB83698AMD)
3. **08/22/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB836&version=20210SB83696CHP)
4. **SB836** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB836)
5. **08/08/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB836&version=20210SB83697ENR)

## Votes

- SB 836 Wiener Third Reading Urgency By Kalra — **71–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading (Urgency Clause) — **28–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **9–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Wiener — primary (person)
- Haney — coauthor (person)
- Kalra — coauthor (person)
- Rubio — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-06** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-01-07** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 6.
- **2022-01-19** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-18** Set for hearing March 8.
- **2022-02-18** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 4. Noes 0. Page 3049.) (March 8). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-10** Set for hearing March 29.
- **2022-03-30** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 3254.) (March 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-02** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 28. Noes 0. Page 3579.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-02** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2022-05-05** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-01** Coauthors revised.
- **2022-06-01** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 1). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-08** Coauthors revised.
- **2022-06-08** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 8). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-06-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-04** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 71. Noes 0. Page 5750.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-04** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2022-08-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2022-08-22** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-08-22** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 168, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6d794454-5e59-4ad0-b3b6-44c07e5a8c8c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).