---
type: "Bill"
title: "Coroners: duties."
description: "Existing law requires a county coroner to inquire into and determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of certain deaths. Existing law either requires or authorizes a county coroner, under certain circumstances, to perform, or cause to be performed, an autopsy on a decedent. Existing law imposes certain requirements on a coroner conducting a postmortem examination or autopsy on an unidentified body or human remains. Existing law requires a coroner to investigate deaths that occurred under specified conditions, including without medical attendance, to ascertain as many of the facts as possible."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 1859"
citation: "California AB 1859 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Coroners", "duties"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alanis"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 26
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2024-01-18"
last_action: "2024-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9c3177b1-502b-4c7d-b412-cf9dab25af34"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1859"
source_hash: "82af3190421cc23a3e81ac9721c5f27652d5faf53d7ca087d5678917df8398fc"
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 1859 (20232024) — Coroners: duties.

Existing law requires a county coroner to inquire into and determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of certain deaths. Existing law either requires or authorizes a county coroner, under certain circumstances, to perform, or cause to be performed, an autopsy on a decedent. Existing law imposes certain requirements on a coroner conducting a postmortem examination or autopsy on an unidentified body or human remains. Existing law requires a coroner to investigate deaths that occurred under specified conditions, including without medical attendance, to ascertain as many of the facts as possible.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/18/24 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1859&version=20230AB185999INT)
2. **08/05/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1859&version=20230AB185998AMD)
3. **08/15/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1859&version=20230AB185997AMD)
4. **08/20/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1859&version=20230AB185996AMD)
5. **09/27/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1859&version=20230AB185994CHP)
6. **AB1859** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1859)
7. **09/04/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1859&version=20230AB185995ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Health] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1859 Alanis By Seyarto — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1859 Alanis Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1859 Alanis Assembly Third Reading — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Alanis — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-18** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2024-01-19** From printer. May be heard in committee February 18.
- **2024-01-29** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (February 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-03-20** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2024-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 16). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-05-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 5619.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-05-24** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2024-06-05** Referred to Coms. on PUB S. and HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2024-06-18** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 18). Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-07-29** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2024-08-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-08-12** In committee: Referred to APPR suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2024-08-15** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 15). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2024-08-15** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-20** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-30** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2024-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 0.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-09-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2024-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 684, Statutes of 2024. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9c3177b1-502b-4c7d-b412-cf9dab25af34`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).