---
type: "Bill"
title: "Emergency departments: assault and battery."
description: "Existing law defines an assault as an unlawful attempt, coupled with present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another. Existing law defines a battery as any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another. Under existing law, an assault or battery committed against a physician or nurse engaged in rendering emergency medical care outside a hospital, clinic, or other health care facility is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $2,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 977"
citation: "California AB 977 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Emergency departments", "assault and battery"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Rodriguez"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 30
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2023-02-14"
last_action: "2024-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/799cbbb2-a4f6-4961-ab15-46fe0fb4f9ed"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB977"
source_hash: "e1b770dc4a15a9e82c3a949031e87a4fb6568efe0316693221be3affd47439e5"
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 977 (20232024) — Emergency departments: assault and battery.

Existing law defines an assault as an unlawful attempt, coupled with present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another. Existing law defines a battery as any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another. Under existing law, an assault or battery committed against a physician or nurse engaged in rendering emergency medical care outside a hospital, clinic, or other health care facility is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $2,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB977&version=20230AB97799INT)
2. **01/10/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB977&version=20230AB97797AMD)
3. **03/15/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB977&version=20230AB97798AMD)
4. **08/19/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB977&version=20230AB97796AMD)
5. **09/29/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB977&version=20230AB97794CHP)
6. **AB977** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB977)
7. **09/03/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB977&version=20230AB97795ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB977 Rodriguez et al. By Ashby — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 977 Rodriguez Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 977 Rodriguez Assembly Third Reading — **68–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **3–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Rodriguez — primary (person)
- Alvarado-Gil — coauthor (person)
- Ashby — principal coauthor (person)
- Dodd — coauthor (person)
- Villapudua — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2023-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2023-02-23** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-03-16** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-21** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2023-03-28** In committee: Set, second hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2024-01-09** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (January 9). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2024-01-10** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-01-11** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-18** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2024-01-18** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (January 18). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-01-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-01-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 68. Noes 0. Page 3945.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-01-29** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2024-05-01** Referred to Com. on PUB S. `referral-committee`
- **2024-06-04** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 3. Noes 1.) (June 4). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-18** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2024-07-01** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2024-08-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 15). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-08-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-19** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-28** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2024-08-28** Assembly Rule 77 suspended.
- **2024-08-29** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 72. Noes 0.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-09-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2024-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 937, 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/799cbbb2-a4f6-4961-ab15-46fe0fb4f9ed`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).