---
type: "Bill"
title: "Persons of unsound mind: psychotherapist duty to protect."
description: "Existing law provides that no monetary liability and no cause of action arises against a psychotherapist, as defined, for failing to warn and protect from a patient's threatened violent behavior except if the patient has communicated to the psychotherapist a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim or victims. Existing law also specifies that no monetary liability and no cause of action shall arise against a psychotherapist who, under those circumstances, discharges his or her duty to warn and protect by making reasonable efforts to communicate the threat to the victim or victims and to a law enforcement agency."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "SB 1134"
citation: "California SB 1134 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Persons of unsound mind: psychotherapist duty to protect."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Yee"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 18
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2012-02-21"
last_action: "2012-07-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1924952d-f8b7-4e74-ae88-0137a2d994c5"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1134"
source_hash: "e045e678da992648aa76405fd85c388674c0b6481896d191e878acded2b989c8"
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 1134 (20112012) — Persons of unsound mind: psychotherapist duty to protect.

Existing law provides that no monetary liability and no cause of action arises against a psychotherapist, as defined, for failing to warn and protect from a patient's threatened violent behavior except if the patient has communicated to the psychotherapist a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim or victims. Existing law also specifies that no monetary liability and no cause of action shall arise against a psychotherapist who, under those circumstances, discharges his or her duty to warn and protect by making reasonable efforts to communicate the threat to the victim or victims and to a law enforcement agency.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/21/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1134&version=20110SB113499INT)
2. **03/28/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1134&version=20110SB113498AMD)
3. **05/08/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1134&version=20110SB113497AMD)
4. **07/17/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1134&version=20110SB113495CHP)
5. **SB1134** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1134)
6. **07/03/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1134&version=20110SB113496ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 1134 Yee Consent Calendar Second Day — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent #10 — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Yee — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-21** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2012-02-22** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 23.
- **2012-03-01** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-28** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-2, reading-1, committee-passage, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-04-20** Set for hearing May 1.
- **2012-05-07** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 3389.) (May 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-08** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-05-09** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2012-05-14** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 3496.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-14** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2012-06-11** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-26** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-07-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 5562.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-07-02** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2012-07-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2012-07-17** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-07-17** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 149, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1924952d-f8b7-4e74-ae88-0137a2d994c5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).