---
type: "Bill"
title: "Courts: contempt orders."
description: "Existing law requires a court to order a $1000 fine or a term of imprisonment not to exceed five days for a person adjudged in contempt of court. Existing law specifies different terms of imprisonment and community service that a court shall order for a person found in contempt of court for failure to comply with a court order pursuant to the Family Code."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 2338"
citation: "California AB 2338 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts: contempt orders."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Weber"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 23
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2020-02-14"
last_action: "2020-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/492f40d4-4936-418a-8a90-9bf854472975"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2338"
source_hash: "ff1deb78940c271542f0f7cafd517d2e61cf8c832fd0f5666ff81df2091f064a"
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 2338 (20192020) — Courts: contempt orders.

Existing law requires a court to order a $1000 fine or a term of imprisonment not to exceed five days for a person adjudged in contempt of court. Existing law specifies different terms of imprisonment and community service that a court shall order for a person found in contempt of court for failure to comply with a court order pursuant to the Family Code.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/20 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2338&version=20190AB233899INT)
2. **05/04/20 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2338&version=20190AB233898AMD)
3. **09/29/20 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2338&version=20190AB233896CHP)
4. **AB2338** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2338)
5. **08/28/20 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2338&version=20190AB233897ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2338 Weber Assembly Third Reading — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2338 Weber By Gonzalez — **30–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Weber — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2020-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
- **2020-02-24** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-12** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2020-03-17** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-05-04** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2020-05-05** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2020-05-07** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-05-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (May 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2020-05-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-06-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 4818.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-06-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2020-07-01** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2020-07-31** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-08-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-08-10** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2020-08-10** Ordered to second reading.
- **2020-08-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-08-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 0. Page 4351.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-08-27** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2020-08-31** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2020-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2020-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 283, Statutes of 2020.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/492f40d4-4936-418a-8a90-9bf854472975`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).