---
type: "Bill"
title: "Civil actions: service of summons."
description: "Existing law prescribes specified methods for the service of a summons in a civil action. Under existing law, if no provision is made in statute for the service of summons, a court may direct a summons to be served in a manner that is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the party to be served."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "SB 85"
citation: "California SB 85 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civilactions", "serviceofsummons"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Umberg"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2025-01-21"
last_action: "2025-10-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e9798bf5-cb41-4da6-870e-b4cb6ce9a30a"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB85"
source_hash: "912e9623c6a97f254daffd22cbd3e3a62059dc3e23fdcac03b0f77cf3917eddf"
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 85 (20252026) — Civil actions: service of summons.

Existing law prescribes specified methods for the service of a summons in a civil action. Under existing law, if no provision is made in statute for the service of summons, a court may direct a summons to be served in a manner that is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the party to be served.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/21/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB85&version=20250SB8599INT)
2. **03/25/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB85&version=20250SB8598AMD)
3. **04/08/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB85&version=20250SB8597AMD)
4. **06/25/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB85&version=20250SB8596AMD)
5. **10/06/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB85&version=20250SB8594CHP)
6. **SB85** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB85)
7. **08/27/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB85&version=20250SB8595ENR)

## Votes

- SB 85 Umberg Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. To Consent Calendar. — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **12–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Umberg — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-21** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-01-22** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 21.
- **2025-01-29** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-25** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-02** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-08** Set for hearing May 6.
- **2025-04-08** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-05-07** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0. Page 1026.) (May 6). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-08** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-05-15** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 1089.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-05-15** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2025-05-29** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-24** From committee: Do pass as amended. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 24). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-25** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-06-26** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-06-30** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2369.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-07-01** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2025-08-21** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2025-08-25** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2253.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-09-02** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m.
- **2025-10-06** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 403, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e9798bf5-cb41-4da6-870e-b4cb6ce9a30a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).