---
type: "Bill"
title: "An Act amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in depositions and witnesses, further providing for admissibility of certain statements."
description: "An Act amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in depositions and witnesses, further providing for admissibility of certain statements."
jurisdiction: "us/states/pa"
legislature: "Pennsylvania General Assembly"
session: "2019-2020"
identifier: "SB 479"
citation: "Pennsylvania SB 479 (2019-2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Baker"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 20
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-03-26T04:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2019-06-28T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0a4abdd3-b3d6-4ce8-884d-87781e2b76c8"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/bill_history.cfm?syear=2019&sind=0&body=S&type=B&BN=479"
source_hash: "26d38c890ef4fe811901b68c4777e9a9f89032dad05d673a6f0a6da8a2fe2a46"
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-pa"]
---

# Pennsylvania SB 479 (2019-2020) — An Act amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in depositions and witnesses, further providing for admissibility of certain statements.

## Version chain

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

1. **Printer's No. 0498** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2019&sessInd=0&billBody=S&billTyp=B&billNbr=0479&pn=0498)

## Votes

- Committee vote (JUDICIARY): Reported as Committed — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE — **47–0** (pass) · upper
- FINAL PASSAGE — **199–1** (pass) · lower
- Committee vote (APPROPRIATIONS): Re-Reported as Committed — **23–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Baker — primary (person)
- Brewster — cosponsor (person)
- Folmer — cosponsor (person)
- Fontana — cosponsor (person)
- J. Ward — cosponsor (person)
- K. Ward — cosponsor (person)
- Killion — cosponsor (person)
- Martin — cosponsor (person)
- Mensch — cosponsor (person)
- Phillips-Hill — cosponsor (person)
- Santarsiero — cosponsor (person)
- Schwank — cosponsor (person)
- Tartaglione — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** PN 0498 Referred to JUDICIARY `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** Reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-03-27T04:00:00+00:00** First consideration `reading-1`
- **2019-04-08T04:00:00+00:00** Second consideration `reading-2`
- **2019-04-08T04:00:00+00:00** Re-referred to APPROPRIATIONS `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-08T04:00:00+00:00** Re-reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-04-09T04:00:00+00:00** Third consideration and final passage `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-04-10T04:00:00+00:00** Referred to JUDICIARY `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-11T04:00:00+00:00** Reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-06-11T04:00:00+00:00** First consideration `reading-1`
- **2019-06-11T04:00:00+00:00** Laid on the table
- **2019-06-17T04:00:00+00:00** Removed from table
- **2019-06-18T04:00:00+00:00** Second consideration `reading-2`
- **2019-06-18T04:00:00+00:00** Re-referred to APPROPRIATIONS `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-19T04:00:00+00:00** Re-reported as committed `committee-passage`
- **2019-06-19T04:00:00+00:00** Third consideration and final passage `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-06-19T04:00:00+00:00** Signed in Senate
- **2019-06-19T04:00:00+00:00** Signed in House
- **2019-06-20T04:00:00+00:00** Presented to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-28T04:00:00+00:00** Approved by the Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0a4abdd3-b3d6-4ce8-884d-87781e2b76c8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Pennsylvania legislature records).