---
type: "Bill"
title: "Civil discovery: depositions."
description: "Existing law authorizes any party to obtain discovery in civil actions by taking the oral deposition of any person, including any party to the action. Under existing law, a deposition examination of the witness by all counsel, other than the witness' counsel of record, is generally limited to 7 hours of total testimony. Existing law provides an exception to the 7-hour limitation for depositions taken in cases designated as complex. In such cases, the deposition examination of a witness by all counsel other than the witness' counsel of record is limited to 2 days of no more than 7 hours of total testimony each day, or 14 hours of total testimony, unless a licensed physician attests that the deponent suffers from an illness or condition that raises substantial medical doubt of the deponent's survival beyond 6 months."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 645"
citation: "California SB 645 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil discovery: depositions."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Monning"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-02-22"
last_action: "2019-08-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6ed73761-a72b-40a4-9bbe-c3974457e1a3"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB645"
source_hash: "a826ce1fabf9187f245a3c668bddcf855d8631a6a338b7f07a6752c08f182667"
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 645 (20192020) — Civil discovery: depositions.

Existing law authorizes any party to obtain discovery in civil actions by taking the oral deposition of any person, including any party to the action. Under existing law, a deposition examination of the witness by all counsel, other than the witness' counsel of record, is generally limited to 7 hours of total testimony. Existing law provides an exception to the 7-hour limitation for depositions taken in cases designated as complex. In such cases, the deposition examination of a witness by all counsel other than the witness' counsel of record is limited to 2 days of no more than 7 hours of total testimony each day, or 14 hours of total testimony, unless a licensed physician attests that the deponent suffers from an illness or condition that raises substantial medical doubt of the deponent's survival beyond 6 months.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/22/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB645&version=20190SB64599INT)
2. **07/05/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB645&version=20190SB64598AMD)
3. **08/30/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB645&version=20190SB64596CHP)
4. **SB645** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB645)
5. **08/16/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB645&version=20190SB64597ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **31–4** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB645 Monning Concurrence — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 645 Monning Senate Third Reading By Mark Stone — **65–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Monning — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-22** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2019-02-25** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 27.
- **2019-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-14** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-19** Set for hearing April 2.
- **2019-04-03** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 553.) (April 2). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-04-04** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-08** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 31. Noes 4. Page 592.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-04-08** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-02** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-04** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 4). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-06-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-07-05** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-07-05** Ordered to third reading.
- **2019-08-12** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 65. Noes 0. Page 2666.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-08-12** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2019-08-15** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2179.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-08-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2019-08-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-08-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 212, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6ed73761-a72b-40a4-9bbe-c3974457e1a3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).