---
type: "Bill"
title: "Misuse of sperm, ova, or embryos: damages."
description: "Existing law makes it a felony for anyone to knowingly use sperm, ova, or embryos in assisted reproduction technology for any purpose other than that indicated by the sperm, ova, or embryo provider's signature on a written consent form, and to knowingly implant sperm, ova, or embryos, through the use of assisted reproduction technology, into a recipient who is not the sperm, ova, or embryo provider, without the signed written consent of the sperm, ova, or embryo provider and recipient."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 556"
citation: "California AB 556 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Misuse of sperm", "ova", "or embryos: damages."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Maienschein"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-02-11"
last_action: "2021-09-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8526b047-a470-43c9-811d-b133e7287ff6"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB556"
source_hash: "84e813297d158b26696192a30353361fc25509db7c240ae821529b6fa7b9e41d"
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 556 (20212022) — Misuse of sperm, ova, or embryos: damages.

Existing law makes it a felony for anyone to knowingly use sperm, ova, or embryos in assisted reproduction technology for any purpose other than that indicated by the sperm, ova, or embryo provider's signature on a written consent form, and to knowingly implant sperm, ova, or embryos, through the use of assisted reproduction technology, into a recipient who is not the sperm, ova, or embryo provider, without the signed written consent of the sperm, ova, or embryo provider and recipient.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/11/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB556&version=20210AB55699INT)
2. **09/16/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB556&version=20210AB55697CHP)
3. **AB556** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB556)
4. **09/03/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB556&version=20210AB55698ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **10–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 556 Maienschein Assembly Third Reading — **68–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB556 Maienschein By Laird — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Maienschein — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-11** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-12** From printer. May be heard in committee March 14.
- **2021-02-18** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-23** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 1.) (March 23). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 68. Noes 0. Page 860.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-04-05** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-12** Referred to Coms. on JUD. and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-21** In committee: Referred to APPR suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2294.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-01** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2021-09-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2021-09-16** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-16** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 170, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8526b047-a470-43c9-811d-b133e7287ff6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).