republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-538.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Actions for damages: felony offenses: victim notification."
description: "Existing law provides for the time of commencing civil actions other than for the recovery of real property, as specified. Under existing law, unless a longer period is prescribed for a specific action, an action for damages against a defendant based upon the defendant's commission of a felony offense for which the defendant has been convicted is required to be brought within one year after the judgment has been pronounced. Under existing law, a civil action cannot be commenced pursuant to these provisions if a defendant has received a certificate of rehabilitation or a pardon, among other circumstances."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 538"
citation: "California AB 538 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Actions for damages: felony offenses: victim notification."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Campos"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 33
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2015-02-23"
last_action: "2015-10-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c7173c56-d789-41bb-805b-3b5e014b1917"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB538"
source_hash: "a7e224f283935b6b4cb530cd40f2a5b8b32c0035ece862cdcff22d31590a6380"
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 538 (20152016) — Actions for damages: felony offenses: victim notification.

Existing law provides for the time of commencing civil actions other than for the recovery of real property, as specified. Under existing law, unless a longer period is prescribed for a specific action, an action for damages against a defendant based upon the defendant's commission of a felony offense for which the defendant has been convicted is required to be brought within one year after the judgment has been pronounced. Under existing law, a civil action cannot be commenced pursuant to these provisions if a defendant has received a certificate of rehabilitation or a pardon, among other circumstances.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/23/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB538&version=20150AB53899INT)
2. **05/05/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB538&version=20150AB53898AMD)
3. **05/13/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB538&version=20150AB53897AMD)
4. **07/16/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB538&version=20150AB53896AMD)
5. **08/20/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB538&version=20150AB53895AMD)
6. **10/03/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB538&version=20150AB53893CHP)
7. **AB538** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB538)
8. **09/04/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB538&version=20150AB53894ENR)

## Votes

- AB 538 CAMPOS Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB538 Campos By Moorlach — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 538 CAMPOS Assembly Third Reading — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Campos — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-23** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-24** From printer. May be heard in committee March 26.
- **2015-03-05** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-06** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2015-04-14** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2015-04-15** In committee: Set, second hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2015-05-04** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2015-05-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-06** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2015-05-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (May 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-14** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2015-05-20** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 20). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-21** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-26** From Consent Calendar.
- **2015-05-26** Ordered to third reading.
- **2015-05-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 1636.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-28** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-11** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-30** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-15** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 14). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-07-16** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-17** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2015-08-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-20** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2298.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 2 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2015-09-01** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 2729.)
- **2015-09-01** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2735.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-14** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-10-03** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-03** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 465, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c7173c56-d789-41bb-805b-3b5e014b1917`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).