republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-998.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Civil law: libel: damages."
description: "Under existing law, in any action for damages for the publication of a libel in a newspaper or of a slander by a radio broadcast, the plaintiff is required to recover no more than special damages unless a correction is demanded and the correction is not published or broadcast. If a correction is demanded and the correction is not published or broadcast in a specified manner in the newspaper or on the broadcasting station, existing law authorizes the plaintiff to recover general, special, and exemplary damages provided certain requirements are met."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 998"
citation: "California AB 998 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil law: libel: damages."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wagner"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2015-02-26"
last_action: "2015-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/32e70564-a0a4-446b-a474-6433fc9e8da3"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB998"
source_hash: "8d1ac082165441783d5d586e5c6a37cfb2ff80c7ddaa17b7a83d526bec7c18cc"
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 998 (20152016) — Civil law: libel: damages.

Under existing law, in any action for damages for the publication of a libel in a newspaper or of a slander by a radio broadcast, the plaintiff is required to recover no more than special damages unless a correction is demanded and the correction is not published or broadcast. If a correction is demanded and the correction is not published or broadcast in a specified manner in the newspaper or on the broadcasting station, existing law authorizes the plaintiff to recover general, special, and exemplary damages provided certain requirements are met.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/26/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB998&version=20150AB99899INT)
2. **04/13/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB998&version=20150AB99898AMD)
3. **06/25/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB998&version=20150AB99897AMD)
4. **09/28/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB998&version=20150AB99895CHP)
5. **AB998** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB998)
6. **09/03/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB998&version=20150AB99896ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent #8 — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 998 WAGNER Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 998 WAGNER Assembly Third Reading — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Wagner — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-26** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-27** From printer. May be heard in committee March 29.
- **2015-03-16** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-09** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (April 7). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-04-13** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-04-14** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1619.) `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 Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-25** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-07** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2015-07-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 14). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-26** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2015-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2310.). `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 2748.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 343, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/32e70564-a0a4-446b-a474-6433fc9e8da3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).