republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-1987.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Discovery: postconviction."
description: "(1) Existing law requires, in a case in which a sentence of death or life in prison without the possibility of parole has been imposed, a court to order that a defendant be provided reasonable access to discovery materials upon prosecution of a postconviction writ of habeas corpus or a motion to vacate judgment and a showing that good faith efforts to obtain discovery materials from trial counsel were made and were unsuccessful. Existing law defines \"discovery materials\" for these purposes as materials in the possession of the prosecuting and law enforcement authorities to which the defendant would have been entitled at time of trial."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1987"
citation: "California AB 1987 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Discovery: postconviction."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lackey"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 32
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2018-02-01"
last_action: "2018-09-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ccfec4c8-5d58-4730-b9c5-3e547fb88e01"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1987"
source_hash: "f403849a44ffbc1c3237d72577492d4a70703be827c4c65149a7ddda4176af69"
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 1987 (20172018) — Discovery: postconviction.

(1) Existing law requires, in a case in which a sentence of death or life in prison without the possibility of parole has been imposed, a court to order that a defendant be provided reasonable access to discovery materials upon prosecution of a postconviction writ of habeas corpus or a motion to vacate judgment and a showing that good faith efforts to obtain discovery materials from trial counsel were made and were unsuccessful. Existing law defines "discovery materials" for these purposes as materials in the possession of the prosecuting and law enforcement authorities to which the defendant would have been entitled at time of trial.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/01/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1987&version=20170AB198799INT)
2. **04/04/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1987&version=20170AB198798AMD)
3. **04/12/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1987&version=20170AB198797AMD)
4. **04/18/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1987&version=20170AB198796AMD)
5. **08/23/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1987&version=20170AB198795AMD)
6. **09/18/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1987&version=20170AB198793CHP)
7. **AB1987** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1987)
8. **08/31/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1987&version=20170AB198794ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1987 LACKEY Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1987 LACKEY Consent Calendar Second Day — **73–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1987 Lackey et al. By Skinner — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Lackey — primary (person)
- Skinner — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-01** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-02-02** From printer. May be heard in committee March 4.
- **2018-02-08** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-20** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2018-04-03** In committee: Set, second hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2018-04-04** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-05** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-11** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 10). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-04-12** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-04-16** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-18** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-19** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-09** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-05-10** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 5213.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-05-17** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-05-30** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-13** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2018-06-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-08-06** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-08-07** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-09** From Consent Calendar.
- **2018-08-09** Ordered to third reading.
- **2018-08-23** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2018-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 5911.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-28** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2018-08-29** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6773.)
- **2018-08-29** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 6897.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-09-06** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2018-09-18** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-18** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 482, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ccfec4c8-5d58-4730-b9c5-3e547fb88e01`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).