republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-282.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Aiding, advising, or encouraging suicide: exemption from prosecution."
description: "Existing law, the End of Life Option Act, until January 1, 2026, authorizes an adult who meets certain qualifications and who has been determined by his or her attending physician to be suffering from a terminal disease to request a prescription for an aid-in-dying drug. The act, with some exceptions, provides immunity from civil or criminal liability for specified actions taken in compliance with the act. Actions taken in accordance with the act do not, for any purpose, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, homicide, or elder abuse under the law."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 282"
citation: "California AB 282 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Aiding", "advising", "or encouraging suicide: exemption from prosecution."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jones-Sawyer"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2017-02-02"
last_action: "2018-09-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1d781bbc-68bb-4e37-8fb3-47d596ed373a"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB282"
source_hash: "d44f2d8e83159d9f500fa69a311693fbde9ef98a83ef88255e35e63c71394ae2"
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 282 (20172018) — Aiding, advising, or encouraging suicide: exemption from prosecution.

Existing law, the End of Life Option Act, until January 1, 2026, authorizes an adult who meets certain qualifications and who has been determined by his or her attending physician to be suffering from a terminal disease to request a prescription for an aid-in-dying drug. The act, with some exceptions, provides immunity from civil or criminal liability for specified actions taken in compliance with the act. Actions taken in accordance with the act do not, for any purpose, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, homicide, or elder abuse under the law.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/02/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB282&version=20170AB28299INT)
2. **01/03/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB282&version=20170AB28298AMD)
3. **03/15/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB282&version=20170AB28297AMD)
4. **05/16/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB282&version=20170AB28296AMD)
5. **09/05/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB282&version=20170AB28294CHP)
6. **AB282** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB282)
7. **08/22/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB282&version=20170AB28295ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 282 JONES-SAWYER Assembly Third Reading — **45–17** (pass) · lower
- AB 282 JONES-SAWYER Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **54–20** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB282 Jones-Sawyer et al. By Monning — **25–9** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jones-Sawyer — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-02** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-03** From printer. May be heard in committee March 5.
- **2017-02-13** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-14** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2018-01-03** 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`
- **2018-01-04** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-09** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (January 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-01-10** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-01-18** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 45. Noes 17. Page 3797.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-01-18** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-03-15** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-05-15** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (May 15). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-05-16** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-08-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 25. Noes 9. Page 5169.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-07** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 9 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2018-08-20** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 54. Noes 20. Page 6348.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-08-24** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2018-09-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-05** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 245, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1d781bbc-68bb-4e37-8fb3-47d596ed373a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).