republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/sb-1163.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Postmortem examination or autopsy: unidentified body or human remains: medical examiner: attending physician and surgeon."
description: "Existing law makes it the duty of a coroner to inquire into and determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of deaths under prescribed conditions, including deaths under such circumstances as to afford a reasonable ground to suspect that the death was caused by the criminal act of another or if the surviving spouse of the deceased requests the coroner to do so in writing. Existing law makes a postmortem examination or autopsy conducted at the discretion of a coroner, medical examiner, or other agency upon an unidentified human body or human remains subject to certain specified provisions of law."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 1163"
citation: "California SB 1163 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Postmortem examination or autopsy: unidentified body or human remains: medical examiner: attending physician and surgeon."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Galgiani"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 29
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2018-02-14"
last_action: "2018-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4294a40a-0f09-48e9-b594-97705cd61412"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1163"
source_hash: "75fcc59d9862d00b4a9dffef7e3af36dd5b6b4ee753a75562c9f0a427820de71"
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 SB 1163 (20172018) — Postmortem examination or autopsy: unidentified body or human remains: medical examiner: attending physician and surgeon.

Existing law makes it the duty of a coroner to inquire into and determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of deaths under prescribed conditions, including deaths under such circumstances as to afford a reasonable ground to suspect that the death was caused by the criminal act of another or if the surviving spouse of the deceased requests the coroner to do so in writing. Existing law makes a postmortem examination or autopsy conducted at the discretion of a coroner, medical examiner, or other agency upon an unidentified human body or human remains subject to certain specified provisions of law.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1163&version=20170SB116399INT)
2. **04/03/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1163&version=20170SB116398AMD)
3. **04/16/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1163&version=20170SB116397AMD)
4. **06/25/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1163&version=20170SB116396AMD)
5. **08/24/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1163&version=20170SB116395AMD)
6. **09/29/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1163&version=20170SB116393CHP)
7. **SB1163** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1163)
8. **09/07/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1163&version=20170SB116394ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar SB1163 — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 1163 Galgiani Senate Third Reading By CARRILLO — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB1163 Galgiani Concurrence — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Galgiani — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-14** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2018-02-15** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 17.
- **2018-02-22** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-03** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2018-04-12** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-12** Set for hearing April 24.
- **2018-04-16** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2018-04-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 4818.) (April 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-04-27** Set for hearing May 7.
- **2018-05-07** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-05-08** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-10** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 5014.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-05-10** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2018-05-17** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-25** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-08** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (August 8). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-08-09** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-09** From consent calendar on motion of Assembly Member Calderon.
- **2018-08-09** Ordered to third reading.
- **2018-08-24** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2018-08-24** Ordered to third reading.
- **2018-08-30** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 6956.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-30** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2018-08-31** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2018-08-31** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 6116.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2018-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 936, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4294a40a-0f09-48e9-b594-97705cd61412`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).