republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/sb-157.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Invasion of privacy: distribution of sexually explicit materials: protection of plaintiff's identity."
description: "Existing law creates a private right of action against a person who intentionally distributes a photograph or recorded image of another that exposes the intimate body parts, as defined, of that person or him or her engaged in specified sexual acts, without his or her consent, knowing that the other person had a reasonable expectation that the material would remain private, if specified conditions are met. Existing law authorizes a plaintiff in a civil proceeding pursuant to these provisions to use a pseudonym instead of his or her true name and to exclude or redact from all pleadings and documents filed in the action other identifying characteristics of the plaintiff. Existing law requires specified court documents, including motions and papers filed by parties, to be worded in a way that protects the name or other identifying characteristics of the plaintiff from public revelation. Existing law specifies that identifying characteristics include certain information for these purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 157"
citation: "California SB 157 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Invasion of privacy: distribution of sexually explicit materials: protection of plaintiff's identity."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wieckowski"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 26
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-18"
last_action: "2017-09-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4c3fa097-bc63-4356-8587-41adbad3be9f"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB157"
source_hash: "085003d56624f48107131ac0ab9b9146da735411892e0267c56cbf0a09adfeb3"
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 157 (20172018) — Invasion of privacy: distribution of sexually explicit materials: protection of plaintiff's identity.

Existing law creates a private right of action against a person who intentionally distributes a photograph or recorded image of another that exposes the intimate body parts, as defined, of that person or him or her engaged in specified sexual acts, without his or her consent, knowing that the other person had a reasonable expectation that the material would remain private, if specified conditions are met. Existing law authorizes a plaintiff in a civil proceeding pursuant to these provisions to use a pseudonym instead of his or her true name and to exclude or redact from all pleadings and documents filed in the action other identifying characteristics of the plaintiff. Existing law requires specified court documents, including motions and papers filed by parties, to be worded in a way that protects the name or other identifying characteristics of the plaintiff from public revelation. Existing law specifies that identifying characteristics include certain information for these purposes.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/18/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB157&version=20170SB15799INT)
2. **03/28/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB157&version=20170SB15798AMD)
3. **04/17/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB157&version=20170SB15797AMD)
4. **05/17/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB157&version=20170SB15796AMD)
5. **09/11/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB157&version=20170SB15794CHP)
6. **SB157** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB157)
7. **08/25/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB157&version=20170SB15795ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Privacy and Consumer Protection] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 157 Wieckowski Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Wieckowski — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-18** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-01-19** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 18.
- **2017-01-26** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-21** Set for hearing April 4.
- **2017-03-28** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-04-06** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 626.) (April 4). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2017-04-17** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-04-18** Set for hearing April 24.
- **2017-04-24** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-04-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-17** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-05-17** Ordered to second reading.
- **2017-05-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-18** Published May 17 at 9 p.m.
- **2017-05-30** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1257.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-31** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-08** Referred to Coms. on JUD. and P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-07-19** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (July 19). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-07-20** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-08-24** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 68.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-08-24** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2017-08-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-09-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 233, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4c3fa097-bc63-4356-8587-41adbad3be9f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).