republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/sb-898.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Enforcement of judgments: exemptions."
description: "Existing law identifies various types of property of a judgment debtor that are exempt from the enforcement of a money judgment. Existing law provides that property described in statute as exempt may be claimed within the time and in the manner prescribed in the applicable enforcement procedure, and property described in statute as exempt without making a claim is not subject to any procedure for enforcement of a money judgment. These general exemptions are available to a debtor in a federal bankruptcy case, whether a money judgment is being enforced by execution sale or other procedure, unless the debtor elects certain alternative exemptions that are applicable only in the bankruptcy case."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 898"
citation: "California SB 898 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Enforcement of judgments: exemptions."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wieckowski"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-01-30"
last_action: "2020-09-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/15493933-c7c6-4c4f-81e1-84499568ece0"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB898"
source_hash: "b6a5ad3b735dd2e9079e2485d38935b015161d2b2d83a3470f9d0a611d34f1fa"
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 898 (20192020) — Enforcement of judgments: exemptions.

Existing law identifies various types of property of a judgment debtor that are exempt from the enforcement of a money judgment. Existing law provides that property described in statute as exempt may be claimed within the time and in the manner prescribed in the applicable enforcement procedure, and property described in statute as exempt without making a claim is not subject to any procedure for enforcement of a money judgment. These general exemptions are available to a debtor in a federal bankruptcy case, whether a money judgment is being enforced by execution sale or other procedure, unless the debtor elects certain alternative exemptions that are applicable only in the bankruptcy case.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/30/20 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB898&version=20190SB89899INT)
2. **04/06/20 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB898&version=20190SB89898AMD)
3. **07/27/20 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB898&version=20190SB89897AMD)
4. **09/11/20 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB898&version=20190SB89895CHP)
5. **SB898** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB898)
6. **08/28/20 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB898&version=20190SB89896ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 898 Wieckowski Senate Third Reading By Bonta — **74–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **35–2** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB898 Wieckowski Concurrence — **29–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Wieckowski — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-30** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2020-01-31** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 1.
- **2020-02-12** Referred to Coms. on JUD. and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2020-04-06** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-05-12** Set for hearing May 22.
- **2020-05-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 3582.) (May 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-06-02** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2020-06-02** Ordered to second reading.
- **2020-06-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-06-11** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 35. Noes 2. Page 3676.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-06-11** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2020-06-18** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2020-07-09** July 22 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-07-27** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-07-27** July 30 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-08-12** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (August 12). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2020-08-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-08-25** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 5199.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-08-25** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2020-08-27** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 29. Noes 0. Page 4350.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-09-01** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
- **2020-09-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2020-09-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 81, Statutes of 2020.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/15493933-c7c6-4c4f-81e1-84499568ece0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).