republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-248.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sexually violent predators: open court proceedings."
description: "Existing law provides for the civil commitment of criminal offenders who have been determined to be sexually violent predators for treatment in a secure state hospital facility, as specified. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, within 6 months prior to the inmate's scheduled release date, to refer an inmate who is in custody under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and is either serving a determinate sentence or whose parole has been revoked, for screening by the department and the Board of Parole Hearings based on whether the person has committed a sexually violent predatory offense and on a review of the person's social, criminal, and institutional history. Under existing law, if this screening determines that the person is likely to be a sexually violent predator, the department is required to refer the person to the State Department of State Hospitals for a full evaluation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 248"
citation: "California SB 248 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Sexually violent predators: open court proceedings."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bates"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 28
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-01-22"
last_action: "2021-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3eb1ccc9-41c7-4618-a988-d48acb820546"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB248"
source_hash: "f1ee95a1eafeb27ce15c90e9e93224e25d052b0da0ffe212cfc37bf2e313c1df"
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 248 (20212022) — Sexually violent predators: open court proceedings.

Existing law provides for the civil commitment of criminal offenders who have been determined to be sexually violent predators for treatment in a secure state hospital facility, as specified. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, within 6 months prior to the inmate's scheduled release date, to refer an inmate who is in custody under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and is either serving a determinate sentence or whose parole has been revoked, for screening by the department and the Board of Parole Hearings based on whether the person has committed a sexually violent predatory offense and on a review of the person's social, criminal, and institutional history. Under existing law, if this screening determines that the person is likely to be a sexually violent predator, the department is required to refer the person to the State Department of State Hospitals for a full evaluation.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/22/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB248&version=20210SB24899INT)
2. **03/23/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB248&version=20210SB24898AMD)
3. **09/28/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB248&version=20210SB24896CHP)
4. **SB248** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB248)
5. **09/08/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB248&version=20210SB24897ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent SB248 — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 248 Bates Senate Third Reading By Lackey — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bates — primary (person)
- Melendez — coauthor (person)
- Voepel — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-22** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2021-01-25** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 24.
- **2021-01-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-03** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-22** Art. IV. Sec. 8(a) of the Constitution dispensed with.
- **2021-02-22** (Ayes 32. Noes 4.)
- **2021-02-22** Joint Rule 55 suspended. (Ayes 32. Noes 4. Page 272.)
- **2021-02-24** Set for hearing March 16.
- **2021-03-22** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 521.) (March 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-23** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-25** Set for hearing April 5.
- **2021-04-05** April 5 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2021-05-14** Set for hearing May 20.
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1185.) (May 20). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-24** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1343.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-02** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-10** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-14** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (July 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-19** August 19 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-07** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 2819.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-07** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2021-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2021-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 383, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3eb1ccc9-41c7-4618-a988-d48acb820546`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).