republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-401.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Psychology: unprofessional conduct: disciplinary action: sexual acts."
description: "Existing law, the Psychology Licensing Law, provides for the licensure, regulation, and discipline of psychologists by the Board of Psychology. Existing law authorizes the board to refuse to issue a registration or license, to issue a registration or license with terms and conditions, or to suspend or revoke the registration or license of a registrant or licensee if the applicant, registrant, or licensee has been guilty of unprofessional conduct. Under existing law, unprofessional conduct includes, among other things, any act of sexual abuse, or sexual relations with a patient or former patient within 2 years following termination of therapy, or sexual misconduct that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a psychologist or registered psychological associate."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 401"
citation: "California SB 401 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Psychology: unprofessional conduct: disciplinary action: sexual acts."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Pan"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 30
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-02-12"
last_action: "2022-09-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/187b984d-cb76-4c4d-bbeb-e40f6fdb5514"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB401"
source_hash: "1a3d0e9c9319c20913bbd354cf38060f7bbc26e593476432ae9b5796f09ed7fb"
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 401 (20212022) — Psychology: unprofessional conduct: disciplinary action: sexual acts.

Existing law, the Psychology Licensing Law, provides for the licensure, regulation, and discipline of psychologists by the Board of Psychology. Existing law authorizes the board to refuse to issue a registration or license, to issue a registration or license with terms and conditions, or to suspend or revoke the registration or license of a registrant or licensee if the applicant, registrant, or licensee has been guilty of unprofessional conduct. Under existing law, unprofessional conduct includes, among other things, any act of sexual abuse, or sexual relations with a patient or former patient within 2 years following termination of therapy, or sexual misconduct that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a psychologist or registered psychological associate.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/12/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB401&version=20210SB40199INT)
2. **03/04/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB401&version=20210SB40198AMD)
3. **06/06/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB401&version=20210SB40197AMD)
4. **09/13/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB401&version=20210SB40195CHP)
5. **SB401** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB401)
6. **08/18/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB401&version=20210SB40196ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB401 Pan Concurrence — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Be re-referred to the Committee on [Business and Professions] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar SB401 — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 401 Pan Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **14–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Pan — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-12** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-02-16** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 18.
- **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.)
- **2021-02-25** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-04** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-18** Re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-18** Set for hearing March 22.
- **2021-03-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0. Page 573.) (March 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-23** Set for hearing April 5.
- **2021-03-25** April 5 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-04-06** Set for hearing April 19.
- **2021-04-19** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2021-04-20** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-22** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 887.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-04-22** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-13** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-17** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96. `referral-committee`
- **2022-05-27** Re-referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-06** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on B. & P. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-03** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (August 3). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-04** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-11** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 5827.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-11** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2022-08-16** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 4846.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12:30 p.m.
- **2022-09-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 298, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/187b984d-cb76-4c4d-bbeb-e40f6fdb5514`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).