Existing law provides that a cause of action that survives the death of the person entitled to commence an action or proceeding passes to the decedent's successor in interest and an action may be commenced by the decedent's personal representative or, if none, by the decedent's successor in interest. Existing law limits the damages recoverable in that action or proceeding to the loss or damage that the decedent sustained or incurred before death, including any penalties or punitive or exemplary damages that the decedent would have been entitled to recover had the decedent lived. Existing law prohibits the recovery of damages for the decedent's pain, suffering, or disfigurement in that action or proceeding.
California SB 447 (20212022) — Civil actions: decedent's cause of action.
Existing law provides that a cause of action that survives the death of the person entitled to commence an action or proceeding passes to the decedent's successor in interest and an action may be commenced by the decedent's personal representative or, if none, by the decedent's successor in interest. Existing law limits the damages recoverable in that action or proceeding to the loss or damage that the decedent sustained or incurred before death, including any penalties or punitive or exemplary damages that the decedent would have been entitled to recover had the decedent lived. Existing law prohibits the recovery of damages for the decedent's pain, suffering, or disfigurement in that action or proceeding.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
2021-02-25 Referred to Com. on RLS. referral-committee
2021-03-05 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 JUD. referral-committee
2021-04-06 Set for hearing April 13.
2021-04-08 April 13 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
2021-04-09 Set for hearing April 20.
2021-04-21 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 9. Noes 2. Page 859.) (April 20). amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-04-22 Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2
2021-04-29 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 24. Noes 10. Page 972.) Ordered to the Assembly. passage, reading-1, reading-3
2021-04-29 In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. reading-1
2021-06-03 Referred to Coms. on JUD. and APPR. referral-committee
2021-06-22 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 3.) (June 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
2021-07-07 July 7 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
2021-08-26 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 4.) (August 26). amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-08-30 Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2
2021-08-31 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
2021-09-02 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 49. Noes 16. Page 2721.) Ordered to the Senate. passage, reading-1, reading-3
2021-09-02 In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
2021-09-03 Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 27. Noes 8. Page 2376.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-09-09 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
2021-10-01 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
2021-10-01 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 448, Statutes of 2021. became-law
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/bdbd3943-81d1-4a73-9885-23f75335a6c7. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).