Existing law, the Government Claims Act, prescribes the procedure for claims and actions against public entities, including local entities, and their employees. Existing law requires certain claims, such as those relating to causes of action for death or for injury to a person or personal property, to be presented within 6 months after their accrual. For these actions, if a claim is not filed within the 6-month period, existing law authorizes an application for leave to present a claim to be made to the public entity within a reasonable time, not to exceed one year after the accrual of the cause of action, as specified. Existing law generally requires the relevant public entity review board to grant or deny the application for leave to present the claim within 45 days after it is presented. Existing law requires the application to be granted if one of several conditions is met, including that the person who sustained the alleged injury, damage, or loss was a minor or was physically and mentally incapacitated for the entire 6 months after the accrual of the cause of action, as specified. If the person was physically or mentally incapacitated during that period, existing law requires that the failure to present a claim be a result of the person's disability.
California SB 501 (20212022) — Claims against public entities.
Existing law, the Government Claims Act, prescribes the procedure for claims and actions against public entities, including local entities, and their employees. Existing law requires certain claims, such as those relating to causes of action for death or for injury to a person or personal property, to be presented within 6 months after their accrual. For these actions, if a claim is not filed within the 6-month period, existing law authorizes an application for leave to present a claim to be made to the public entity within a reasonable time, not to exceed one year after the accrual of the cause of action, as specified. Existing law generally requires the relevant public entity review board to grant or deny the application for leave to present the claim within 45 days after it is presented. Existing law requires the application to be granted if one of several conditions is met, including that the person who sustained the alleged injury, damage, or loss was a minor or was physically and mentally incapacitated for the entire 6 months after the accrual of the cause of action, as specified. If the person was physically or mentally incapacitated during that period, existing law requires that the failure to present a claim be a result of the person's disability.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 11–0 (pass) · lower
SB 501 Wieckowski Senate Third Reading By Maienschein — 78–0 (pass) · lower
Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 11–0 (pass) · upper
Placed on suspense file — 7–0 (pass) · upper
Special Consent SB501 — 39–0 (pass) · upper
Sponsors
Wieckowski — primary (person)
Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
2021-02-17 Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. introduction, reading-1
2021-02-18 From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 20.
2021-02-22 Art. IV. Sec. 8(a) of the Constitution dispensed with.
2021-02-25 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
2021-02-25 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
2021-03-12 Set for hearing March 23.
2021-03-24 From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 591.) (March 23). amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-03-25 Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
2021-04-06 Set for hearing April 19.
2021-04-20 April 19 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
2021-05-14 Set for hearing May 20.
2021-05-20 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1194.) (May 20). amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2021-05-20 Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2
2021-05-24 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
2021-05-28 Ordered to special consent calendar.
2021-06-01 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1350.) 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 JUD. referral-committee
2021-06-22 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (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. (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
2021-09-01 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2608.) Ordered to the Senate. passage, reading-1, reading-3
2021-09-01 In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
2021-09-09 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
2021-09-22 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
2021-09-23 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 218, Statutes of 2021. became-law
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/86c742f8-93c8-4c45-83a6-72c482c9397b. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).
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