republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-538.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Domestic violence and gun violence restraining orders.	Existing law permits a petitioner to seek a restraining order to protect against domestic violence or gun violence. Existing law requires the court to hold a hearing before issuing the restraining order, but the court may, in specified circumstances, issue an ex parte restraining order that is effective until the hearing. Existing law prescribes additional procedures for granting or denying a domestic violence restraining order or gun violence restraining order. Existing law prohibits a filing fee for an application, a responsive pleading, or an order to show cause that seeks to obtain, modify, or enforce a domestic violence protective order or a gun violence restraining order, as specified.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20212022	SB 538	California SB 538 (20212022)	bill	Domestic violence and gun violence restraining orders.	enacted	Rubio	8	33	9	2021-02-17	2021-10-08	openstates	ocd-bill/f103e6e9-d18d-4fff-9a81-4236831648eb	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB538	0eb3873d5ec76856448fba6203290a5fd3a14d93b53bd55c580377646d8eb233	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California SB 538 (20212022) — Domestic violence and gun violence restraining orders.

Existing law permits a petitioner to seek a restraining order to protect against domestic violence or gun violence. Existing law requires the court to hold a hearing before issuing the restraining order, but the court may, in specified circumstances, issue an ex parte restraining order that is effective until the hearing. Existing law prescribes additional procedures for granting or denying a domestic violence restraining order or gun violence restraining order. Existing law prohibits a filing fee for an application, a responsive pleading, or an order to show cause that seeks to obtain, modify, or enforce a domestic violence protective order or a gun violence restraining order, as specified.

Version chain

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

1. 02/17/21 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 03/16/21 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
3. 04/08/21 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
4. 04/20/21 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
5. 05/25/21 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
6. 10/08/21 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
7. SB538 (committee substitute) — source
8. 09/10/21 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Do pass as amended — 7–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Rules] — 11–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass. — 16–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Public Safety] — 9–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 8–0 (pass) · lower
• Placed on suspense file — 7–0 (pass) · upper
• SB 538 Rubio Senate Third Reading By Blanca Rubio — 78–0 (pass) · lower
• 3rd Reading — 38–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 5–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Rubio — primary (person)
• Davies — coauthor (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.
• 2021-02-22 (Ayes 32. Noes 4.)
• 2021-02-22 Joint Rule 55 suspended. (Ayes 32. Noes 4. Page 272.)
• 2021-02-25 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
• 2021-03-16 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
• 2021-03-23 Set for hearing April 6.
• 2021-04-07 From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on RLS. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 687.) (April 6). amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2021-04-08 Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
• 2021-04-14 Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
• 2021-04-20 Set for hearing April 27.
• 2021-04-20 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
• 2021-04-28 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 941.) (April 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
• 2021-04-30 Set for hearing May 10.
• 2021-05-10 May 10 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
• 2021-05-14 Set for hearing May 20.
• 2021-05-24 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1195.) (May 20). amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2021-05-25 Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2
• 2021-06-02 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1390.) 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 Coms. on JUD. and PUB. S. referral-committee
• 2021-06-22 Coauthors revised.
• 2021-06-22 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 22). Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
• 2021-06-30 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
• 2021-07-14 July 14 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
• 2021-09-08 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2888.) Ordered to the Senate. passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2021-09-08 In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
• 2021-09-13 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
• 2021-10-08 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2021-10-08 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 686, Statutes of 2021. became-law

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/f103e6e9-d18d-4fff-9a81-4236831648eb. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).