republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-1639.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Crime victims: the California Victim Compensation Board."
description: "Existing law generally provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and limits on the amount of compensation the board may award, and requires the application for compensation to be verified under penalty of perjury. Existing law authorizes the board to deny an application for a claim, in whole or in part, if the board finds that denial is appropriate because of the nature of the victim's or other applicant's involvement in the events leading to the crime, or the involvement of the person whose injury or death gives rise to the application. Existing law requires the board to publicize the existence of this program for the indemnification of victims of crime and the procedures for obtaining compensation under the program. Existing law requires every local law enforcement agency to inform crime victims of the existence of victim centers, and in counties where no victim center exists, to provide application forms to victims who desire to seek compensation pursuant to the program. Existing regulatory law requires each local law enforcement agency to designate a Victims of Crime Liaison Officer who shall devise and implement written procedures whereby victims are notified of these provisions and respond to inquiries from interested persons concerning procedures for filing a claim for compensation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1639"
citation: "California AB 1639 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crime victims: the California Victim Compensation Board."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eduardo Garcia"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 23
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-02-17"
last_action: "2018-08-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/69f74346-58a4-423d-80ba-897255d89843"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1639"
source_hash: "05e6a7cc08b55f9aa57df72d61261e6e1aa21a7cb3e5e1c11fadbca45d54b34a"
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 AB 1639 (20172018) — Crime victims: the California Victim Compensation Board.

Existing law generally provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and limits on the amount of compensation the board may award, and requires the application for compensation to be verified under penalty of perjury. Existing law authorizes the board to deny an application for a claim, in whole or in part, if the board finds that denial is appropriate because of the nature of the victim's or other applicant's involvement in the events leading to the crime, or the involvement of the person whose injury or death gives rise to the application. Existing law requires the board to publicize the existence of this program for the indemnification of victims of crime and the procedures for obtaining compensation under the program. Existing law requires every local law enforcement agency to inform crime victims of the existence of victim centers, and in counties where no victim center exists, to provide application forms to victims who desire to seek compensation pursuant to the program. Existing regulatory law requires each local law enforcement agency to designate a Victims of Crime Liaison Officer who shall devise and implement written procedures whereby victims are notified of these provisions and respond to inquiries from interested persons concerning procedures for filing a claim for compensation.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1639&version=20170AB163999INT)
2. **04/06/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1639&version=20170AB163998AMD)
3. **06/01/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1639&version=20170AB163997AMD)
4. **08/20/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1639&version=20170AB163994CHP)
5. **09/05/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1639&version=20170AB163996AMD)
6. **AB1639** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1639)
7. **08/07/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1639&version=20170AB163995ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1639 GARCIA, E. Assembly Third Reading — **66–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1639 GARCIA, E. Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **74–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Eduardo Garcia — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2017-03-16** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-05** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 4). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-04-06** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-04-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-04-20** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 66. Noes 0. Page 1135.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-04-20** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-10** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-01** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-13** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 13). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-06-14** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-05** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-09-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-06** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. pursuant to Joint Rule 10.5. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-25** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-06-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-07-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 5035.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-07-03** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 5 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2018-08-06** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 6134.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-08-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m.
- **2018-08-20** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-08-20** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 161, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/69f74346-58a4-423d-80ba-897255d89843`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).