republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-439.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Juveniles: competency."
description: "Existing law requires a court, if it has a doubt that a minor who is subject to any juvenile proceedings is competent, to suspend all proceedings. Upon suspension of proceedings, existing law requires the court to appoint an expert, as specified, to evaluate the minor. Existing law states that these provisions do not authorize or require the placement of a minor who is incompetent in a developmental center or community facility operated by the State Department of Developmental Services without a determination by a regional center director, or the director's designee, that the minor has a developmental disability and is eligible for services, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 439"
citation: "California AB 439 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Juveniles: competency."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark Stone"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 18
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-02-11"
last_action: "2019-07-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dd23eb03-d6bc-4e56-9ca9-d5f0cde37276"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB439"
source_hash: "717f61ed4d2789f024608db7a2c05ef17766c64289623b54a05c6403ccdf3657"
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 439 (20192020) — Juveniles: competency.

Existing law requires a court, if it has a doubt that a minor who is subject to any juvenile proceedings is competent, to suspend all proceedings. Upon suspension of proceedings, existing law requires the court to appoint an expert, as specified, to evaluate the minor. Existing law states that these provisions do not authorize or require the placement of a minor who is incompetent in a developmental center or community facility operated by the State Department of Developmental Services without a determination by a regional center director, or the director's designee, that the minor has a developmental disability and is eligible for services, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/11/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB439&version=20190AB43999INT)
2. **07/31/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB439&version=20190AB43997CHP)
3. **AB439** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB439)
4. **07/12/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB439&version=20190AB43998ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent AB439 Mark Stone Urgency Clause — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Human Services] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Human Services] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 439 Mark Stone Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Mark Stone — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-11** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-12** From printer. May be heard in committee March 14.
- **2019-02-28** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (March 19). Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-10** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-04-11** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-25** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1359.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-04-25** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-08** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and HUMAN S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HUMAN S. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 11). Re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 24). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-06-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-07-03** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2019-07-11** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2056.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-07-11** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2019-07-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m.
- **2019-07-31** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-07-31** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 161, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dd23eb03-d6bc-4e56-9ca9-d5f0cde37276`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).