republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-538.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sexual assault: medical evidentiary examinations and reporting."
description: "Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to establish a protocol for the examination and treatment of victims of sexual assault and attempted sexual assault and the collection and preservation of evidence therefrom. Existing law requires the office to adopt a standard and a complete form or forms for the recording of medical and physical evidence data disclosed by a victim of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 538"
citation: "California AB 538 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Sexual assault: medical evidentiary examinations and reporting."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Berman"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 24
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-02-13"
last_action: "2019-10-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fcc634ac-2431-40f6-b803-fbd1eceda262"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB538"
source_hash: "7f5c9eaf8c7527dad61517a0982dbe9f4e27928cf9e20ff6c7ad63b50dde8003"
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 538 (20192020) — Sexual assault: medical evidentiary examinations and reporting.

Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to establish a protocol for the examination and treatment of victims of sexual assault and attempted sexual assault and the collection and preservation of evidence therefrom. Existing law requires the office to adopt a standard and a complete form or forms for the recording of medical and physical evidence data disclosed by a victim of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/13/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB538&version=20190AB53899INT)
2. **05/30/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB538&version=20190AB53898AMD)
3. **06/13/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB538&version=20190AB53897AMD)
4. **08/30/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB538&version=20190AB53896AMD)
5. **09/06/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB538&version=20190AB53895AMD)
6. **10/10/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB538&version=20190AB53893CHP)
7. **AB538** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB538)
8. **09/17/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB538&version=20190AB53894ENR)

## Votes

- AB 538 Berman Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB538 Berman et al. By Hill — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 538 Berman Assembly Third Reading — **77–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Berman — primary (person)
- Low — author (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-13** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-14** From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
- **2019-03-07** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (March 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-10** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 10). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-04-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1259.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-04-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-01** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-30** 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. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-06-12** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 11). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-06-13** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-24** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-08-30** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 30). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-08-30** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-06** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2815.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-11** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2019-09-12** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 3506.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-24** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-10-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-10** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 714, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fcc634ac-2431-40f6-b803-fbd1eceda262`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).