republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/sb-557.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal proceedings: mental competence: expert reports."
description: "Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent. Existing law establishes a process by which a defendant's mental competency is evaluated, which includes requiring the court to appoint a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist, and any other expert whom the court may deem appropriate, to examine the defendant."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 557"
citation: "California SB 557 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal proceedings: mental competence: expert reports."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jones"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-02-22"
last_action: "2019-09-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1f4a5676-8d44-477f-b035-474348ad713f"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB557"
source_hash: "43977d8e4d038b998c94972d11835162195432561625016d35ae41a7e8ca1546"
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 SB 557 (20192020) — Criminal proceedings: mental competence: expert reports.

Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent. Existing law establishes a process by which a defendant's mental competency is evaluated, which includes requiring the court to appoint a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist, and any other expert whom the court may deem appropriate, to examine the defendant.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/22/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB557&version=20190SB55799INT)
2. **03/27/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB557&version=20190SB55798AMD)
3. **06/06/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB557&version=20190SB55797AMD)
4. **07/11/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB557&version=20190SB55796AMD)
5. **09/05/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB557&version=20190SB55794CHP)
6. **SB557** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB557)
7. **08/23/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB557&version=20190SB55795ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent SB557 — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 557 Jones Senate Third Reading By Gabriel — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar SB557 — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jones — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-22** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2019-02-25** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 27.
- **2019-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-07** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-19** Set for hearing April 2.
- **2019-03-27** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 526.) (April 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-05** Set for hearing April 22.
- **2019-04-22** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2019-04-23** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-25** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 824.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-04-25** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-09** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-06** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-26** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (June 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-07-01** From consent calendar on motion of Assembly Member Calderon.
- **2019-07-01** Ordered to third reading.
- **2019-07-11** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-07-11** Ordered to third reading.
- **2019-08-12** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2669.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-08-12** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2019-08-19** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2019-08-22** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2242.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-08-27** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2019-09-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-09-05** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 251, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1f4a5676-8d44-477f-b035-474348ad713f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).