republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/ab-1253.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Hearsay: exceptions."
description: "Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to refer a person who was convicted of a sexually violent offense and is in prison or whose parole has been revoked for evaluation by the State Department of State Hospitals to determine whether the person is a sexually violent predator before the person's release from prison. If the State Department of State Hospitals determines that the person is a sexually violent predator, then the Director of State Hospitals must ask the county in which the person was convicted of the offense to file a petition in superior court to involuntarily commit the person to a secure facility for mental health treatment upon the person's release from prison. Upon filing, if a judge determines that this petition, on its face, contains sufficient facts to constitute probable cause to believe that the person is likely to engage in sexually violent predatory criminal behavior upon their release, the judge must order the person to be detained in a secure facility until a probable cause hearing can be completed. If, at this hearing, the judge determines that there is probable cause, the judge must order that the person remain in custody in a secure facility until a trial is completed, and must order that a trial be conducted to determine whether the person is, by reason of a diagnosed mental disorder, a danger to the health and safety of others in that the person is likely to engage in acts of sexual violence upon the person's release from prison."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 1253"
citation: "California AB 1253 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Hearsay", "exceptions"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Maienschein"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 18
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2023-02-16"
last_action: "2023-10-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7cfe38ec-39fe-4aba-86b3-9df72edb46b9"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1253"
source_hash: "a1435dcc676a551a5a9be106c3c50d2f5dffdd5b1738c16733e460d0ffe9ce7c"
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 1253 (20232024) — Hearsay: exceptions.

Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to refer a person who was convicted of a sexually violent offense and is in prison or whose parole has been revoked for evaluation by the State Department of State Hospitals to determine whether the person is a sexually violent predator before the person's release from prison. If the State Department of State Hospitals determines that the person is a sexually violent predator, then the Director of State Hospitals must ask the county in which the person was convicted of the offense to file a petition in superior court to involuntarily commit the person to a secure facility for mental health treatment upon the person's release from prison. Upon filing, if a judge determines that this petition, on its face, contains sufficient facts to constitute probable cause to believe that the person is likely to engage in sexually violent predatory criminal behavior upon their release, the judge must order the person to be detained in a secure facility until a probable cause hearing can be completed. If, at this hearing, the judge determines that there is probable cause, the judge must order that the person remain in custody in a secure facility until a trial is completed, and must order that a trial be conducted to determine whether the person is, by reason of a diagnosed mental disorder, a danger to the health and safety of others in that the person is likely to engage in acts of sexual violence upon the person's release from prison.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1253&version=20230AB125399INT)
2. **04/13/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1253&version=20230AB125398AMD)
3. **05/04/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1253&version=20230AB125397AMD)
4. **10/07/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1253&version=20230AB125395CHP)
5. **AB1253** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1253)
6. **09/08/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1253&version=20230AB125396ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1253 Maienschein By Laird — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1253 Maienschein Assembly Third Reading — **72–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Maienschein — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2023-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2023-03-02** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-04-17** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-03** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (May 2). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2023-05-04** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-08** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 1955.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2023-06-14** Referred to Com. on PUB S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-07-12** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (July 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-07-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2427.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-06** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2023-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2023-10-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-10-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 363, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7cfe38ec-39fe-4aba-86b3-9df72edb46b9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).