republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/sb-717.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "County mental health services."
description: "Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent. If a defendant who has been charged with a misdemeanor has been determined to be mentally incompetent, existing law authorizes the court to either grant diversion for a period of one year, refer the defendant to treatment, or dismiss the charge."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 717"
citation: "California SB 717 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["County mental health services"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stern"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 27
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2023-02-16"
last_action: "2023-10-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/91e12676-5855-4d15-9c79-afb691dbbd01"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB717"
source_hash: "430fc9f547fed80dd4ed88981684a2d06aab585d4f157967996cd8fb52db433b"
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 717 (20232024) — County mental health services.

Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent. If a defendant who has been charged with a misdemeanor has been determined to be mentally incompetent, existing law authorizes the court to either grant diversion for a period of one year, refer the defendant to treatment, or dismiss the charge.

## 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=202320240SB717&version=20230SB71799INT)
2. **07/05/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB717&version=20230SB71798AMD)
3. **09/01/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB717&version=20230SB71797AMD)
4. **10/13/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB717&version=20230SB71795CHP)
5. **SB717** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB717)
6. **09/19/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB717&version=20230SB71796ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB717 Stern Concurrence — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **13–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 717 Stern Senate Third Reading By Luz Rivas — **77–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Stern — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-16** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-17** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 19.
- **2023-03-01** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-03** Set for hearing April 19.
- **2023-04-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 831.) (April 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-21** Set for hearing May 1.
- **2023-05-01** May 1 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2023-05-12** Set for hearing May 18.
- **2023-05-18** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1181.) (May 18). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-25** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1290.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-25** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2023-06-08** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-16** June 20 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2023-06-27** June 27 set for second hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2023-07-05** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-07-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (July 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-08-23** August 23 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2023-09-01** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 13. Noes 2.) (September 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-13** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 3466.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-13** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2023-09-14** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2817.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-21** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2023-10-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-10-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 883, 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/91e12676-5855-4d15-9c79-afb691dbbd01`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).