California 2019-2020 Regular Session Status: Enacted

SB 645 — Civil discovery: depositions.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 212, Statutes of 2019.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Senate
  4. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 22, 2019. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 70% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 5 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

Existing law authorizes any party to obtain discovery in civil actions by taking the oral deposition of any person, including any party to the action. Under existing law, a deposition examination of the witness by all counsel, other than the witness' counsel of record, is generally limited to 7 hours of total testimony. Existing law provides an exception to the 7-hour limitation for depositions taken in cases designated as complex. In such cases, the deposition examination of a witness by all counsel other than the witness' counsel of record is limited to 2 days of no more than 7 hours of total testimony each day, or 14 hours of total testimony, unless a licensed physician attests that the deponent suffers from an illness or condition that raises substantial medical doubt of the deponent's survival beyond 6 months. This bill would require that, in any civil action for injury or illness that results in mesothelioma or silicosis, a deposition examination of the plaintiff by counsel other than the plaintiff's counsel of record be limited to 7 hours of total testimony if a licensed physician attests in a declaration that the deponent suffers from mesothelioma or silicosis, raising substantial medical doubt of the survival of the deponent beyond 6 months. A party would be authorized by this bill to seek an order permitting up to (1) an additional 3 hours of deposition testimony if more than 10 defendants appear at the deposition, and an additional 7 hours of deposition testimony if more than 20 defendants appear at the deposition. A court would be authorized to grant the additional time only upon a finding that the extension is in the interest of fairness, and a determination that the health of the deponent does not appear to be endangered by the grant of additional time.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 212, Statutes of 2019.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.

  4. Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2179.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

  5. In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

  6. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 65. Noes 0. Page 2666.) Ordered to the Senate.

  7. Ordered to third reading.

  8. Read third time and amended.

  9. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  10. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 4).

  11. Referred to Com. on JUD.

  12. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  13. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 31. Noes 4. Page 592.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  14. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  15. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 553.) (April 2).

  16. Set for hearing April 2.

  17. Referred to Com. on JUD.

  18. Read first time.

  19. From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 27.

  20. Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

  • Monning · Primary

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 121 not signed on · 2 voted No

Sponsors (1)

  • Monning

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (121)

121 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 121 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

Unfinished Business SB645 Monning Concurrence

Passed 37 Yea · 0 Nay · 3 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 25002
Democratic 9001
Republican 3000
Total 37003
% of votes cast 93%0%0%8%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Rubio — Yea
Monning — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Mitchell — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Wilk — Yea
Beall — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Roth — Yea
Hill — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Moorlach — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Allen — Yea
Borgeas — Yea
Galgiani — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Bates — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Nielsen — Yea
Chang — Yea
Pan — Yea
Portantino — Not Voting
Morrell — Not Voting
Mark Stone — Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Not Voting
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Gonzalez, Lena A. Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Yea
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Grove, Shannon Republican Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea

Official roll call →

SB 645 Monning Senate Third Reading By Mark Stone

Passed 65 Yea · 0 Nay · 14 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 410011
Democratic 22000
Republican 2003
Total 650014
% of votes cast 82%0%0%18%
How each member voted (79)
Member Party Vote
Salas — Yea
Mathis — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Smith — Yea
Cunningham — Yea
Gonzalez — Yea
Diep — Yea
Chau — Yea
Gloria — Yea
Bloom — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Holden — Yea
Daly — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Ting — Yea
Kamlager-Dove — Yea
Levine — Yea
Melendez — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Low — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Burke — Yea
Cooper — Yea
Medina — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Chu — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Weber — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Wood — Not Voting
Fong — Not Voting
Voepel — Not Voting
Brough — Not Voting
Kiley — Not Voting
Gray — Not Voting
Mayes — Not Voting
Obernolte — Not Voting
Bigelow — Not Voting
Frazier — Not Voting
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Jim Patterson — Not Voting
Luz Rivas — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Not Voting
Choi, Steven S. Republican Not Voting
Flora, Heath Republican Not Voting
Gallagher, James Republican Yea
Lackey, Tom Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 9 Yea · 0 Nay · 3 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 6002
Democratic 3000
Republican 0001
Total 9003
% of votes cast 75%0%0%25%
How each member voted (12)
Member Party Vote
Chiu — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Holden — Yea
Gonzalez — Yea
Chau — Yea
Fong — Not Voting
Obernolte — Not Voting
Mark Stone — Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Gallagher, James Republican Not Voting

Official roll call →

3rd Reading

Passed 31 Yea · 4 Nay · 3 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 22203
Democratic 9000
Republican 0200
Total 31403
% of votes cast 82%11%0%8%
How each member voted (38)
Member Party Vote
Rubio — Yea
Monning — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Mitchell — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Wilk — Yea
Beall — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Hill — Yea
Roth — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Moorlach — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Allen — Yea
Galgiani — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Pan — Yea
Borgeas — Nay
Morrell — Nay
Chang — Not Voting
Bates — Not Voting
Nielsen — Not Voting
Mark Stone — Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Yea
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Grove, Shannon Republican Nay
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Subjects

civil-rights
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 645 do?
Existing law authorizes any party to obtain discovery in civil actions by taking the oral deposition of any person, including any party to the action. Under existing law, a deposition examination of the witness by all counsel, other than the witness' counsel of record, is generally limited to 7 hours of total testimony. Existing law provides an exception to the 7-hour limitation for depositions taken in cases designated as complex. In such cases, the deposition examination of a witness by all counsel other than the witness' counsel of record is limited to 2 days of no more than 7 hours of total testimony each day, or 14 hours of total testimony, unless a licensed physician attests that the deponent suffers from an illness or condition that raises substantial medical doubt of the deponent's survival beyond 6 months. This bill would require that, in any civil action for injury or illness that results in mesothelioma or silicosis, a deposition examination of the plaintiff by counsel other than the plaintiff's counsel of record be limited to 7 hours of total testimony if a licensed physician attests in a declaration that the deponent suffers from mesothelioma or silicosis, raising substantial medical doubt of the survival of the deponent beyond 6 months. A party would be authorized by this bill to seek an order permitting up to (1) an additional 3 hours of deposition testimony if more than 10 defendants appear at the deposition, and an additional 7 hours of deposition testimony if more than 20 defendants appear at the deposition. A court would be authorized to grant the additional time only upon a finding that the extension is in the interest of fairness, and a determination that the health of the deponent does not appear to be endangered by the grant of additional time.
Who sponsors SB 645?
SB 645 is sponsored by Monning.
What is the current status of SB 645?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 22, 2019. Enacted.
Where can I track SB 645?
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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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