Bill Commons

CA SB 85

enacted

Civil actions: service of summons.

California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · upper

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Quick answers

Did CA SB 85 pass?

Yes. CA SB 85 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2025-10-06): Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 403, Statutes of 2025.

What is CA SB 85 about?

Existing law prescribes specified methods for the service of a summons in a civil action. Under existing law, if no provision is made in statute for the service of summons, a court may direct a summons to be served in a manner that is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the party to be served. This bill would also authorize a court to direct a summons to be served in a manner that is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the party to be served if a plaintiff, exercising reasonable diligence, has been unable to serve the summons using methods prescribed by statute. The bill would authorize a court, upon motion, to direct service of the summons by electronic means, if such service is reasonably calculated to give actual notice. The bill would require a plaintiff seeking to establish reasonable diligence under this section to set forth facts that detail, as specified, the attempts to effect service pursuant to the methods prescribed by statute. The bill would also except actions against public entities or agents or employees of public entities from these provisions.

Who sponsors CA SB 85?

Umberg is the primary sponsor of CA SB 85.

Description

Existing law prescribes specified methods for the service of a summons in a civil action. Under existing law, if no provision is made in statute for the service of summons, a court may direct a summons to be served in a manner that is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the party to be served. This bill would also authorize a court to direct a summons to be served in a manner that is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the party to be served if a plaintiff, exercising reasonable diligence, has been unable to serve the summons using methods prescribed by statute. The bill would authorize a court, upon motion, to direct service of the summons by electronic means, if such service is reasonably calculated to give actual notice. The bill would require a plaintiff seeking to establish reasonable diligence under this section to set forth facts that detail, as specified, the attempts to effect service pursuant to the methods prescribed by statute. The bill would also except actions against public entities or agents or employees of public entities from these provisions.

Introduced
2025-01-21
Latest action
2025-10-06 — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 403, Statutes of 2025.
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Subjects

Sponsors

  • Umbergauthor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2025-10-06

    Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 403, Statutes of 2025.

    became-law

  2. 2025-10-06

    Approved by the Governor.

    executive-signature

  3. 2025-09-02

    Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m.

    executive-receipt

  4. 2025-08-25

    Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2253.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  5. 2025-08-21

    Ordered to special consent calendar.

  6. 2025-07-01

    In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

  7. 2025-06-30

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2369.) Ordered to the Senate.

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  8. 2025-06-26

    Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar.

    reading-1,reading-2

  9. 2025-06-25

    Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

    amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2

  10. 2025-06-24

    From committee: Do pass as amended. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 24).

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  11. 2025-05-29

    Referred to Com. on JUD.

    referral-committee

  12. 2025-05-15

    In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

    reading-1

  13. 2025-05-15

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 1089.) Ordered to the Assembly.

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  14. 2025-05-08

    Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar.

    reading-1,reading-2

  15. 2025-05-07

    From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0. Page 1026.) (May 6).

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  16. 2025-04-08

    From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  17. 2025-04-08

    Set for hearing May 6.

  18. 2025-04-02

    Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

    referral-committee

  19. 2025-03-25

    From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  20. 2025-01-29

    Referred to Com. on RLS.

    referral-committee

  21. 2025-01-22

    From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 21.

  22. 2025-01-21

    Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

    introduction,reading-1,referral-committee

Versions

  • 01/21/25 - Introduced — 2025-01-21Compare
  • 03/25/25 - Amended Senate — 2025-03-25Compare
  • 04/08/25 - Amended Senate — 2025-04-08Compare
  • 06/25/25 - Amended Assembly — 2025-06-25Compare
  • 08/27/25 - Enrolled — 2025-08-27Compare
  • 10/06/25 - Chaptered — 2025-10-06Compare
  • SB85Compare
  • (document, no version)Compare

Documents

Votes

  • Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar

    2025-05-06 · pass · 12-0

    Member-level votes (13)
    • Durazo: yes
    • Niello: yes
    • Ashby: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Umberg: yes
    • Allen: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • Laird: yes
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Wiener: yes
    • Weber Pierson: yes
    • Valladares: other

  • Consent Calendar 2nd

    2025-05-15 · pass · 34-0

    Member-level votes (40)
    • Becker: yes
    • Laird: yes
    • Archuleta: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • McGuire: yes
    • Menjivar: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Dahle: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Valladares: yes
    • Hurtado: yes
    • Durazo: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Blakespear: yes
    • Pérez: yes
    • Strickland: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Cortese: yes
    • Allen: yes
    • Limón: yes
    • Wiener: yes
    • Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Ashby: yes
    • Weber Pierson: yes
    • Umberg: yes
    • Gonzalez: yes
    • Choi: yes
    • Jones: yes
    • Niello: yes
    • Ochoa Bogh: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • McNerney: yes
    • Padilla: other
    • Alvarado-Gil: other
    • Grove: other
    • Rubio: other
    • Cervantes: other
    • Reyes: other

  • Do pass as amended. To Consent Calendar.

    2025-06-24 · pass · 12-0

    Member-level votes (12)
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Bryan: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Sanchez: yes
    • Papan: yes
    • Garcia: yes
    • Zbur: yes
    • Dixon: yes
    • Kalra: yes
    • Harabedian: yes
    • Lee: yes
    • Connolly: yes

  • SB 85 Umberg Consent Calendar Second Day

    2025-06-30 · pass · 78-0

    Member-level votes (79)
    • Schultz: yes
    • Lee: yes
    • Bonta: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Ortega: yes
    • Sanchez: yes
    • Blanca Rubio: yes
    • Bryan: yes
    • Muratsuchi: yes
    • Aguiar-Curry: yes
    • Bains: yes
    • Ransom: yes
    • Boerner: yes
    • Gabriel: yes
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Schiavo: yes
    • Lackey: yes
    • Hoover: yes
    • Ávila Farías: yes
    • Papan: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Michelle Rodriguez: yes
    • Nguyen: yes
    • Solache: yes
    • Alanis: yes
    • Garcia: yes
    • Ward: yes
    • Celeste Rodriguez: yes
    • Wallis: yes
    • Carrillo: yes
    • Addis: yes
    • Gallagher: yes
    • Hadwick: yes
    • Ta: yes
    • Wilson: yes
    • Gipson: yes
    • Flora: yes
    • Davies: yes
    • Irwin: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Berman: yes
    • Rogers: yes
    • Macedo: yes
    • Petrie-Norris: yes
    • Ahrens: yes
    • Harabedian: yes
    • McKinnor: yes
    • Krell: yes
    • Stefani: yes
    • Bennett: yes
    • Lowenthal: yes
    • Dixon: yes
    • DeMaio: yes
    • Fong: yes
    • Rivas: yes
    • Ramos: yes
    • Alvarez: yes
    • Castillo: yes
    • Haney: yes
    • Kalra: yes
    • Ellis: yes
    • Jackson: yes
    • Soria: yes
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Patel: yes
    • Hart: yes
    • Calderon: yes
    • Chen: yes
    • Valencia: yes
    • Patterson: yes
    • Sharp-Collins: yes
    • Zbur: yes
    • Jeff Gonzalez: yes
    • Bauer-Kahan: yes
    • Connolly: yes
    • Arambula: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Quirk-Silva: other

  • Special Consent

    2025-08-25 · pass · 37-0

    Member-level votes (40)
    • Reyes: yes
    • Allen: yes
    • Jones: yes
    • Menjivar: yes
    • Dahle: yes
    • Niello: yes
    • Pérez: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Weber Pierson: yes
    • Ochoa Bogh: yes
    • Grove: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Wiener: yes
    • Blakespear: yes
    • Choi: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Limón: yes
    • McNerney: yes
    • Becker: yes
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Archuleta: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Cortese: yes
    • Cervantes: yes
    • Laird: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • McGuire: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Umberg: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Durazo: yes
    • Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
    • Strickland: yes
    • Gonzalez: yes
    • Padilla: yes
    • Ashby: yes
    • Valladares: yes
    • Hurtado: other
    • Alvarado-Gil: other
    • Rubio: other

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB85

Attribution

Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-10-28T01:51:12.981720Z

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