Track

Status

Governing provision

No limitation — § 799(a): an offense punishable by death, or by imprisonment in the state prison for life or life without the possibility of parole, or the embezzlement of public money. § 799(b)(1): the enumerated felony sex offenses — provisions of Penal Law §§ 261, 262, 264.1, 286, 288 (including subdivision (a) involving substantial sexual conduct as defined in § 1203.066(b)), 288.5, 288a and 289 — may be commenced at any time. § 799(b)(2): this applies to crimes committed on or after 1 January 2017, and to crimes for which the limitation in effect before 1 January 2017 had not run as of that date. 

Before the victim’s 40th birthday — § 801.1(a)(1): a felony offense described in § 261, 286, 288, 288.5, 288a or 289, or § 289.5 as enacted by Stats. 1991 ch. 293, alleged to have been committed when the victim was under 18, may be commenced any time prior to the victim’s fortieth birthday. § 801.1(a)(2): this applies to crimes committed on or after 1 January 2015, or for which the limitation in effect before that date had not run as of 1 January 2015. 

Ten years — § 801.1(b): where neither § 801.1(a) nor § 799(b) applies, prosecution for a felony offense described in § 290(c) shall be commenced within ten years after commission. 

General periods — § 800: six years for an offense punishable by imprisonment for eight years or more. § 801: three years for any other offense punishable by state-prison imprisonment or under § 1170(h). § 802(a): one year for an offense not punishable by death or state-prison imprisonment. § 801.2: ten years from the date of production for a violation of § 311.4(b). 

One-year window after a report — § 803(f): where the period under § 800, 801 or 801.1 has expired, a complaint may be filed within one year of a report to a California law enforcement agency by a person of any age alleging that, while under 18, they were the victim of a crime described in § 261, 286, 288, 288a, 288.5, 289 or 289.5 — but only if the crime involved substantial sexual conduct as described in § 1203.066(b), excluding non-mutual masturbation, and there is independent evidence corroborating the allegation. Where the victim was 21 or older at the time of the report, the independent evidence must clearly and convincingly corroborate the allegation, and the opinions of mental health professionals do not count as corroboration. 

Why “partly removed”: § 799(b) removes the limitation only for the enumerated felony sex offenses, and only for conduct committed on or after 1 January 2017 or not already time-barred by then. Conduct before that remains on the age-40 rule in § 801.1(a), and offenses outside both lists fall to the ordinary six-, three- or one-year periods.

Cal. Penal Code § 799 — Justia (2025 California Code) 

Cal. Penal Code § 800 — Justia (2025 California Code) 

Cal. Penal Code § 801 — Justia (2025 California Code) 

Cal. Penal Code § 801.2 — Justia (2025 California Code) 

Cal. Penal Code § 802 — Justia (2025 California Code)

No time limit — § 340.1(a): there is no time limit for the commencement of (1) an action against any person for committing an act of childhood sexual assault; (2) an action for liability against any person or entity who owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, where a wrongful or negligent act by that person or entity was a legal cause of the childhood sexual assault; or (3) an action for liability against any person or entity where an intentional act by them was a legal cause of the assault. 

BUT the elimination is split by date — § 340.1(p): “This section applies to any claim in which the childhood sexual assault occurred on and after January 1, 2024. Notwithstanding any other law, a claim for damages based on conduct described in paragraphs (1) through (3), inclusive, of subdivision (a), in which the childhood sexual assault occurred on or before December 31, 2023 may only be commenced pursuant to the applicable statute of limitations set forth in existing law as it read on December 31, 2023.” 

Treble damages for a cover-up — § 340.1(b): a person who proves the assault resulted from a cover up may recover up to treble damages against a defendant found to have covered up the sexual assault of a minor. A “cover up” is a concerted effort to hide evidence relating to childhood sexual assault. 

Definition — § 340.1(c): “childhood sexual assault” covers acts committed against the plaintiff when under 18 that would have been proscribed by Penal Code §§ 266j, 285, 286(b)(1)–(2) or (c), 288(a) or (b), 287 or former 288a (b)(1)–(2) or (c), 289(h), (i) or (j), sexual conduct as defined in § 311.4(d)(1), § 647.6, or any prior laws of similar effect. 

Certificates of merit — § 340.1(e)–(o): every plaintiff aged 40 or older when the action is filed must file certificates of merit executed by the plaintiff’s attorney and by a licensed mental health practitioner; defendants are named by “Doe” designation until a showing of corroborative fact; and the court reviews the certificates in camera before the duty to serve attaches. 

No government claim presentation — § 340.1(q): a claim for damages described in § 340.1(a)(1)–(3) is not required to be presented to any government entity before the action is commenced. 

Why “partly removed”: for abuse on or after 1 January 2024 there is no deadline at all. For abuse on or before 31 December 2023 — which is the great majority of claims now being brought — the pre-2024 rule still governs. California is genuinely two regimes divided by the date of the abuse.

Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 340.1 — Justia (2025 California Code)

The revival is no longer in the statute. Section 340.1 as it now reads, effective 1 January 2024, contains no revival provision — A.B. 452 replaced that machinery with the date rule in § 340.1(p). 

What the official record does state — the Legislative Counsel’s Digest to A.B. 452, in the authenticated chapter text held in the source folder: “Existing law revives claims that would otherwise have been barred as of January 1, 2020, because the applicable statute of limitations, claim presentation deadline, or any other time limit had expired and authorizes the claims to be commenced within specified time periods.” 

The revival came in with A.B. 218, Stats. 2019, ch. 861, chaptered 13 October 2019 and effective 1 January 2020, titled “Damages: childhood sexual assault: statute of limitations”. That much is verified; the operative revival language and its closing date are not. 

This is the same gap as Arizona: the revival lived in a version of the statute that has since been rewritten, and no document in the source folder contains it. Nothing is asserted about the window’s dates.

Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 340.1 (current text — no revival provision) — Justia (2025 California Code)

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