---
type: "Bill"
title: "Judgment liens: priority."
description: "Existing law provides that a judgment lien on personal property is a lien on all interests in specified personal property, including accounts receivable, chattel paper, equipment, farm products, inventory, and negotiable documents of title, that are subject to enforcement of a money judgment against the judgment debtor at the time the lien is created if a security interest in the property could be perfected by filing a financing statement at that time with the Secretary of State, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010"
identifier: "AB 1549"
citation: "California AB 1549 (20092010)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Judgment liens: priority."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Committee on Banking and Finance"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 21
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2009-03-09"
last_action: "2009-08-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2cd805d0-336b-41ac-bc72-742da592b0e6"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1549"
source_hash: "d0f16322543c1d3a870ccfcda4144a5bc8608cb617d8a149c380c56e7738ddda"
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 1549 (20092010) — Judgment liens: priority.

Existing law provides that a judgment lien on personal property is a lien on all interests in specified personal property, including accounts receivable, chattel paper, equipment, farm products, inventory, and negotiable documents of title, that are subject to enforcement of a money judgment against the judgment debtor at the time the lien is created if a security interest in the property could be perfected by filing a financing statement at that time with the Secretary of State, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **03/09/09 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1549&version=20090AB154999INT)
2. **04/13/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1549&version=20090AB154998AMD)
3. **08/06/09 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1549&version=20090AB154996CHP)
4. **AB1549** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1549)
5. **06/23/09 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1549&version=20090AB154997ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be placed on the Consent Calendar. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Banking and Finance to Consent Calendar. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- AB 1549 B.& F. Consent Calendar Second Day Regular Session — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar 2nd AB1549 Committee on B. & F. (Nava) — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Committee on Banking and Finance — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2009-03-09** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2009-03-10** From printer. May be heard in committee April 9.
- **2009-04-02** Referred to Coms. on JUD. and B. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-04-15** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-21** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on B. & F. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. Re-referred. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (April 21). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-05-05** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (May 4). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-05-06** Read second time. To Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-05-11** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1368.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-05-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2009-05-21** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2009-06-16** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (June 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-06-17** Read second time. To Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-06-22** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1376.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-06-22** In Assembly. To enrollment.
- **2009-06-25** Enrolled and to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.
- **2009-07-01** Withdrawn from Governor.
- **2009-07-01** Ordered returned to enrollment.
- **2009-07-30** Enrolled and to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
- **2009-08-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2009-08-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 153, Statutes of 2009.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2cd805d0-336b-41ac-bc72-742da592b0e6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).