---
type: "Bill"
title: "Farmers' markets: electronic benefit transfers."
description: "Existing law, administered by the State Department of Social Services, provides for the establishment of a statewide electronic benefit transfer (EBT) system for the purpose of providing financial and food assistance benefits to needy Californians."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010"
identifier: "AB 537"
citation: "California AB 537 (20092010)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Farmers' markets: electronic benefit transfers."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Arambula"]
version_count: 11
action_count: 33
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2009-02-25"
last_action: "2010-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4891725f-8677-4179-926b-32a06bad3007"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537"
source_hash: "601412cb3dd62b2c6bc1cb296a23e8a48bd9ebe62b3044bc4989c2e85bdc7445"
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 537 (20092010) — Farmers' markets: electronic benefit transfers.

Existing law, administered by the State Department of Social Services, provides for the establishment of a statewide electronic benefit transfer (EBT) system for the purpose of providing financial and food assistance benefits to needy Californians.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/25/09 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53799INT)
2. **01/25/10 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53796AMD)
3. **04/01/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53798AMD)
4. **04/23/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53797AMD)
5. **04/28/10 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53795AMD)
6. **06/30/10 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53794AMD)
7. **08/17/10 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53793AMD)
8. **08/18/10 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53792AMD)
9. **09/29/10 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53790CHP)
10. **AB537** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537)
11. **09/01/10 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB537&version=20090AB53791ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- AB 537 ARAMBULA Assembly Third Reading — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Assembly 3rd Reading AB537 Arambula By Leno — **pass** (pass) · upper
- AB 537 ARAMBULA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Arambula — primary (person)
- Caballero — coauthor (person)
- Solorio — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2009-02-25** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2009-02-26** From printer. May be heard in committee March 28.
- **2009-03-12** Referred to Com. on AGRI. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-01** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on AGRI. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-04-02** Re-referred to Com. on AGRI. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-16** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2009-04-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on AGRI. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-04-27** Re-referred to Com. on AGRI. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-30** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Re-referred. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 29). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-05-13** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2009-05-28** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2010-01-21** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (January 21). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2010-01-25** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2010-01-26** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2010-01-27** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 66. Noes 3. Page 3896.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2010-01-28** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2010-02-11** Referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `referral-committee`
- **2010-04-28** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2010-06-01** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2010-06-29** From committee: Amend, do pass as amended, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 22). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2010-06-30** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2010-08-02** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2010-08-16** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 4.) (August 12). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2010-08-17** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2010-08-18** Read third time, amended. To second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2010-08-19** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2010-08-23** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 23. Noes 12. Page 4788.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2010-08-23** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 25 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2010-08-24** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 49. Noes 27. Page 6562.)
- **2010-08-24** Senate amendments concurred in. To enrollment. (Ayes 56. Noes 14. Page 6565.) `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2010-09-07** Enrolled and to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2010-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2010-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 435, Statutes of 2010.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4891725f-8677-4179-926b-32a06bad3007`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).