---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public contracts: small business preferences."
description: "Existing law requires state agencies to give small businesses a 5% preference in contracts for construction, the procurement of goods, or the delivery of services, establishes a procedure by which a business can be certified as a small business by the Department of General Services for the purposes of these preferences, and specifies that a business that has been certified by, or on behalf of, another governmental entity may be eligible for certification as a small business if the certifying entity uses substantially the same or more stringent definitions as those set forth in existing law, as provided."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 1783"
citation: "California AB 1783 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public contracts: small business preferences."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Perea"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2012-02-21"
last_action: "2012-07-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a02dee91-e294-4081-963a-67f5a923fcbb"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1783"
source_hash: "c835468840d47b91419649a7e7547ae7b5c6760dd3cba874dfe2124d69b99432"
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 1783 (20112012) — Public contracts: small business preferences.

Existing law requires state agencies to give small businesses a 5% preference in contracts for construction, the procurement of goods, or the delivery of services, establishes a procedure by which a business can be certified as a small business by the Department of General Services for the purposes of these preferences, and specifies that a business that has been certified by, or on behalf of, another governmental entity may be eligible for certification as a small business if the certifying entity uses substantially the same or more stringent definitions as those set forth in existing law, as provided.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/21/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1783&version=20110AB178399INT)
2. **04/10/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1783&version=20110AB178398AMD)
3. **07/13/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1783&version=20110AB178396CHP)
4. **AB1783** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1783)
5. **07/02/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1783&version=20110AB178397ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations Recommend Consent. — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1783 PEREA Consent Calendar Second Day — **72–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Perea — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-21** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-02-22** From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.
- **2012-03-05** Referred to Com. on J., E.D. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-10** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on J., E.D. & E. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-11** Re-referred to Com. on J., E.D. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-17** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (April 17). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-25** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 25). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-26** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 4675.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-03** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-17** Referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (June 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-06-25** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage`
- **2012-06-26** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-06-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 4182.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-06-28** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2012-07-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m.
- **2012-07-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-07-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 114, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a02dee91-e294-4081-963a-67f5a923fcbb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).