---
type: "Bill"
title: "Property tax exemption: principal residence: veterans and their unmarried surviving spouses."
description: "Existing property tax law provides, pursuant to the authorization of the California Constitution, for the exemption from property taxation of the principal residence of a disabled veteran, a veteran's spouse, and the unmarried surviving spouse, in the case in which the veteran has, as a result of a service-connected disease or injury, died while on active duty in military service. Existing property tax law specifies that property is a veteran's principal residence if the veteran would principally reside at that property if not for his or her confinement to a hospital or other care facility."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 188"
citation: "California AB 188 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Property tax exemption: principal residence: veterans and their unmarried surviving spouses."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Block"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 22
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2011-01-25"
last_action: "2011-09-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2c8db641-18bb-488b-89d3-0f075821798c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB188"
source_hash: "9390104e0fdd7b3a68faba0e5ae2474f6e8aaf456211f7c6faf59432c5410a8c"
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 188 (20112012) — Property tax exemption: principal residence: veterans and their unmarried surviving spouses.

Existing property tax law provides, pursuant to the authorization of the California Constitution, for the exemption from property taxation of the principal residence of a disabled veteran, a veteran's spouse, and the unmarried surviving spouse, in the case in which the veteran has, as a result of a service-connected disease or injury, died while on active duty in military service. Existing property tax law specifies that property is a veteran's principal residence if the veteran would principally reside at that property if not for his or her confinement to a hospital or other care facility.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/25/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB188&version=20110AB18899INT)
2. **06/29/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB188&version=20110AB18898AMD)
3. **09/01/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB188&version=20110AB18896CHP)
4. **AB188** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB188)
5. **08/16/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB188&version=20110AB18897ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar 2nd — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be placed on the Consent Calendar. — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 188 BLOCK Consent Calendar Second Day — **60–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 188 BLOCK Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Block — primary (person)
- Blumenfield — coauthor (person)
- Butler — author (person)
- Fletcher — coauthor (person)
- Hagman — coauthor (person)
- Jeffries — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-01-25** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-01-26** From printer. May be heard in committee February 25.
- **2011-02-10** Referred to Com. on REV. & TAX. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (March 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-06** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 6). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-07** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-04-14** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 60. Noes 0. Page 982.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-04-14** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-05-19** Referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-19** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2011-05-19** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-08** Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-27** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2011-06-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-07-07** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (July 6). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-11** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-07-14** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 1863.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-07-14** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 12 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2011-08-15** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 2378.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-08-22** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 10:30 a.m.
- **2011-09-01** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-09-01** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 202, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2c8db641-18bb-488b-89d3-0f075821798c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).