---
type: "Bill"
title: "Workers' compensation insurance: contractors."
description: "Existing law requires private employers to secure the payment of compensation by obtaining and maintaining workers' compensation insurance or to self-insure as an individual employer or as one employer in a group of employers. The Contractors' State License Law requires every licensed contractor to have on file at all times with the Contractors' State License Board a current and valid Certificate of Workers' Compensation Insurance or Certification of Self-Insurance, or a statement certifying that he or she has no employees and is not required to obtain or maintain workers' compensation insurance coverage."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 397"
citation: "California AB 397 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Workers' compensation insurance: contractors."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Monning"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2011-02-14"
last_action: "2011-10-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8b8d95ea-6f5a-4a7c-8518-3fc64a3087b4"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB397"
source_hash: "61bc8074377b0c9e670062ac180a5a3c32256bb9fbc7b3fcf0aced9572102775"
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 397 (20112012) — Workers' compensation insurance: contractors.

Existing law requires private employers to secure the payment of compensation by obtaining and maintaining workers' compensation insurance or to self-insure as an individual employer or as one employer in a group of employers. The Contractors' State License Law requires every licensed contractor to have on file at all times with the Contractors' State License Board a current and valid Certificate of Workers' Compensation Insurance or Certification of Self-Insurance, or a statement certifying that he or she has no employees and is not required to obtain or maintain workers' compensation insurance coverage.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB397&version=20110AB39799INT)
2. **10/07/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB397&version=20110AB39797CHP)
3. **AB397** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB397)
4. **08/31/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB397&version=20110AB39798ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB397 Monning By Negrete McLeod — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 397 MONNING Consent Calendar Second Day — **60–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **8–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Monning — primary (person)
- Bill Berryhill — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2011-02-24** Referred to Com. on B., P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (March 22). 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`
- **2011-05-12** Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-27** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2011-06-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 2075.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-08-29** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2011-09-01** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2011-10-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 546, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8b8d95ea-6f5a-4a7c-8518-3fc64a3087b4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).