---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public contracts: prevailing wage requirements: violations."
description: "Existing law generally requires that not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages, as specified, be paid to workers employed on a public work, as defined. Existing law requires a contractor or subcontractor to submit, to the state or political subdivision on whose behalf a public work is being performed, a penalty of not more than $50 per calendar day, and not less than $10 per calendar day except in certain cases of a good faith mistake, as provided and determined by the Labor Commissioner, for violations of these prevailing wage provisions."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 551"
citation: "California AB 551 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public contracts: prevailing wage requirements: violations."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Campos"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 23
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2011-02-16"
last_action: "2011-10-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d525b730-85fd-44f0-b910-9f380b51fae8"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB551"
source_hash: "0275a77d6b41c7f1884a2872dcc823d7718af7601894faffc8b7e97686ea9a6e"
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 551 (20112012) — Public contracts: prevailing wage requirements: violations.

Existing law generally requires that not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages, as specified, be paid to workers employed on a public work, as defined. Existing law requires a contractor or subcontractor to submit, to the state or political subdivision on whose behalf a public work is being performed, a penalty of not more than $50 per calendar day, and not less than $10 per calendar day except in certain cases of a good faith mistake, as provided and determined by the Labor Commissioner, for violations of these prevailing wage provisions.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB551&version=20110AB55199INT)
2. **06/15/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB551&version=20110AB55198AMD)
3. **06/29/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB551&version=20110AB55197AMD)
4. **08/24/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB551&version=20110AB55196AMD)
5. **10/09/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB551&version=20110AB55194CHP)
6. **AB551** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB551)
7. **09/12/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB551&version=20110AB55195ENR)

## Votes

- AB 551 CAMPOS Assembly Third Reading — **50–26** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **6–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **7–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 551 CAMPOS Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **51–26** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB551 Campos By Leno — **22–13** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **5–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–4** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Judiciary. — **5–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Campos — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2011-03-03** Referred to Coms. on L. & E. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-14** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (April 13). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 2.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-12** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (May 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-19** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 50. Noes 26. Page 1471.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-19** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-02** Referred to Com. on L. & I.R. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on L. & I.R. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-06-28** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (June 22). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-29** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-08-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (August 15). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-24** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-08-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 22. Noes 13. Page 2137.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 2 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2011-09-06** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 51. Noes 26. Page 2887.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-09-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.
- **2011-10-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 677, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d525b730-85fd-44f0-b910-9f380b51fae8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).