---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public health: food access."
description: "Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 581"
citation: "California AB 581 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public health: food access."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John A. Pérez"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 25
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2011-02-16"
last_action: "2011-10-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b30f76e9-60dd-4827-b084-dbf51c422fa5"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB581"
source_hash: "5ba831542659d973269e6f2a925b4889df9e3d65fa4cff273b11dada47624575"
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 581 (20112012) — Public health: food access.

Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state.

## 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=201120120AB581&version=20110AB58199INT)
2. **05/27/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB581&version=20110AB58198AMD)
3. **07/11/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB581&version=20110AB58197AMD)
4. **08/30/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB581&version=20110AB58196AMD)
5. **10/06/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB581&version=20110AB58194CHP)
6. **AB581** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB581)
7. **09/12/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB581&version=20110AB58195ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB581 John A. Pérez By Cannella — **30–7** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **7–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Health. — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 581 PÉREZ, J. Assembly Third Reading — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Health to Consent Calendar. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 581 PÉREZ, J. Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **73–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- John A. Pérez — primary (person)
- Achadjian — coauthor (person)
- Alejo — coauthor (person)
- Allen — coauthor (person)
- Alquist — principal coauthor (person)
- Ammiano — coauthor (person)
- Atkins — coauthor (person)
- Beall — coauthor (person)
- Block — coauthor (person)
- Blumenfield — coauthor (person)
- Bonilla — coauthor (person)
- Bradford — coauthor (person)
- Buchanan — coauthor (person)
- Butler — coauthor (person)
- Campos — coauthor (person)
- Carter — coauthor (person)
- Cedillo — coauthor (person)
- Chesbro — coauthor (person)
- Davis — coauthor (person)
- Dickinson — coauthor (person)
- Eng — coauthor (person)
- Fletcher — coauthor (person)
- Fong — coauthor (person)
- Fuentes — coauthor (person)
- Galgiani — principal coauthor (person)
- Gordon — coauthor (person)
- Hall — coauthor (person)
- Hayashi — coauthor (person)
- Hueso — coauthor (person)
- Lara — coauthor (person)
- Ma — coauthor (person)
- Mansoor — coauthor (person)
- Mitchell — principal coauthor (person)
- Monning — coauthor (person)
- Pan — coauthor (person)
- Perea — coauthor (person)
- Portantino — coauthor (person)
- Skinner — coauthor (person)
- Solorio — coauthor (person)
- Swanson — coauthor (person)
- V. Manuel Pérez — coauthor (person)
- Wieckowski — coauthor (person)
- Williams — coauthor (person)
- Yamada — coauthor (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 AGRI. and HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-06** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2011-04-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 27). Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-04** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (May 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-18** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-27** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 27). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-27** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-05-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1733.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-08** Referred to Coms. on AGRI. and HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-07** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (July 6). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-11** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-08-15** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-08-29** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (August 25). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-30** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 7. Page 2195.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-09-01** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 3 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2011-09-06** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 73. Noes 4. Page 2893.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-09-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.
- **2011-10-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 505, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b30f76e9-60dd-4827-b084-dbf51c422fa5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).