---
type: "Bill"
title: "Voting: marked ballots."
description: "Existing law prohibits a voter from showing his or her ballot to any person after it is marked in such a way as to reveal its contents. Existing law provides that a person who interferes or attempts to interfere with the secrecy of voting is guilty of a felony, and authorizes the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, or a local elections official to bring an action to impose additional civil penalties for committing those acts."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1494"
citation: "California AB 1494 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Voting: marked ballots."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Levine"]
version_count: 12
action_count: 39
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2015-02-27"
last_action: "2016-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dbfcf461-06fa-4e85-b277-5cb767b20216"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494"
source_hash: "da0f2f0fd1fbe5a82ac26c84b967df355370b4f58a7f632730579f1c33772d4a"
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 1494 (20152016) — Voting: marked ballots.

Existing law prohibits a voter from showing his or her ballot to any person after it is marked in such a way as to reveal its contents. Existing law provides that a person who interferes or attempts to interfere with the secrecy of voting is guilty of a felony, and authorizes the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, or a local elections official to bring an action to impose additional civil penalties for committing those acts.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/27/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149499INT)
2. **01/04/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149496AMD)
3. **01/14/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149495AMD)
4. **04/07/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149498AMD)
5. **04/22/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149497AMD)
6. **05/26/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149494AMD)
7. **06/01/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149493AMD)
8. **06/15/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149492AMD)
9. **08/08/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149491AMD)
10. **09/29/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149489CHP)
11. **AB1494** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494)
12. **08/23/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1494&version=20150AB149490ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB1494 Levine By Anderson — **31–8** (pass) · upper
- AB 1494 LEVINE Assembly Third Reading — **51–18** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–3** (pass) · lower
- AB 1494 LEVINE Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **63–15** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1494 Levine By Anderson — **31–6** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **14–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Levine — primary (person)
- Anderson — coauthor (person)
- Gallagher — coauthor (person)
- Gonzalez — coauthor (person)
- Hertzberg — coauthor (person)
- McGuire — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-27** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2015-03-01** From printer. May be heard in committee March 31.
- **2015-03-02** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2015-03-26** Referred to Coms. on E. & R. and REV. & TAX. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-07** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-08** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-14** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2015-04-22** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-23** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-29** In committee: Set, second hearing. Held without recommendation.
- **2016-01-04** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-01-04** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2016-01-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 3.) (January 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-01-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-01-15** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2016-01-21** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 3.) (January 21). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-01-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-01-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 51. Noes 18. Page 3503.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-01-27** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-02-04** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2016-05-19** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2016-05-26** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-01** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-14** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 8). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-06-15** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 8. Page 4724.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-02** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 4 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-04** Ordered to the Senate.
- **2016-08-04** In Senate. Held at Desk.
- **2016-08-08** Action rescinded whereby the bill was read third time, passed, and to Assembly. `reading-3, passage`
- **2016-08-08** Ordered to third reading.
- **2016-08-08** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 6. Page 4975.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-16** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 18 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-22** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 63. Noes 15. Page 6026.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-26** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2016-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 813, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dbfcf461-06fa-4e85-b277-5cb767b20216`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).