---
type: "Bill"
title: "Deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals."
description: "Existing law uses the term \"hearing impaired,\" or a close variation of that term, in numerous provisions."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1709"
citation: "California AB 1709 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gallagher"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2016-01-25"
last_action: "2016-07-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0b8a44b2-5b2e-4d51-a33e-87769e0a35b5"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1709"
source_hash: "16b717221c85f251c8677ee8992ac5f92f2fcd1504860a77074f7eb0327327a5"
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 1709 (20152016) — Deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals.

Existing law uses the term "hearing impaired," or a close variation of that term, in numerous provisions.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/25/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1709&version=20150AB170999INT)
2. **04/14/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1709&version=20150AB170998AMD)
3. **04/28/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1709&version=20150AB170997AMD)
4. **07/25/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1709&version=20150AB170995CHP)
5. **AB1709** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1709)
6. **07/07/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1709&version=20150AB170996ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1709 GALLAGHER Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gallagher — primary (person)
- Anderson — coauthor (person)
- Kim — coauthor (person)
- Lackey — coauthor (person)
- Mathis — coauthor (person)
- Nielsen — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-01-25** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-01-26** From printer. May be heard in committee February 25.
- **2016-02-18** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-06** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2016-04-14** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2016-04-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-18** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-28** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-02** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2016-05-03** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (May 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-04** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 4725.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-09** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-05-19** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-15** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 14). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-06-16** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-06-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 4645.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-30** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2016-07-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2016-07-25** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-07-25** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 94, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0b8a44b2-5b2e-4d51-a33e-87769e0a35b5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).