---
type: "Bill"
title: "Nonprofit organizations: use of public resources."
description: "(1) Existing law prohibits a nonprofit organization or an officer, employee, or agent of a nonprofit organization from using, or permitting another to use, public resources received from a local agency for any campaign activity not authorized by law. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General, any district attorney, or any city attorney of a city with a population over 750,000 to bring a civil action to recover a civil penalty against any person who intentionally or negligently violates that prohibition."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 2318"
citation: "California AB 2318 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Nonprofit organizations: use of public resources."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Low"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 25
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2016-02-18"
last_action: "2016-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0b7ae6c9-7f7e-45c8-b24f-4fb59f91d4f4"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2318"
source_hash: "5505c3656f4de25639a3a9848a82be095298cab0a186846cdb1b041f506d8952"
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 2318 (20152016) — Nonprofit organizations: use of public resources.

(1) Existing law prohibits a nonprofit organization or an officer, employee, or agent of a nonprofit organization from using, or permitting another to use, public resources received from a local agency for any campaign activity not authorized by law. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General, any district attorney, or any city attorney of a city with a population over 750,000 to bring a civil action to recover a civil penalty against any person who intentionally or negligently violates that prohibition.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/18/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2318&version=20150AB231899INT)
2. **03/28/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2318&version=20150AB231898AMD)
3. **05/18/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2318&version=20150AB231897AMD)
4. **08/15/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2318&version=20150AB231896AMD)
5. **09/29/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2318&version=20150AB231894CHP)
6. **AB2318** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2318)
7. **09/02/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2318&version=20150AB231895ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB2318 Low By Hill — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 2318 LOW Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2318 LOW Assembly Third Reading — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **10–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Low — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-18** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
- **2016-03-03** Referred to Coms. on E. & R. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-28** 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`
- **2016-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-30** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 30). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-04-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (April 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-04-27** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2016-05-18** 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`
- **2016-05-19** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2016-05-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (May 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 5033.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-06-09** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-01** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2016-08-11** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 11). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-15** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5484.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-30** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2016-08-31** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 6541.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
- **2016-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 825, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0b7ae6c9-7f7e-45c8-b24f-4fb59f91d4f4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).