---
type: "Bill"
title: "Search warrants: foreign corporations and foreign limited liability companies."
description: "Existing law prohibits a foreign corporation from transacting intrastate business without a certificate of qualification from the Secretary of State, and requires a statement filed for a certificate of qualification to include, among other things, an agent for service of process within the state. Existing law prohibits a foreign limited liability company transacting intrastate business in this state from maintaining an action or proceeding in this state unless it has a certificate of registration filed with the Secretary of State, and requires an application for a certificate of registration to include, among other things, an agent for service of process."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 844"
citation: "California AB 844 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Search warrants: foreign corporations and foreign limited liability companies."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bloom"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2015-02-26"
last_action: "2015-07-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f0c7b8b3-53b5-4b36-aeb0-1fa547232e28"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB844"
source_hash: "2f1cacc205c547a41a0274edcfc8bfd9c0b15073c08bb5954978ae2a8788c858"
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 844 (20152016) — Search warrants: foreign corporations and foreign limited liability companies.

Existing law prohibits a foreign corporation from transacting intrastate business without a certificate of qualification from the Secretary of State, and requires a statement filed for a certificate of qualification to include, among other things, an agent for service of process within the state. Existing law prohibits a foreign limited liability company transacting intrastate business in this state from maintaining an action or proceeding in this state unless it has a certificate of registration filed with the Secretary of State, and requires an application for a certificate of registration to include, among other things, an agent for service of process.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/26/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB844&version=20150AB84499INT)
2. **07/06/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB844&version=20150AB84497CHP)
3. **AB844** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB844)
4. **06/24/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB844&version=20150AB84498ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Banking and Finance] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 844 BLOOM Assembly Third Reading — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent #3 AB844 Bloom By Hertzberg — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bloom — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-26** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-27** From printer. May be heard in committee March 29.
- **2015-03-16** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and B. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-15** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on B. & F. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 14). Re-referred to Com. on B. & F. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-05** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (May 4). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-07** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1341.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-07** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-21** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-09** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-06-10** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-17** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2015-06-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 1550.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-23** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2015-06-26** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m.
- **2015-07-06** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-07-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 57, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f0c7b8b3-53b5-4b36-aeb0-1fa547232e28`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).