---
type: "Bill"
title: "Military fraud."
description: "Existing law requires certain elected officers to forfeit their office upon the conviction of a crime pursuant to the federal Stolen Valor Act of 2005 that involves a false claim of receipt of any military decoration or medal, as specified, or the California Stolen Valor Act that involves a false claim, made with the intent to defraud, that the person is a veteran or a member of the Armed Forces of the United States. Existing law, the federal Stolen Valor Act of 2013, prohibits a person, with the intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible property, from fraudulently holding oneself out to be a recipient of a military decoration or medal, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 153"
citation: "California AB 153 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Military fraud."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chávez"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2017-01-11"
last_action: "2017-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3b4c223e-8ddc-4568-ade2-3d0a1e7847d2"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB153"
source_hash: "e8991c9e531a9c9d00793dad55ac812de410df607bea3d587b58d7afc53040e4"
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 153 (20172018) — Military fraud.

Existing law requires certain elected officers to forfeit their office upon the conviction of a crime pursuant to the federal Stolen Valor Act of 2005 that involves a false claim of receipt of any military decoration or medal, as specified, or the California Stolen Valor Act that involves a false claim, made with the intent to defraud, that the person is a veteran or a member of the Armed Forces of the United States. Existing law, the federal Stolen Valor Act of 2013, prohibits a person, with the intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible property, from fraudulently holding oneself out to be a recipient of a military decoration or medal, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/11/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB153&version=20170AB15399INT)
2. **10/08/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB153&version=20170AB15397CHP)
3. **AB153** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB153)
4. **09/15/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB153&version=20170AB15398ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Veterans Affairs] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Veterans Affairs] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent Calendar # AB153 — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 153 CHÁVEZ Consent Calendar Second Day — **74–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chávez — primary (person)
- Acosta — coauthor (person)
- Brough — coauthor (person)
- Lackey — coauthor (person)
- Mathis — coauthor (person)
- Mayes — coauthor (person)
- Steinorth — coauthor (person)
- Voepel — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-11** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-01-12** From printer. May be heard in committee February 11.
- **2017-01-30** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and V.A. `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2017-03-01** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on V.A. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (February 28). Re-referred to Com. on V.A. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-03-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (March 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-05** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 5). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-04-06** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-04-20** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 1142.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-04-20** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-10** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and V.A. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on V.A. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 6). Re-referred to Com. on V.A. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-07-10** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-12** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2017-09-14** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2907.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-14** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2017-09-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2017-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 576, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3b4c223e-8ddc-4568-ade2-3d0a1e7847d2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).