---
type: "Bill"
title: "Misdemeanors."
description: "Existing law provides that a crime punishable with death, by imprisonment in the state prison, or by imprisonment in a county jail for more than one year is a felony and all other offenses, except those that are classified as infractions, are misdemeanors. Existing law further provides that a crime that is punishable, in the discretion of the court, as a felony or as a misdemeanor is a misdemeanor under certain circumstances, including when the court grants a defendant probation without imposing a sentence and, at the time of granting probation or on application of the defendant or probation officer thereafter, the court declares the offense to be a misdemeanor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1941"
citation: "California AB 1941 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Misdemeanors."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jones-Sawyer"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 15
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2018-01-29"
last_action: "2018-06-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e5f0eb7f-a5ea-4109-8e51-fd821f221847"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1941"
source_hash: "0e6c13bfe57b8eb6ccc8492de02b5bf7067dc02d9949ec556395c4f1a67d4a9d"
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 1941 (20172018) — Misdemeanors.

Existing law provides that a crime punishable with death, by imprisonment in the state prison, or by imprisonment in a county jail for more than one year is a felony and all other offenses, except those that are classified as infractions, are misdemeanors. Existing law further provides that a crime that is punishable, in the discretion of the court, as a felony or as a misdemeanor is a misdemeanor under certain circumstances, including when the court grants a defendant probation without imposing a sentence and, at the time of granting probation or on application of the defendant or probation officer thereafter, the court declares the offense to be a misdemeanor.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/29/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1941&version=20170AB194199INT)
2. **06/01/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1941&version=20170AB194197CHP)
3. **AB1941** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1941)
4. **05/22/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1941&version=20170AB194198ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar AB1941 Jones-Sawyer — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1941 JONES-SAWYER Consent Calendar Second Day — **66–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jones-Sawyer — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-29** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-01-30** From printer. May be heard in committee March 1.
- **2018-02-08** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-06** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 6). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-03-07** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-03-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 66. Noes 0. Page 4265.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-03-15** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-04-19** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-15** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (May 15). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-05-16** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 4220.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-05-21** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2018-05-24** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2018-06-01** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-06-01** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 18, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e5f0eb7f-a5ea-4109-8e51-fd821f221847`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).