---
type: "Bill"
title: "Statute of limitations: hazardous materials."
description: "Existing law requires that actions for civil penalties or punitive damages under specified provisions relating to hazardous waste and hazardous substances be commenced within 5 years after the discovery by the agency bringing the action of the facts constituting the grounds for commencing the action."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1980"
citation: "California AB 1980 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Statute of limitations: hazardous materials."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Quirk"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2018-01-31"
last_action: "2018-07-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9469dd61-c96e-4862-a6de-f4f1c0f297e1"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1980"
source_hash: "91ede212fc8b038d6c231324a409da7943ee9fbef2ea57acfaeb1bc4b99f0669"
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 1980 (20172018) — Statute of limitations: hazardous materials.

Existing law requires that actions for civil penalties or punitive damages under specified provisions relating to hazardous waste and hazardous substances be commenced within 5 years after the discovery by the agency bringing the action of the facts constituting the grounds for commencing the action.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/31/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1980&version=20170AB198099INT)
2. **07/20/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1980&version=20170AB198097CHP)
3. **AB1980** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1980)
4. **07/05/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1980&version=20170AB198098ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1980 Quirk By Wieckowski — **26–10** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1980 QUIRK Assembly Third Reading — **68–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **5–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Quirk — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-31** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-02-01** From printer. May be heard in committee March 3.
- **2018-02-12** Referred to Coms. on E.S. & T.M. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (March 20). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-04-17** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (April 17). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-04-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-26** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 68. Noes 1. Page 4891.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-04-26** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-05-10** Referred to Coms. on EQ. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 6). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-13** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (June 12). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-06-14** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-07-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 10. Page 5044.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-07-03** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2018-07-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2018-07-20** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-07-20** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 141, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9469dd61-c96e-4862-a6de-f4f1c0f297e1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).