---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign disclosures: advertisements."
description: "Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, requires specified disclosures in advertisements regarding the source of the advertisement. The act defines \"advertisement\" for this purpose as a general or public communication that is authorized and paid for by a committee for the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate or candidates for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot measures."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 2188"
citation: "California AB 2188 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign disclosures: advertisements."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mullin"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 29
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2018-02-12"
last_action: "2018-09-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d80335a3-57b9-4589-a732-296252615add"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2188"
source_hash: "58fe8b8238ddf4d30d7056ba8ccdcc366a81ce1a0a7d5e2cfb3a32e8a7839641"
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 2188 (20172018) — Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign disclosures: advertisements.

Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, requires specified disclosures in advertisements regarding the source of the advertisement. The act defines "advertisement" for this purpose as a general or public communication that is authorized and paid for by a committee for the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate or candidates for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot measures.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/12/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2188&version=20170AB218899INT)
2. **03/23/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2188&version=20170AB218898AMD)
3. **04/05/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2188&version=20170AB218897AMD)
4. **05/09/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2188&version=20170AB218896AMD)
5. **08/17/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2188&version=20170AB218895AMD)
6. **09/26/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2188&version=20170AB218893CHP)
7. **AB2188** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2188)
8. **09/05/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2188&version=20170AB218894ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–4** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2188 Mullin et al. By Hill — **31–8** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 2188 Mullin Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **69–3** (pass) · lower
- AB 2188 MULLIN Assembly Third Reading — **62–13** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mullin — primary (person)
- Allen — principal coauthor (person)
- Chiu — coauthor (person)
- Dodd — coauthor (person)
- Gloria — coauthor (person)
- Levine — coauthor (person)
- McCarty — coauthor (person)
- Stern — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-12** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-02-13** From printer. May be heard in committee March 15.
- **2018-03-22** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-02** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (April 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-05-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-10** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-23** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-25** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 5298.)
- **2018-05-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (May 25). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-05-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 62. Noes 13. Page 5629.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-06-04** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-06-13** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-26** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2018-08-06** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2018-08-17** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-08-17** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 8. Page 6138.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2018-08-31** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 69. Noes 3.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2018-09-26** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-26** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 754, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d80335a3-57b9-4589-a732-296252615add`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).