---
type: "Bill"
title: "Pest control aircraft pilot's certificate: unmanned aircraft."
description: "Existing law makes it unlawful for any person to operate an aircraft in pest control unless the pilot operating the aircraft holds a valid pest control aircraft pilot's certificate issued by the Director of Pesticide Regulation and an appropriate and valid commercial pilot's certificate and a current appropriate medical certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. Existing law requires each pest control aircraft pilot's certificate to designate the pilot's status as a journeyman or apprentice, and requires an applicant for a pest control aircraft pilot's certificate to pass an examination as a condition of licensure. Existing law also makes it unlawful for any person to act as a pest control aircraft pilot in any county without first registering with the appropriate county agricultural commissioner. A violation of the provisions regulating pest control or regulations adopted pursuant to those provisions is a misdemeanor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 527"
citation: "California AB 527 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Pest control aircraft pilot's certificate: unmanned aircraft."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Caballero"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 27
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-02-13"
last_action: "2017-10-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4493ea22-a383-43ce-90fc-6f3239cf5a9c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB527"
source_hash: "cf75dbc12a640227c61f52310815ebbf74a2850d3e0dbf9b27800414a23feebd"
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 527 (20172018) — Pest control aircraft pilot's certificate: unmanned aircraft.

Existing law makes it unlawful for any person to operate an aircraft in pest control unless the pilot operating the aircraft holds a valid pest control aircraft pilot's certificate issued by the Director of Pesticide Regulation and an appropriate and valid commercial pilot's certificate and a current appropriate medical certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. Existing law requires each pest control aircraft pilot's certificate to designate the pilot's status as a journeyman or apprentice, and requires an applicant for a pest control aircraft pilot's certificate to pass an examination as a condition of licensure. Existing law also makes it unlawful for any person to act as a pest control aircraft pilot in any county without first registering with the appropriate county agricultural commissioner. A violation of the provisions regulating pest control or regulations adopted pursuant to those provisions is a misdemeanor.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/13/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB527&version=20170AB52799INT)
2. **04/25/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB527&version=20170AB52798AMD)
3. **06/22/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB527&version=20170AB52797AMD)
4. **08/21/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB527&version=20170AB52796AMD)
5. **09/08/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB527&version=20170AB52795AMD)
6. **10/02/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB527&version=20170AB52793CHP)
7. **AB527** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB527)
8. **09/15/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB527&version=20170AB52794ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 527 CABALLERO Assembly Third Reading — **57–18** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Agriculture] — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 527 Caballero Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **57–17** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB527 Caballero By Wieckowski — **38–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Caballero — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-13** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-14** From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
- **2017-02-27** Referred to Coms. on AGRI. and P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-23** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (March 22). Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-24** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 18). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-04-25** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-04-26** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-03** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (May 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-04** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 57. Noes 18. Page 1526.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-15** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-24** Referred to Coms. on EQ. and AGRI. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-21** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on AGRI. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 21). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-22** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on AGRI. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-06-26** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2017-06-26** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-08-21** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-08-28** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-08-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-08** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-13** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 2. Page 2857.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-14** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2017-09-14** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 57. Noes 17. Page 3395.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2017-10-02** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-02** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 404, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4493ea22-a383-43ce-90fc-6f3239cf5a9c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).