---
type: "Bill"
title: "California Religious Freedom Act: state agencies: disclosure of religious affiliation information."
description: "Existing law prohibits a state agency from including a question regarding an applicant's race, sex, marital status, or religion in any application form for employment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 31"
citation: "California SB 31 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["California Religious Freedom Act: state agencies: disclosure of religious affiliation information."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lara"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2016-12-05"
last_action: "2017-10-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/58ddbf6e-b7bb-4db2-b56b-ca094eee3f3d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB31"
source_hash: "5b4fa713034368dd0cb57e4c119d18cb95944a23e8ea9cb1d15c27a692b7ea8e"
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 SB 31 (20172018) — California Religious Freedom Act: state agencies: disclosure of religious affiliation information.

Existing law prohibits a state agency from including a question regarding an applicant's race, sex, marital status, or religion in any application form for employment.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/05/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB31&version=20170SB3199INT)
2. **01/24/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB31&version=20170SB3198AMD)
3. **02/27/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB31&version=20170SB3197AMD)
4. **03/27/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB31&version=20170SB3196AMD)
5. **09/08/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB31&version=20170SB3195AMD)
6. **10/15/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB31&version=20170SB3193CHP)
7. **SB31** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB31)
8. **09/20/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB31&version=20170SB3194ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading SB31 Lara et al. Urgency Clause — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB31 Lara et al. Urgency Clause Concurrence — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 31 Lara Third Reading Urgency By CHIU — **76–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lara — primary (person)
- Anderson — coauthor (person)
- Beall — coauthor (person)
- Bloom — coauthor (person)
- Bonta — coauthor (person)
- Chiu — coauthor (person)
- Cristina Garcia — coauthor (person)
- Dodd — coauthor (person)
- Gallagher — coauthor (person)
- Hertzberg — coauthor (person)
- Levine — coauthor (person)
- Monning — coauthor (person)
- O'Donnell — coauthor (person)
- Skinner — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-12-05** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2016-12-06** From printer. May be acted upon on or after January 5.
- **2017-01-12** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-24** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-01-25** Set for hearing January 31.
- **2017-01-31** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 130.) (January 31). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-02-27** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-03-01** Set for hearing March 6.
- **2017-03-02** March 6 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2017-03-03** Set for hearing March 13.
- **2017-03-13** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 348.) (March 13). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-03-14** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-27** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-03-27** Ordered to second reading.
- **2017-03-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-28** Published March 28 at 4 a.m.
- **2017-04-03** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 581.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-04-04** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-18** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-28** June 28 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2017-09-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (September 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-08** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-09-08** Ordered to third reading.
- **2017-09-15** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 76. Noes 2. Page 3479.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-15** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2017-09-15** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 3000.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-22** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-10-15** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-15** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 826, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/58ddbf6e-b7bb-4db2-b56b-ca094eee3f3d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).