---
type: "Bill"
title: "Legislature: Whistleblower protection and retaliation prevention."
description: "Existing law, the Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act, imposes criminal and civil liability on a Member of the Legislature or legislative employee, as defined, who interferes with, or retaliates against, a legislative employee's exercise of the right to make a protected disclosure, which is defined as a good faith allegation made by a legislative employee to specified entities that a Member of the Legislature or a legislative employee has engaged in, or will engage in, activity that may constitute a violation of law or a violation of a legislative standard of conduct."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 419"
citation: "California SB 419 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Legislature: Whistleblower protection and retaliation prevention."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Portantino"]
version_count: 12
action_count: 38
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-02-15"
last_action: "2018-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7e1279c9-a1be-4275-b008-2e5b372ba2c7"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419"
source_hash: "2d8b2592c973ca9ee56c5f694da1621bee8f22591f6dd7f24799e2d924c03924"
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 419 (20172018) — Legislature: Whistleblower protection and retaliation prevention.

Existing law, the Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act, imposes criminal and civil liability on a Member of the Legislature or legislative employee, as defined, who interferes with, or retaliates against, a legislative employee's exercise of the right to make a protected disclosure, which is defined as a good faith allegation made by a legislative employee to specified entities that a Member of the Legislature or a legislative employee has engaged in, or will engage in, activity that may constitute a violation of law or a violation of a legislative standard of conduct.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41999INT)
2. **01/04/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41996AMD)
3. **01/11/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41995AMD)
4. **01/24/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41994AMD)
5. **03/20/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41998AMD)
6. **04/17/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41997AMD)
7. **08/06/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41993AMD)
8. **08/21/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41992AMD)
9. **08/27/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41991AMD)
10. **09/30/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41989CHP)
11. **SB419** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419)
12. **09/07/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB419&version=20170SB41990ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. To Consent Calendar. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB419 Portantino et al. Urgency Clause Concurrence — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 419 Portantino Consent Calendar Second Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Portantino — primary (person)
- Atkins — coauthor (person)
- Bates — coauthor (person)
- Beall — coauthor (person)
- Burke — coauthor (person)
- Cervantes — coauthor (person)
- De León — coauthor (person)
- Dodd — coauthor (person)
- Galgiani — coauthor (person)
- Hernandez — coauthor (person)
- Hertzberg — coauthor (person)
- Hill — coauthor (person)
- Leyva — author (person)
- McGuire — coauthor (person)
- Roth — coauthor (person)
- Rubio — coauthor (person)
- Stern — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-15** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-16** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 18.
- **2017-02-23** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-20** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-03-21** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2017-03-21** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-29** Re-referred to Coms. on B., P. & E.D. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-13** April 17 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2017-04-13** Set for hearing April 24.
- **2017-04-17** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-04-24** April 24 set for first hearing. Failed passage in committee. (Ayes 3. Noes 1.) Reconsideration granted. `committee-failure`
- **2017-12-21** Set for hearing January 8.
- **2018-01-03** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2018-01-03** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-04** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2018-01-05** Set for hearing January 9 in JUD. pending receipt.
- **2018-01-08** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-10** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 4020.) (January 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2018-01-11** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-01-24** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2018-01-24** Ordered to second reading.
- **2018-01-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-01-30** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 4126.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-01-30** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2018-06-18** Referred to Coms. on JUD. and RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2018-07-05** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on RLS. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (July 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2018-08-06** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2018-08-21** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-24** From committee: Do pass as amended. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (August 24). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2018-08-27** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-08-28** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-31** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-31** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2018-08-31** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2018-08-31** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 6152.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2018-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 952, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7e1279c9-a1be-4275-b008-2e5b372ba2c7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).