---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: Secretary of State."
description: "Existing law declares that the Secretary of State is the chief elections officer of the state and that he or she has prescribed powers and duties."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 511"
citation: "California SB 511 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: Secretary of State."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stern"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2017-02-16"
last_action: "2017-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0fbb6b98-9cdb-4d6f-a530-682d9fddb77b"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB511"
source_hash: "c6c683178ce68f15afaa96733c9597aae9d86ee07504ec42d1e362b64fd7cd50"
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 511 (20172018) — Elections: Secretary of State.

Existing law declares that the Secretary of State is the chief elections officer of the state and that he or she has prescribed powers and duties.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB511&version=20170SB51199INT)
2. **03/28/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB511&version=20170SB51198AMD)
3. **09/30/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB511&version=20170SB51196CHP)
4. **SB511** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB511)
5. **09/13/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB511&version=20170SB51197ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **10–5** (pass) · lower
- SB 511 Stern Senate Third Reading By MULLIN — **55–20** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Stern — primary (person)
- Mullin — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-16** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-17** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 19.
- **2017-03-02** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-28** 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`
- **2017-04-05** Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-07** Set for hearing April 18.
- **2017-04-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 743.) (April 18). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-21** Set for hearing May 1.
- **2017-05-01** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-05-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-04** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 952.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-04** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-22** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2017-07-13** Coauthors revised.
- **2017-07-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (July 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-08-23** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 5.) (August 23). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 55. Noes 20. Page 3160.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2017-09-15** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2017-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 394, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0fbb6b98-9cdb-4d6f-a530-682d9fddb77b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).