---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vote by mail ballot tracking."
description: "Existing law requires that the vote by mail ballot be made available to any registered voter. Existing law requires a county elections official to establish a free access system that allows a vote by mail voter to learn if the voter's vote by mail ballot was counted and, if not, the reason why the ballot was not counted."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 299"
citation: "California AB 299 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vote by mail ballot tracking."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Salas"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 27
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-01-28"
last_action: "2019-09-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6b421db3-db5d-4bb4-9a43-c5fed2e7f341"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB299"
source_hash: "40a9b270dbf2aad2a88432fbcf34e5ba2eb17bcd8c15dd8e963a72ba580d8ffb"
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 299 (20192020) — Vote by mail ballot tracking.

Existing law requires that the vote by mail ballot be made available to any registered voter. Existing law requires a county elections official to establish a free access system that allows a vote by mail voter to learn if the voter's vote by mail ballot was counted and, if not, the reason why the ballot was not counted.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/28/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB299&version=20190AB29999INT)
2. **03/14/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB299&version=20190AB29998AMD)
3. **09/05/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB299&version=20190AB29996CHP)
4. **AB299** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB299)
5. **08/27/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB299&version=20190AB29997ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar AB299 — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 299 Salas Consent Calendar Second Day — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **13–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Salas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-28** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-01-29** From printer. May be heard in committee February 28.
- **2019-02-07** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-13** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 13). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-03-14** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-03-18** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-20** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (March 20). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-03-21** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-03-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 918.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-03-28** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-04-24** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-30** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2019-06-04** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 4). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-24** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2019-06-25** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-07-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1876.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-07-01** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2019-07-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-07-11** Action rescinded whereby bill was ordered to enrollment and whereby the bill was enrolled and presented to the Governor. `executive-receipt`
- **2019-07-11** Returned by the Governor at the request of the Assembly.
- **2019-07-11** Ordered to the Senate.
- **2019-08-12** In Senate. Held at Desk.
- **2019-08-22** Ordered to the Assembly.
- **2019-08-22** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2019-08-27** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-09-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-09-05** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 224, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6b421db3-db5d-4bb4-9a43-c5fed2e7f341`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).