---
type: "Bill"
title: "Employment discrimination: enforcement."
description: "Existing law imposes various restrictions on employers with respect to contracts and applications for employment. A violation of those restrictions is a misdemeanor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 51"
citation: "California AB 51 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Employment discrimination: enforcement."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gonzalez"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 23
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2018-12-03"
last_action: "2019-10-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f5b69451-efda-4442-8044-1f0b079329ca"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB51"
source_hash: "34cfe9e56b20b7cb596950f72f6ec05dde8af2f00aedc411d30735394e41381f"
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 51 (20192020) — Employment discrimination: enforcement.

Existing law imposes various restrictions on employers with respect to contracts and applications for employment. A violation of those restrictions is a misdemeanor.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/03/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB51&version=20190AB5199INT)
2. **03/26/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB51&version=20190AB5198AMD)
3. **10/10/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB51&version=20190AB5196CHP)
4. **AB51** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB51)
5. **09/18/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB51&version=20190AB5197ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **13–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–1** (pass) · upper
- AB 51 Gonzalez Assembly Third Reading — **47–20** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB51 Gonzalez By Jackson — **26–11** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gonzalez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-12-03** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-12-04** From printer. May be heard in committee January 3.
- **2019-01-17** Referred to Coms. on L. & E. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (March 6). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-25** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 3.) (March 19). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-03-26** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-03-27** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-10** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 5.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 47. Noes 20. Page 1784.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-29** Referred to Coms. on L., P.E. & R. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 19). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (July 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-08-12** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-08-30** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 30). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 11. Page 2572.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-13** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2019-09-24** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-10-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-10** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 711, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f5b69451-efda-4442-8044-1f0b079329ca`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).