---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: printing requirements and ballot design."
description: "Existing law imposes ballot layout specifications, including specific requirements relating to the size and font of text."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 623"
citation: "California AB 623 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: printing requirements and ballot design."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Berman"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-02-15"
last_action: "2019-10-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1cde1b25-e2ad-4df3-9c31-2da20609c0bf"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB623"
source_hash: "0c913976a9f2f97b6e72cf1a2fde6f98de0bd1c6690092ac3aa5230a7152eb91"
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 623 (20192020) — Elections: printing requirements and ballot design.

Existing law imposes ballot layout specifications, including specific requirements relating to the size and font of text.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB623&version=20190AB62399INT)
2. **06/25/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB623&version=20190AB62398AMD)
3. **09/06/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB623&version=20190AB62397AMD)
4. **10/13/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB623&version=20190AB62395CHP)
5. **AB623** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB623)
6. **09/18/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB623&version=20190AB62396ENR)

## Votes

- AB 623 Berman Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 623 Berman Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB623 Berman By Stern — **37–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Berman — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2019-02-25** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-01** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (May 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-02** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1587.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-09** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-22** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-11** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2019-06-25** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-07-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 2). 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 7. Noes 0.) (August 30). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-06** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 1. Page 2861.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-11** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2019-09-12** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 3485.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-10-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 863, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1cde1b25-e2ad-4df3-9c31-2da20609c0bf`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).