---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: initiative and referendum petitions: signature verification."
description: "Existing law sets forth procedures for the verification of signatures on initiative and referendum petitions by elections officials."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 698"
citation: "California AB 698 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: initiative and referendum petitions: signature verification."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Obernolte"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 15
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-02-19"
last_action: "2019-06-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/535cdd27-37c3-4bc2-96df-7f931984bc9e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB698"
source_hash: "1c89cd6fea9abef910487cebbac10059a8a61e862ffcb2adc49697ab67566208"
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 698 (20192020) — Elections: initiative and referendum petitions: signature verification.

Existing law sets forth procedures for the verification of signatures on initiative and referendum petitions by elections officials.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/19/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB698&version=20190AB69899INT)
2. **06/26/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB698&version=20190AB69897CHP)
3. **AB698** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB698)
4. **06/18/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB698&version=20190AB69898ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Consent Calendar AB698 — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 698 Obernolte Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Obernolte — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-19** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-20** From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.
- **2019-02-28** 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`
- **2019-06-04** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 4). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-06-05** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-06-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1605.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-06-18** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2019-06-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-06-26** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-26** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 14, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/535cdd27-37c3-4bc2-96df-7f931984bc9e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).