---
type: "Bill"
title: "Attorney General: directors and employees: exemption from civil service."
description: "The California Constitution exempts from state civil service various types of officers and employees, including officers elected by the people and a deputy and an employee selected by each of those officers. The California Constitution additionally authorizes the Attorney General, who is head of the Department of Justice, to appoint or employ 6 deputies or 6 employees who are exempt from state civil service."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 894"
citation: "California AB 894 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Attorney General: directors and employees: exemption from civil service."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Santiago"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 21
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-02-20"
last_action: "2019-09-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6c3585d4-092b-49fc-a2a6-2b096f145df1"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB894"
source_hash: "4599b86875dd64691614c64d2e0af1bc066670470e1841388cc9ced5c55f1842"
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 894 (20192020) — Attorney General: directors and employees: exemption from civil service.

The California Constitution exempts from state civil service various types of officers and employees, including officers elected by the people and a deputy and an employee selected by each of those officers. The California Constitution additionally authorizes the Attorney General, who is head of the Department of Justice, to appoint or employ 6 deputies or 6 employees who are exempt from state civil service.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/20/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB894&version=20190AB89499INT)
2. **08/30/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB894&version=20190AB89498AMD)
3. **09/20/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB894&version=20190AB89496CHP)
4. **AB894** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB894)
5. **09/11/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB894&version=20190AB89497ENR)

## Votes

- AB 894 Santiago Assembly Third Reading — **59–18** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB894 Santiago et al. By Hill — **29–11** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **13–5** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 894 Santiago Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **61–18** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Santiago — primary (person)
- Cervantes — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-20** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-21** From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.
- **2019-03-04** Referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-03** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (April 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, 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 59. Noes 18. Page 1819.) `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 Com. on L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-01** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-08-30** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 30). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-08-30** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 11. Page 2521.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-05** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 7 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-09-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 61. Noes 18. Page 3129.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-09-20** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-09-20** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 311, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6c3585d4-092b-49fc-a2a6-2b096f145df1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).