---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political Reform Act of 1974."
description: "The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates a variety of aspects of the elections process and governmental ethics including, among other things, campaign funds, lobbyists, conflicts of interest, and the preparation of ballot pamphlets. A person who willfully violates the act is subject to criminal, civil, and administrative penalties."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 946"
citation: "California AB 946 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Political Reform Act of 1974."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Committee on Elections and Redistricting"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-02-20"
last_action: "2019-09-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d5936f42-604b-44dd-8419-145d92ab5d93"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB946"
source_hash: "4733626484dca3779da954ac5ecdc0e0fe8e914776e4095846afc58e026d714c"
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 946 (20192020) — Political Reform Act of 1974.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates a variety of aspects of the elections process and governmental ethics including, among other things, campaign funds, lobbyists, conflicts of interest, and the preparation of ballot pamphlets. A person who willfully violates the act is subject to criminal, civil, and administrative penalties.

## 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=201920200AB946&version=20190AB94699INT)
2. **08/14/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB946&version=20190AB94698AMD)
3. **09/20/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB946&version=20190AB94696CHP)
4. **AB946** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB946)
5. **09/06/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB946&version=20190AB94697ENR)

## Votes

- AB 946 E. & R. Concurrence in Senate Amendments By BERMAN — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB946 E. & R. (Berman) By Umberg — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 946 E. & R. Consent Calendar Second Day — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Committee on Elections and Redistricting — primary (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 E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-27** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-03-28** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 1040.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-04-04** 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`
- **2019-05-07** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (May 7). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-08** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-13** From Consent Calendar.
- **2019-05-13** Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Umberg.
- **2019-08-14** From inactive file.
- **2019-08-14** Ordered to second reading.
- **2019-08-14** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2446.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-03** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 5 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-09-05** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3020.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-11** 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 315, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d5936f42-604b-44dd-8419-145d92ab5d93`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).