---
type: "Bill"
title: "Firearms: transfers."
description: "Existing law, subject to exceptions, prohibits a person from making more than one application to purchase a handgun within any 30-day period. A violation of that prohibition is a crime. Existing law prohibits a firearms dealer from delivering a handgun to a person whenever the dealer is notified by the Department of Justice that within the preceding 30-day period the purchaser has made another application to purchase a handgun that does not fall within an exception to the 30-day prohibition. A violation of that delivery prohibition by the dealer is a crime."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 61"
citation: "California SB 61 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Firearms: transfers."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Portantino"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 29
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-01-03"
last_action: "2019-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2840a040-c7bc-4cb7-8b87-24aff6f82f02"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB61"
source_hash: "86001ac10e738fc81caa16b82fc8b6e4f67c6964cc3c268f24a3a92a9bc35022"
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 SB 61 (20192020) — Firearms: transfers.

Existing law, subject to exceptions, prohibits a person from making more than one application to purchase a handgun within any 30-day period. A violation of that prohibition is a crime. Existing law prohibits a firearms dealer from delivering a handgun to a person whenever the dealer is notified by the Department of Justice that within the preceding 30-day period the purchaser has made another application to purchase a handgun that does not fall within an exception to the 30-day prohibition. A violation of that delivery prohibition by the dealer is a crime.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/03/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB61&version=20190SB6199INT)
2. **05/17/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB61&version=20190SB6198AMD)
3. **06/11/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB61&version=20190SB6197AMD)
4. **09/03/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB61&version=20190SB6196AMD)
5. **09/06/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB61&version=20190SB6195AMD)
6. **10/11/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB61&version=20190SB6193CHP)
7. **SB61** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB61)
8. **09/17/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB61&version=20190SB6194ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended — **4–2** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading SB61 Portantino et al. — **27–10** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- SB 61 Portantino Senate Third Reading By Maienschein — **55–22** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business — **28–11** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **13–5** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Portantino — primary (person)
- Bonta — coauthor (person)
- Glazer — principal coauthor (person)
- Maienschein — coauthor (person)
- Skinner — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-03** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2019-01-04** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 3.
- **2019-01-07** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2019-01-16** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-06** Set for hearing April 2.
- **2019-04-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 525.) (April 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-05** Set for hearing April 22.
- **2019-04-22** April 22 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2019-05-10** Set for hearing May 16.
- **2019-05-17** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 4. Noes 2. Page 1089.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-05-17** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-22** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 27. Noes 10. Page 1220.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-22** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2019-06-03** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-11** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-10** July 10 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2019-08-30** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 13. Noes 5.) (August 30). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-09-03** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-04** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-06** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-06** Ordered to third reading.
- **2019-09-13** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 55. Noes 22. Page 3537.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-13** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2019-09-13** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 28. Noes 11. Page 2938.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 10 a.m.
- **2019-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 737, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2840a040-c7bc-4cb7-8b87-24aff6f82f02`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).