---
type: "Bill"
title: "Unemployment insurance: benefits: disqualification: notice."
description: "Existing law disqualifies an individual for unemployment compensation benefits if that individual willfully, for the purpose of obtaining unemployment compensation benefits, either made a false statement or representation, including, but not limited to, using a false name, false social security number, or other false identification, with actual knowledge of the falsity of it, or withheld a material fact in order to obtain unemployment compensation benefits. An individual disqualified from unemployment compensation benefits for making a false statement or representation or withholding material facts is ineligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits for certain periods of time, as provided."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 397"
citation: "California AB 397 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Unemployment insurance: benefits: disqualification: notice."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mayes"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 24
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-02-03"
last_action: "2021-10-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d53b2f34-1865-4798-af78-4fb7f1ed105c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB397"
source_hash: "521effa1be93339f5d9d5246711b41d54fda20584fa16468e1d4ecdd5db7e05b"
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 397 (20212022) — Unemployment insurance: benefits: disqualification: notice.

Existing law disqualifies an individual for unemployment compensation benefits if that individual willfully, for the purpose of obtaining unemployment compensation benefits, either made a false statement or representation, including, but not limited to, using a false name, false social security number, or other false identification, with actual knowledge of the falsity of it, or withheld a material fact in order to obtain unemployment compensation benefits. An individual disqualified from unemployment compensation benefits for making a false statement or representation or withholding material facts is ineligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits for certain periods of time, as provided.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/03/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB397&version=20210AB39799INT)
2. **08/26/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB397&version=20210AB39798AMD)
3. **09/03/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB397&version=20210AB39797AMD)
4. **10/05/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB397&version=20210AB39795CHP)
5. **AB397** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB397)
6. **09/13/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB397&version=20210AB39796ENR)

## Votes

- AB 397 Mayes Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **13–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 397 Mayes Assembly Third Reading — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB397 Mayes et al. By Wilk — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mayes — primary (person)
- Bryan — coauthor (person)
- Chiu — author (person)
- Nazarian — coauthor (person)
- Santiago — coauthor (person)
- Wicks — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-03** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-04** From printer. May be heard in committee March 6.
- **2021-02-12** Referred to Com. on INS. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-25** Coauthors revised.
- **2021-04-15** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (April 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-05** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 20). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1818.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-03** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-16** Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 1694.) (June 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-15** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 26). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2021-08-26** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-03** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-08** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2515.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-08** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2021-09-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 2972.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-17** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2021-10-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-10-05** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 516, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d53b2f34-1865-4798-af78-4fb7f1ed105c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).