---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: vote by mail ballots."
description: "Existing law required county elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. Existing law, for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, also required county elections officials to use a specified Secretary of State vote by mail tracking system or a system that meets the same specifications."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 29"
citation: "California SB 29 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: vote by mail ballots."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Umberg"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-12-07"
last_action: "2021-02-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f98235fe-3cc9-4016-944f-5eb95b71cbca"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB29"
source_hash: "e07be4823af0a8b987f7aca82b624d02351532dade0cdd6f79ce81f272b674d3"
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 29 (20212022) — Elections: vote by mail ballots.

Existing law required county elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. Existing law, for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, also required county elections officials to use a specified Secretary of State vote by mail tracking system or a system that meets the same specifications.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/07/20 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB29&version=20210SB2999INT)
2. **01/15/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB29&version=20210SB2998AMD)
3. **02/19/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB29&version=20210SB2996CHP)
4. **SB29** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB29)
5. **02/17/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB29&version=20210SB2997ENR)

## Votes

- SB 29 Umberg Third Reading Urgency By Berman — **55–15** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **4–2** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading SB29 Umberg et al. Urgency Clause — **29–7** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Umberg — primary (person)
- Berman — principal coauthor (person)
- Hertzberg — coauthor (person)
- Newman — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-12-07** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2020-12-08** From printer. May be acted upon on or after January 7.
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-11** Set for hearing January 14.
- **2021-01-14** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 72.) (January 14). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-01-15** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-01-19** Set for hearing January 21.
- **2021-01-21** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 4. Noes 2. Page 95.) (January 21). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-01-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-01-28** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 29. Noes 7. Page 119.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-01-28** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-01** Pursuant to Assembly Rule 51.
- **2021-02-01** Referred to Com. on ELECTIONS. `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-09** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (February 9). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-10** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-02-16** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 55. Noes 15. Page 332.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-02-17** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2021-02-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 10:30 a.m.
- **2021-02-19** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-02-19** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 3, 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/f98235fe-3cc9-4016-944f-5eb95b71cbca`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).