---
type: "Bill"
title: "State employment: state bargaining units."
description: "(1) Existing law provides that a provision of a memorandum of understanding reached between the state employer and a recognized employee organization representing state civil service employees that requires the expenditure of funds does not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "SB 161"
citation: "California SB 161 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill", "appropriation"]
subjects: ["Stateemployment", "statebargainingunits"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-01-23"
last_action: "2025-09-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/83ee2a19-e93b-4b17-a501-bc5267000846"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB161"
source_hash: "03765e5cd221c59590416c2ac555ca5f0297d2666beebd5e79c1f395ed2dffc2"
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 161 (20252026) — State employment: state bargaining units.

(1) Existing law provides that a provision of a memorandum of understanding reached between the state employer and a recognized employee organization representing state civil service employees that requires the expenditure of funds does not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/23/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB161&version=20250SB16199INT)
2. **09/08/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB161&version=20250SB16198AMD)
3. **09/17/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB161&version=20250SB16196CHP)
4. **SB161** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB161)
5. **09/12/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB161&version=20250SB16197ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading SB161 B. & F.R. — **28–10** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB161 B. & F.R. (Wiener) Concurrence — **29–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 161 Budget and Fiscal Review Senate Third Reading By GABRIEL — **70–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-23** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-01-24** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 23.
- **2025-02-05** Referred to Com. on B. & F. R. `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-17** Withdrawn from committee. (Ayes 27. Noes 10. Page 384.)
- **2025-03-17** Ordered to second reading.
- **2025-03-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-03-20** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 28. Noes 10. Page 450.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-03-20** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2025-03-24** Referred to Com. on BUDGET. `referral-committee`
- **2025-09-08** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on BUDGET. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-09-10** Assembly Rule 96 suspended. (Ayes 56. Noes 19. Page 3164.)
- **2025-09-10** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2025-09-10** Ordered to third reading.
- **2025-09-11** Senate Rule 29.4 suspended. (Ayes 30. Noes 10. Page 2935.)
- **2025-09-11** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 70. Noes 1. Page 3329.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-12** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2025-09-12** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 29. Noes 0. Page 2956.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-09-15** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2025-09-17** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-09-17** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 114, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/83ee2a19-e93b-4b17-a501-bc5267000846`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).