---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political Reform Act of 1974: public campaign financing: California Fair Elections Act of 2026."
description: "Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, prohibits a public officer from expending, and a candidate from accepting, public moneys for the purpose of seeking elective office."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "SB 42"
citation: "California SB 42 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CaliforniaFairElectionsActof2026", "PoliticalReformActof1974", "publiccampaignfinancing"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Umberg"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 32
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2024-12-05"
last_action: "2025-10-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/eec7346a-9156-4754-a754-6ec64994bca4"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42"
source_hash: "6e3c292ad27f421bf590ebae677c79ca7a2cb3306ded16b001cfea153ded6abe"
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 42 (20252026) — Political Reform Act of 1974: public campaign financing: California Fair Elections Act of 2026.

Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, prohibits a public officer from expending, and a candidate from accepting, public moneys for the purpose of seeking elective office.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/05/24 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42&version=20250SB4299INT)
2. **02/05/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42&version=20250SB4298AMD)
3. **04/02/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42&version=20250SB4297AMD)
4. **05/23/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42&version=20250SB4296AMD)
5. **06/25/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42&version=20250SB4295AMD)
6. **09/03/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42&version=20250SB4294AMD)
7. **10/02/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42&version=20250SB4292CHP)
8. **SB42** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42)
9. **09/17/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB42&version=20250SB4293ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB42 Umberg et al. — **28–10** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB42 Umberg et al. Concurrence — **29–8** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **5–1** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- SB 42 Umberg Senate Third Reading By Lee — **59–20** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **11–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Umberg — primary (person)
- Allen — author (person)
- Arreguín — coauthor (person)
- Becker — principal coauthor (person)
- Bennett — coauthor (person)
- Berman — principal coauthor (person)
- Blakespear — principal coauthor (person)
- Cervantes — author (person)
- Cortese — coauthor (person)
- Haney — coauthor (person)
- Kalra — principal coauthor (person)
- Lee — principal coauthor (person)
- McNerney — coauthor (person)
- Ortega — coauthor (person)
- Pellerin — principal coauthor (person)
- Pérez — coauthor (person)
- Rogers — coauthor (person)
- Schiavo — coauthor (person)
- Schultz — coauthor (person)
- Solache — coauthor (person)
- Stern — principal coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-12-05** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2024-12-06** From printer. May be acted upon on or after January 5.
- **2025-01-06** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2025-01-29** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-05** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-02-14** Re-referred to Coms. on E. & C.A. and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-20** Set for hearing April 1.
- **2025-04-01** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 608.) (April 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-02** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-04** Set for hearing April 21.
- **2025-04-21** April 21 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2025-05-16** Set for hearing May 23.
- **2025-05-23** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 1. Page 1189.) (May 23). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-23** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-05-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-06-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 28. Noes 10. Page 1372.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-06-03** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2025-06-09** Referred to Coms. on ELECTIONS and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-25** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ELECTIONS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-07-02** Coauthors revised.
- **2025-07-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (July 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-07-16** July 16 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2025-08-29** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 4.) (August 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-09-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-09-03** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-03** Ordered to third reading.
- **2025-09-12** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 59. Noes 20. Page 3424.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-13** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2025-09-13** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 29. Noes 8. Page 3038.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-09-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2025-10-02** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-02** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 245, 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/eec7346a-9156-4754-a754-6ec64994bca4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).