---
type: "Bill"
title: "Marital: liability: spousal debts."
description: "Marital: liability: spousal debts."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20012002"
identifier: "AB 539"
citation: "California AB 539 (20012002)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Marital: liability: spousal debts."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Maddox"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2001-02-21"
last_action: "2001-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8ab189f1-fd42-42ef-aaec-3625da3b44fc"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200120020AB539"
source_hash: "a0852f772b1f0d4557de0fe8fcedfb2d94cc20c7b405200d7f5c1e458ecf00f7"
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 539 (20012002) — Marital: liability: spousal debts.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/21/01 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200120020AB539&version=20010AB53999INT)
2. **04/25/01 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200120020AB539&version=20010AB53998AMD)
3. **05/10/01 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200120020AB539&version=20010AB53997AMD)
4. **10/11/01 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200120020AB539&version=20010AB53995CHP)
5. **AB539** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200120020AB539)
6. **09/04/01 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200120020AB539&version=20010AB53996ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- AB 539 Maddox Assembly Third Reading — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Assembly 3rd Reading AB539 Maddox By O'Connell — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Maddox — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2001-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 702, Statutes of 2001.
- **2001-10-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2001-09-19** Enrolled and to the Governor at 2:45 p.m.
- **2001-09-05** In Assembly. To enrollment.
- **2001-09-04** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 2586.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2001-07-12** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2001-07-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2001-07-09** Joint Rule 61 (a)(9) suspended (Page 1890.)
- **2001-05-31** Referred to Standing Committee on Judiciary. `referral-committee`
- **2001-05-17** In Senate. Read first time. To Standing Committee on Rules for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2001-05-17** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 60. Noes 8. Page 1682.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2001-05-14** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2001-05-10** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2001-05-09** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (May 2). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2001-04-30** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice waived. (Page 1298.)
- **2001-04-30** Re-referred to Standing Committee on Judiciary. `referral-committee`
- **2001-04-25** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Standing Committee on Judiciary Read second time and amended. `reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage`
- **2001-03-05** Referred to Standing Committee on Judiciary. `referral-committee`
- **2001-02-22** From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.
- **2001-02-21** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8ab189f1-fd42-42ef-aaec-3625da3b44fc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).