---
type: "Bill"
title: "State water policy."
description: "Existing law establishes various state water policies, including the policy that the use of water for domestic purposes is the highest use of water."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 685"
citation: "California AB 685 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["State water policy."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eng"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 28
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2011-02-17"
last_action: "2012-09-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6a117f9f-b734-40fc-8e1c-e9cb04b5be46"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685"
source_hash: "8c076377189f29ddf5e450b9c61b9da3983e3c709d7fe9b6d8262210f9276127"
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 685 (20112012) — State water policy.

Existing law establishes various state water policies, including the policy that the use of water for domestic purposes is the highest use of water.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685&version=20110AB68599INT)
2. **01/13/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685&version=20110AB68594AMD)
3. **05/27/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685&version=20110AB68598AMD)
4. **06/30/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685&version=20110AB68597AMD)
5. **07/11/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685&version=20110AB68596AMD)
6. **08/15/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685&version=20110AB68595AMD)
7. **08/22/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685&version=20110AB68593AMD)
8. **09/25/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685&version=20110AB68591CHP)
9. **AB685** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685)
10. **09/10/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB685&version=20110AB68592ENR)

## Votes

- AB 685 ENG Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **51–28** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **5–3** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **8–3** (pass) · lower
- AB 685 ENG Assembly Third Reading — **52–24** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB685 Eng By Wolk — **22–16** (pass) · upper
- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Eng — primary (person)
- Fong — coauthor (person)
- V. Manuel Pérez — coauthor (person)
- Wolk — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-18** From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
- **2011-03-03** Referred to Com. on W., P. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 3.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-11** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-27** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 27). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-27** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-05-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 52. Noes 24. Page 1738.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-08** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-30** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-07-01** Re-referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2011-07-07** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 3.) (July 7). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-11** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-08-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-08-15** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-08-25** In committee: Held under submission.
- **2012-01-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-08-21** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-22** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 22. Noes 16. Page 4758.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-24** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-27** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6357.)
- **2012-08-29** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 51. Noes 28. Page 6492.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:35 p.m.
- **2012-09-25** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-25** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 524, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6a117f9f-b734-40fc-8e1c-e9cb04b5be46`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).