---
type: "Bill"
title: "Discrimination: genetic information."
description: "The Unruh Civil Rights Act generally prohibits business establishments from discriminating on specified bases."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "SB 559"
citation: "California SB 559 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Discrimination: genetic information."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Padilla"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2011-02-17"
last_action: "2011-09-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b09a8efb-d3f0-44d0-b24a-2aae81ff7399"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB559"
source_hash: "ec0af601dd630bb221fa9b7f5fede358a88edbcab9e084da81f08d51b8bdc541"
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 559 (20112012) — Discrimination: genetic information.

The Unruh Civil Rights Act generally prohibits business establishments from discriminating on specified bases.

## 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=201120120SB559&version=20110SB55999INT)
2. **06/21/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB559&version=20110SB55998AMD)
3. **08/15/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB559&version=20110SB55997AMD)
4. **09/06/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB559&version=20110SB55995CHP)
5. **SB559** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB559)
6. **08/24/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB559&version=20110SB55996ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB559 Padilla Concurrence — **24–10** (pass) · upper
- SB 559 Padilla Senate Third Reading By ATKINS — **53–22** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **25–13** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **7–3** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **11–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **3–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Padilla — primary (person)
- Atkins — coauthor (person)
- Wieckowski — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-17** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2011-02-18** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 20.
- **2011-03-03** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-14** Set for hearing April 26.
- **2011-04-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 3. Noes 2. Page 765.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-29** Set for hearing May 9.
- **2011-05-10** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2011-05-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-19** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 25. Noes 13. Page 1035.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-19** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2011-05-27** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-20** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 3.) (June 14). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-21** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-07-06** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 5.) (July 6). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-15** Read third time and amended. (Page 2390.) `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-08-15** Ordered to third reading.
- **2011-08-15** (Corrected August 16.)
- **2011-08-18** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 53. Noes 22. Page 2446.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-08-18** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2011-08-22** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 24. Noes 10. Page 2000.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-08-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2011-09-06** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-09-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 261, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b09a8efb-d3f0-44d0-b24a-2aae81ff7399`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).