---
type: "Bill"
title: "Meyers-Milias-Brown Act: impasse procedures."
description: "The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act requires the governing body of a local public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of a recognized employee organization. The act requires, if an agreement is reached, that the parties prepare jointly a nonbinding written memorandum of understanding of the agreement that would then be presented to the governing body or its statutory representative for determination."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "AB 537"
citation: "California AB 537 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Meyers-Milias-Brown Act: impasse procedures."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonta"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 29
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2013-02-20"
last_action: "2013-10-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c6aa25d4-3851-4247-921f-feada714f934"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537"
source_hash: "82a8d1e4516be5dfd46d9cdc50c49c80a2e390c55e9c1536380d488e5e04ba19"
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 537 (20132014) — Meyers-Milias-Brown Act: impasse procedures.

The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act requires the governing body of a local public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of a recognized employee organization. The act requires, if an agreement is reached, that the parties prepare jointly a nonbinding written memorandum of understanding of the agreement that would then be presented to the governing body or its statutory representative for determination.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/20/13 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537&version=20130AB53799INT)
2. **03/19/13 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537&version=20130AB53798AMD)
3. **04/17/13 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537&version=20130AB53797AMD)
4. **06/17/13 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537&version=20130AB53796AMD)
5. **08/12/13 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537&version=20130AB53795AMD)
6. **09/03/13 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537&version=20130AB53794AMD)
7. **09/06/13 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537&version=20130AB53793AMD)
8. **10/13/13 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537&version=20130AB53791CHP)
9. **AB537** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537)
10. **09/19/13 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB537&version=20130AB53792ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB537 Bonta By Beall — **26–11** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **3–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 537 BONTA Assembly Third Reading — **54–24** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 537 BONTA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **53–24** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bonta — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-20** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2013-02-21** From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.
- **2013-03-19** Referred to Com. on P.E.,R. & S.S. `referral-committee`
- **2013-03-19** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P.E.,R. & S.S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-03-20** Re-referred to Com. on P.E.,R. & S.S. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P.E.,R. & S.S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-04-18** Re-referred to Com. on P.E.,R. & S.S. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (April 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2013-05-08** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2013-05-24** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 24). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2013-05-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-05-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 54. Noes 24. Page 1791.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-06-03** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2013-06-13** Referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2013-06-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2013-06-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 3. Noes 2.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2013-08-08** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2013-08-12** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2013-08-19** In committee: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2013-08-30** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 30). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2013-09-03** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2013-09-06** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2013-09-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-09-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 11. Page 2356.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-09-11** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2013-09-12** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 53. Noes 24. Page 3298.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2013-09-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2013-10-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2013-10-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 785, Statutes of 2013.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c6aa25d4-3851-4247-921f-feada714f934`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).