---
type: "Bill"
title: "Charter schools: petitions and renewals."
description: "(1) The Charter Schools Act of 1992 authorizes the establishment and operation of charter schools. Existing law generally requires a petition to establish a charter school to be submitted to the governing board of a school district, and, under specified circumstances, authorizes a petition to be submitted to and approved by a county board of education or the State Board of Education. Existing law authorizes a county board of education to approve a petition for the operation of a charter school that operates at one or more sites within the geographic boundaries of the county and that provides instructional services that are not generally provided by a county office of education. Existing law also authorizes a petition for the operation of a state charter school to be submitted directly to the state board, and authorizes the state board to approve a charter for the operation of a state charter school that may operate at multiple sites throughout the state."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 1505"
citation: "California AB 1505 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Charter schools: petitions and renewals."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["O'Donnell"]
version_count: 11
action_count: 34
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-02-22"
last_action: "2019-10-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/83973945-9c81-4aa8-8a75-302a95b8a0b8"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505"
source_hash: "8c2a82e8a715317c5894fbbde82c640b68e4defd47fece53d44938b7d500d12e"
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 1505 (20192020) — Charter schools: petitions and renewals.

(1) The Charter Schools Act of 1992 authorizes the establishment and operation of charter schools. Existing law generally requires a petition to establish a charter school to be submitted to the governing board of a school district, and, under specified circumstances, authorizes a petition to be submitted to and approved by a county board of education or the State Board of Education. Existing law authorizes a county board of education to approve a petition for the operation of a charter school that operates at one or more sites within the geographic boundaries of the county and that provides instructional services that are not generally provided by a county office of education. Existing law also authorizes a petition for the operation of a state charter school to be submitted directly to the state board, and authorizes the state board to approve a charter for the operation of a state charter school that may operate at multiple sites throughout the state.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/22/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150599INT)
2. **03/14/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150598AMD)
3. **04/01/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150597AMD)
4. **04/11/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150596AMD)
5. **04/24/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150595AMD)
6. **07/05/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150594AMD)
7. **08/30/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150593AMD)
8. **09/05/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150592AMD)
9. **10/03/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150590CHP)
10. **AB1505** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505)
11. **09/13/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1505&version=20190AB150591ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1505 O'Donnell Assembly Third Reading — **44–19** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1505 O'Donnell et al. By Leyva — **27–11** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–3** (pass) · upper
- AB 1505 O'Donnell Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **60–16** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- O'Donnell — primary (person)
- Bonta — author (person)
- Kalra — principal coauthor (person)
- McCarty — author (person)
- Skinner — coauthor (person)
- Smith — author (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-22** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2019-02-23** From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
- **2019-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-14** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-03-18** Re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-01** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-04-02** Re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (April 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-11** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-04-22** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-24** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-04-25** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-08** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 44. Noes 19. Page 1833.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-29** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2019-07-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on ED. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-07-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 3.) (July 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-08-19** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-08-30** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 30). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-08-30** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-05** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 27. Noes 11. Page 2689.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-09** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 11 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-09-10** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 3252.)
- **2019-09-10** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 60. Noes 16. Page 3316.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-17** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m.
- **2019-10-03** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-03** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 486, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/83973945-9c81-4aa8-8a75-302a95b8a0b8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).