---
type: "Bill"
title: "Solid waste: products: labeling: compostability and biodegradability."
description: "Existing law prohibits a person from selling a plastic product that is labeled as \"compostable\" or \"home compostable\" unless, at the time of sale, the plastic product meets a specified specification or has a specified certification, as provided. Existing law prohibits the sale of a plastic product that is labeled as \"biodegradable,\" \"degradable,\" or \"decomposable,\" and prohibits implying that a plastic product will break down, fragment, biodegrade, or decompose in a landfill or other environment, unless the plastic product meets one of several specified standards relating to environmental marketing claims. Existing law authorizes a person to sell commercial agricultural mulch film labeled with the term \"soil biodegradable\" only if the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery has adopted a certain specification and the commercial agricultural mulch film is certified to meet both that specification and the ASTM standard specification for compostability."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 1201"
citation: "California AB 1201 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Solid waste: products: labeling: compostability and biodegradability."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ting"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 31
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-02-18"
last_action: "2021-10-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9e55cccb-c1a2-4503-9d67-12f456a6585d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201"
source_hash: "bfad4e28d84fc1842b7b018ab3c6f7a0cab644534e316a9a059d2a26c0402aa3"
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 1201 (20212022) — Solid waste: products: labeling: compostability and biodegradability.

Existing law prohibits a person from selling a plastic product that is labeled as "compostable" or "home compostable" unless, at the time of sale, the plastic product meets a specified specification or has a specified certification, as provided. Existing law prohibits the sale of a plastic product that is labeled as "biodegradable," "degradable," or "decomposable," and prohibits implying that a plastic product will break down, fragment, biodegrade, or decompose in a landfill or other environment, unless the plastic product meets one of several specified standards relating to environmental marketing claims. Existing law authorizes a person to sell commercial agricultural mulch film labeled with the term "soil biodegradable" only if the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery has adopted a certain specification and the commercial agricultural mulch film is certified to meet both that specification and the ASTM standard specification for compostability.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/18/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201&version=20210AB120199INT)
2. **04/05/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201&version=20210AB120198AMD)
3. **06/23/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201&version=20210AB120197AMD)
4. **08/18/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201&version=20210AB120196AMD)
5. **08/26/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201&version=20210AB120195AMD)
6. **09/03/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201&version=20210AB120194AMD)
7. **10/05/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201&version=20210AB120192CHP)
8. **AB1201** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201)
9. **09/14/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1201&version=20210AB120193ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1201 Ting Assembly Third Reading — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1201 Ting et al. By Allen — **32–2** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1201 TING Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ting — primary (person)
- Friedman — author (person)
- Lorena Gonzalez — author (person)
- Mathis — author (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-18** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2021-03-04** Referred to Com. on NAT. RES. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-26** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (March 24). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-05** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-06** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-19** Coauthors revised.
- **2021-04-21** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 20). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1685.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-28** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-09** Referred to Com. on E.Q. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-14** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-06-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E.Q. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-16** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2021-08-18** 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-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-23** In committee: Referred to APPR suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (August 26). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2021-08-26** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-03** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 32. Noes 2. Page 2567.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-09** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2021-09-09** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Page 3063.)
- **2021-09-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3072.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2021-10-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-10-05** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 504, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9e55cccb-c1a2-4503-9d67-12f456a6585d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).