---
type: "Bill"
title: "Employees: bereavement leave."
description: "Existing law, commonly known as the California Family Rights Act, which is a part of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, as defined, to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period for family care and medical leave, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 1949"
citation: "California AB 1949 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Employees: bereavement leave."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Low"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 27
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2022-02-10"
last_action: "2022-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0526b6df-8c1b-4fbc-924f-ea88b2fdc7db"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1949"
source_hash: "ea697fe0669d124761ebe65d9b2c23708f55ead81b968ed76d4b6c81a3d8bd32"
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 1949 (20212022) — Employees: bereavement leave.

Existing law, commonly known as the California Family Rights Act, which is a part of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, as defined, to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period for family care and medical leave, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/10/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1949&version=20210AB194999INT)
2. **03/30/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1949&version=20210AB194998AMD)
3. **06/30/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1949&version=20210AB194997AMD)
4. **08/16/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1949&version=20210AB194996AMD)
5. **09/29/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1949&version=20210AB194994CHP)
6. **AB1949** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1949)
7. **09/01/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1949&version=20210AB194995ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- AB 1949 Low Assembly Third Reading — **59–9** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **13–3** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Labor, Public Employment and Retirement ] — **9–1** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1949 Low By Caballero — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1949 Low Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **64–9** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Low — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-10** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2022-02-11** From printer. May be heard in committee March 13.
- **2022-02-18** Referred to Coms. on L. & E. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-17** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (March 16). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-29** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (March 29). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-30** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-03-31** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-27** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-05-19** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 3.) (May 19). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-26** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 59. Noes 9.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-27** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2022-06-08** Referred to Coms. on JUD. and L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on L., P.E. & R. (Ayes 9. Noes 1.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-29** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 29). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-30** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-02** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-16** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 5179.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-29** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2022-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 64. Noes 9.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2022-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 767, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0526b6df-8c1b-4fbc-924f-ea88b2fdc7db`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).