---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public social services: merit or civil service employee."
description: "Existing law requires that any decisions governing eligibility for the Medi-Cal program, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, or the CalFresh program that, in the state, are made by a county pursuant to provisions relating to public social services be made exclusively by a merit or civil service employee of the county."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 1457"
citation: "California AB 1457 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public social services", "merit or civil service employee"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ortega"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 15
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2023-02-17"
last_action: "2023-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6cb11777-527f-4d97-967f-587c804770a4"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1457"
source_hash: "c4578797d95f4868ddba7b5d9405b6b7f4a6061d4d59c1bdb086cce640fa6484"
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 1457 (20232024) — Public social services: merit or civil service employee.

Existing law requires that any decisions governing eligibility for the Medi-Cal program, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, or the CalFresh program that, in the state, are made by a county pursuant to provisions relating to public social services be made exclusively by a merit or civil service employee of the county.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1457&version=20230AB145799INT)
2. **09/30/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1457&version=20230AB145797CHP)
3. **AB1457** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1457)
4. **09/07/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1457&version=20230AB145798ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB1457 Ortega et al. By Skinner — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1457 Ortega Consent Calendar Second Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ortega — primary (person)
- Skinner — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2023-02-18** From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
- **2023-03-09** Referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-19** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 18). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-20** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-04-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 1361.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-04-27** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-10** Referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 19). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2353.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-05** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2023-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2023-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 279, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6cb11777-527f-4d97-967f-587c804770a4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).