---
type: "Bill"
title: "Digital financial asset businesses: regulatory oversight."
description: "Existing law, the Money Transmission Act, generally prohibits a person from engaging in the business of money transmission, as defined, without a license from the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 39"
citation: "California AB 39 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Digital financial asset businesses", "regulatory oversight"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Grayson"]
version_count: 12
action_count: 33
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2022-12-05"
last_action: "2023-10-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ba434825-8d95-4098-bc7b-99cd8eddee30"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39"
source_hash: "0182e369b4634642916c8b7ec7a98b0ad626184a60f59d159fdfc4506a97c749"
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 39 (20232024) — Digital financial asset businesses: regulatory oversight.

Existing law, the Money Transmission Act, generally prohibits a person from engaging in the business of money transmission, as defined, without a license from the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/05/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3999INT)
2. **01/30/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3998AMD)
3. **04/26/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3997AMD)
4. **05/18/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3996AMD)
5. **06/12/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3995AMD)
6. **07/06/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3994AMD)
7. **07/13/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3993AMD)
8. **09/01/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3992AMD)
9. **09/08/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3991AMD)
10. **10/13/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3989CHP)
11. **AB39** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39)
12. **09/18/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB39&version=20230AB3990ENR)

## Votes

- AB 39 Grayson Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 39 Grayson Assembly Third Reading — **70–1** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB39 Grayson et al. By Limón — **33–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Grayson — primary (person)
- Atkins — coauthor (person)
- Limón — principal coauthor (person)
- Petrie-Norris — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-12-05** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2022-12-06** From printer. May be heard in committee January 5.
- **2023-01-26** Referred to Com. on B. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-30** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on B. & F. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-01-31** Re-referred to Com. on B. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-25** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (April 24). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-26** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-04-27** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-10** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-18** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (May 18). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2023-05-18** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 70. Noes 1. Page 1789.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-26** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2023-06-07** Referred to Coms. on B. & F.I. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-12** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B. & F.I. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-06-15** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2023-07-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 5). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-07-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-07-12** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (July 11). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-07-13** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-08-21** In committee: Referred to APPR suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2023-09-01** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (September 1). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2023-09-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-08** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 33. Noes 2. Page 2650.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-12** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2023-09-14** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 3528.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-21** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2023-10-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-10-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 792, 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/ba434825-8d95-4098-bc7b-99cd8eddee30`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).