---
type: "Bill"
title: "Employment: alternative workweek schedules."
description: "Existing law authorizes an employer to propose an alternative workweek schedule, as defined, that may be either a single, standard work schedule or part of a menu of work schedule options offered to the employees. Under existing law, approval by secret ballot election of at least 23 of the affected employees in a work unit is required for adoption of an alternative workweek schedule."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010 Special Session 2"
identifier: "AB 5"
citation: "California AB 5 (20092010 Special Session 2)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Employment: alternative workweek schedules."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gaines"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2009-02-11"
last_action: "2009-02-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d7303105-b929-4e0d-8cd6-ae65521df341"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920102AB5"
source_hash: "0eabb28e1b9960dbf0424f5e239d3386086a776d3bc73c31b81e8c292169fdcb"
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 5 (20092010 Special Session 2) — Employment: alternative workweek schedules.

Existing law authorizes an employer to propose an alternative workweek schedule, as defined, that may be either a single, standard work schedule or part of a menu of work schedule options offered to the employees. Under existing law, approval by secret ballot election of at least 23 of the affected employees in a work unit is required for adoption of an alternative workweek schedule.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/11/09 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920102AB5&version=20092AB599INT)
2. **02/14/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920102AB5&version=20092AB598AMD)
3. **02/20/09 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920102AB5&version=20092AB596CHP)
4. **AB5** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920102AB5)
5. **02/19/09 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920102AB5&version=20092AB597ENR)

## Votes

- Assembly 3rd Supp 1 AB5 Gaines Benoit — **pass** (pass) · upper
- W/O REF. TO FILE AB5 Gaines — **pass** (pass) · upper
- AB5 GAINES Assembly Third Reading Second Extraordinary Session — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gaines — primary (person)
- Tran — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2009-02-11** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2009-02-12** From printer.
- **2009-02-14** Art. IV, Sec. 8(b) of the Constitution suspended. (Ayes 67. Noes 1. Page 43.)
- **2009-02-14** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-02-14** Read third time, amended, and returned to third reading. (Page 45.). `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-02-14** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 46. Noes 29. Page 46.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-02-14** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2009-02-14** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2009-02-14** Withdrawn from committee. Ordered placed on second reading file.
- **2009-02-14** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-02-15** Unanimous consent granted to take up without reference to file.
- **2009-02-15** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 6. Page 39.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-02-15** Motion to reconsider made by Senator Florez.
- **2009-02-15** Reconsideration granted. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 40.)
- **2009-02-19** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 33. Noes 2. Page 44.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-02-19** In Assembly. To enrollment.
- **2009-02-19** Enrolled and to the Governor at 11 a.m.
- **2009-02-20** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2009-02-20** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 3, Statutes of 2009-10 Second Extraordinary Session.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d7303105-b929-4e0d-8cd6-ae65521df341`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).