---
type: "Bill"
title: "State employment: state bargaining units."
description: "(1) Existing law provides that a provision of a memorandum of understanding reached between the state employer and a recognized employee organization representing state civil service employees that requires the expenditure of funds does not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "AB 138"
citation: "California AB 138 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill", "appropriation"]
subjects: ["Stateemployment", "statebargainingunits"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Committee on Budget"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 22
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2025-01-08"
last_action: "2025-07-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f60f83ec-ff63-458a-8cbd-b65e77fab5b3"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB138"
source_hash: "21f5b4a92993128516b6e0716ca96fb33a5e141d99074bb52701a6c44bfcbe8e"
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 138 (20252026) — State employment: state bargaining units.

(1) Existing law provides that a provision of a memorandum of understanding reached between the state employer and a recognized employee organization representing state civil service employees that requires the expenditure of funds does not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/08/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB138&version=20250AB13899INT)
2. **07/14/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB138&version=20250AB13898AMD)
3. **07/29/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB138&version=20250AB13896CHP)
4. **AB138** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB138)
5. **07/17/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB138&version=20250AB13897ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass — **13–5** (pass) · upper
- AB 138 Gabriel Assembly Third Reading — **53–17** (pass) · lower
- AB 138 BUDGET Concurrence in Senate Amendments By GABRIEL — **67–4** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB138 BUDGET (Gabriel) By Wiener — **28–9** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Committee on Budget — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-08** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2025-01-09** From printer. May be heard in committee February 8.
- **2025-02-03** Referred to Com. on BUDGET. `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-17** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2025-03-17** Ordered to second reading.
- **2025-03-17** (Ayes 53. Noes 17. Page 643.)
- **2025-03-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-03-20** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 53. Noes 17. Page 732.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-03-20** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2025-04-02** Referred to Com. on B. & F. R. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-25** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2025-07-14** 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. R. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-07-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 5.) (July 14). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-07-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-07-17** Senate Rule 29.4 suspended. (Ayes 24. Noes 8. Page 2123.)
- **2025-07-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 28. Noes 9. Page 2124.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-07-17** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2025-07-17** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Page 2587.)
- **2025-07-17** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 67. Noes 4. Page 2588.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-07-18** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m.
- **2025-07-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-07-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 78, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f60f83ec-ff63-458a-8cbd-b65e77fab5b3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).