---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political Reform Act of 1974: security expenses."
description: "The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates the use of campaign funds held by candidates for elective office, elected officers, and campaign committees. The act authorizes a candidate or elected officer to use campaign funds to pay or reimburse the state for the reasonable costs of installing and monitoring a home or office electronic security system or for another tangible item related to security, and for the reasonable costs of providing personal security to a candidate, elected officer, or the immediate family or staff of a candidate or elected officer, provided that the threat or potential threat to safety arises from the candidate's or elected officer's activities, duties, or status as a candidate or elected officer or from staff's position as staff of the candidate or elected officer. The act permits a candidate or elected officer to expend a maximum of $10,000 of campaign funds for these purposes during their lifetime."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "AB 789"
citation: "California AB 789 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["PoliticalReformActof1974", "securityexpenses"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonta"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 28
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2025-02-18"
last_action: "2025-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/15468f5a-ebbc-49fd-8ea2-aa5c684c16bd"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789"
source_hash: "341e070c89b6a3290acde3350f894a663953885d5a692cc148ae3126bf26692f"
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 789 (20252026) — Political Reform Act of 1974: security expenses.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates the use of campaign funds held by candidates for elective office, elected officers, and campaign committees. The act authorizes a candidate or elected officer to use campaign funds to pay or reimburse the state for the reasonable costs of installing and monitoring a home or office electronic security system or for another tangible item related to security, and for the reasonable costs of providing personal security to a candidate, elected officer, or the immediate family or staff of a candidate or elected officer, provided that the threat or potential threat to safety arises from the candidate's or elected officer's activities, duties, or status as a candidate or elected officer or from staff's position as staff of the candidate or elected officer. The act permits a candidate or elected officer to expend a maximum of $10,000 of campaign funds for these purposes during their lifetime.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/18/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789&version=20250AB78999INT)
2. **03/17/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789&version=20250AB78998AMD)
3. **06/23/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789&version=20250AB78997AMD)
4. **07/08/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789&version=20250AB78996AMD)
5. **08/25/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789&version=20250AB78995AMD)
6. **09/03/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789&version=20250AB78994AMD)
7. **10/11/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789&version=20250AB78992CHP)
8. **AB789** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789)
9. **09/16/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB789&version=20250AB78993ENR)

## Votes

- AB 789 Bonta Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **65–6** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB789 Bonta et al. By Cabaldon — **31–4** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **13–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 789 Bonta Assembly Third Reading — **59–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bonta — primary (person)
- Ashby — coauthor (person)
- Rivas — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-18** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2025-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2025-03-17** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-03-18** Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-02** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (April 1). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-04-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 59. Noes 4. Page 1170.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-04-21** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2025-05-07** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-06-24** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2025-06-24** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-25** Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2025-07-08** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-07-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (July 15). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-07-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-08-25** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-08-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-09-03** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-04** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-09-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 4. Page 2985.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-12** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2025-09-13** Joint Rules 61(a)(14) and 51(a)(4) suspended. (Ayes 59. Noes 20. Page 3413.)
- **2025-09-13** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 65. Noes 6. Page 3465.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-09-24** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2025-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 621, 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/15468f5a-ebbc-49fd-8ea2-aa5c684c16bd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).