republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20092010/ab-248.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public resources: ballast water management."
description: "(1) The Marine Invasive Species Act generally applies to all vessels carrying or capable of carrying ballast water into the coastal waters of the state after operating outside of the coastal waters of the state and to all ballast water and associated sediments taken on a vessel. The act requires the master, owner, operator, agent, or person in charge of a vessel that visits a California port or place of call to maintain specified information and records related to the vessel and ballast water management, and to make available or provide the information to the State Lands Commission. A person who, knowingly and with intent to deceive, falsifies a ballast water control report form required by the act is guilty of a misdemeanor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010"
identifier: "AB 248"
citation: "California AB 248 (20092010)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public resources: ballast water management."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonnie Lowenthal"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 21
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2009-02-10"
last_action: "2009-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/011963b2-b479-4066-b79f-491011c92826"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB248"
source_hash: "0814185afe287041c245b61f4b4bf4a4ccc42fa135b6cdabf91b97d17cf813a1"
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 248 (20092010) — Public resources: ballast water management.

(1) The Marine Invasive Species Act generally applies to all vessels carrying or capable of carrying ballast water into the coastal waters of the state after operating outside of the coastal waters of the state and to all ballast water and associated sediments taken on a vessel. The act requires the master, owner, operator, agent, or person in charge of a vessel that visits a California port or place of call to maintain specified information and records related to the vessel and ballast water management, and to make available or provide the information to the State Lands Commission. A person who, knowingly and with intent to deceive, falsifies a ballast water control report form required by the act is guilty of a misdemeanor.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/10/09 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB248&version=20090AB24899INT)
2. **05/13/09 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB248&version=20090AB24898AMD)
3. **06/24/09 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB248&version=20090AB24897AMD)
4. **07/08/09 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB248&version=20090AB24896AMD)
5. **10/11/09 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB248&version=20090AB24894CHP)
6. **AB248** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB248)
7. **09/02/09 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB248&version=20090AB24895ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Assembly 3rd Reading AB248 Bonnie Lowenthal By Kehoe — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- AB 248 LOWENTHAL Consent Calendar Second Day Regular Session — **pass** (pass) · lower
- AB 248 LOWENTHAL Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bonnie Lowenthal — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2009-02-10** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2009-02-11** From printer. May be heard in committee March 13.
- **2009-03-04** Referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M. `referral-committee`
- **2009-03-25** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. Re-referred. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (March 24). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-04-01** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (April 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-04-02** Read second time. To Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-04-16** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 70. Noes 0. Page 939.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-04-16** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2009-04-30** Referred to Com. on EQ. `referral-committee`
- **2009-05-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on EQ. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2009-06-08** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2009-06-23** From committee: Amend, do pass as amended, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (June 22). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2009-06-24** Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-07-07** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (July 6). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2009-07-08** Read second time, amended, and to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-08-27** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 2. Page 1965.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-08-27** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2009-08-31** Senate amendments concurred in. To enrollment. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2798.) `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2009-09-04** Enrolled and to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2009-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2009-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 317, Statutes of 2009.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/011963b2-b479-4066-b79f-491011c92826`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).