republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-2274.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vexatious litigants."
description: "Existing law provides that a defendant in any litigation pending in any court in the state may move the court, upon notice and hearing, for an order requiring the plaintiff to furnish security, based upon the ground that the plaintiff is a vexatious litigant, as defined, and has no reasonable probability of prevailing. Upon motion, existing law requires the court to consider specified evidence as may be material to the ground of the motion, but prohibits any determination made by the court to be or be deemed a determination of any issue in the litigation. Existing law requires the court to order the plaintiff to furnish security if, after hearing the evidence upon the motion, the court determines that the plaintiff is a vexatious litigant and that there is no reasonable probability that the plaintiff will prevail. Existing law provides that when a motion to require security is filed prior to trial, the litigation is stayed and the moving defendant is not required to plead until 10 days after the motion is denied or, if granted, 10 days after the required security has been furnished and the moving defendant has been given notice. Existing law provides that if a motion is filed any time after trial begins, the litigation is required to be stayed for such period after the denial of the motion or the furnishing of the required security, as determined by the court."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 2274"
citation: "California AB 2274 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vexatious litigants."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lara"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 23
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2012-02-24"
last_action: "2012-09-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d6ae8a09-b1e8-4fc7-9537-fa35b76b8c9f"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2274"
source_hash: "8a80a1a5389d669fcddee683bee837f2e6fa27f55bdb122582607ff73a6a0b08"
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 2274 (20112012) — Vexatious litigants.

Existing law provides that a defendant in any litigation pending in any court in the state may move the court, upon notice and hearing, for an order requiring the plaintiff to furnish security, based upon the ground that the plaintiff is a vexatious litigant, as defined, and has no reasonable probability of prevailing. Upon motion, existing law requires the court to consider specified evidence as may be material to the ground of the motion, but prohibits any determination made by the court to be or be deemed a determination of any issue in the litigation. Existing law requires the court to order the plaintiff to furnish security if, after hearing the evidence upon the motion, the court determines that the plaintiff is a vexatious litigant and that there is no reasonable probability that the plaintiff will prevail. Existing law provides that when a motion to require security is filed prior to trial, the litigation is stayed and the moving defendant is not required to plead until 10 days after the motion is denied or, if granted, 10 days after the required security has been furnished and the moving defendant has been given notice. Existing law provides that if a motion is filed any time after trial begins, the litigation is required to be stayed for such period after the denial of the motion or the furnishing of the required security, as determined by the court.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/24/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2274&version=20110AB227499INT)
2. **03/29/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2274&version=20110AB227498AMD)
3. **05/15/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2274&version=20110AB227497AMD)
4. **07/03/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2274&version=20110AB227496AMD)
5. **09/21/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2274&version=20110AB227494CHP)
6. **AB2274** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2274)
7. **08/27/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2274&version=20110AB227495ENR)

## Votes

- AB 2274 LARA Assembly Third Reading — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2274 Lara By Vargas — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 2274 LARA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **78–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lara — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-24** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2012-02-26** From printer. May be heard in committee March 27.
- **2012-02-27** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2012-03-29** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-14** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (May 8). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-15** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-05-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 4918.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-21** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-31** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-15** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-07-02** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 26). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-07-03** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-07-05** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2012-07-06** Ordered to third reading.
- **2012-08-20** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 4573.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-20** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 22 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-22** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 1. Page 6110.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2012-09-21** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-21** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 417, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d6ae8a09-b1e8-4fc7-9537-fa35b76b8c9f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).