republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-240.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Compensation recovery actions: liquidated damages."
description: "Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner, who is the Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, to investigate employee complaints and to provide for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation properly before the commissioner or the division and to determine all matters arising under his or her jurisdiction."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 240"
citation: "California AB 240 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Compensation recovery actions: liquidated damages."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonilla"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 21
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2011-02-03"
last_action: "2011-09-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c7fec93d-40d2-4f8b-b073-e8dc8779f551"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB240"
source_hash: "cf7abe2518990e0d20b1f471ed1e9636ed07a64c33ce324417bc25d6298ae2aa"
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 240 (20112012) — Compensation recovery actions: liquidated damages.

Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner, who is the Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, to investigate employee complaints and to provide for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation properly before the commissioner or the division and to determine all matters arising under his or her jurisdiction.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/03/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB240&version=20110AB24099INT)
2. **03/08/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB240&version=20110AB24098AMD)
3. **06/02/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB240&version=20110AB24097AMD)
4. **07/11/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB240&version=20110AB24096AMD)
5. **09/07/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB240&version=20110AB24094CHP)
6. **AB240** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB240)
7. **08/24/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB240&version=20110AB24095ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **4–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 240 BONILLA Assembly Third Reading — **50–22** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB240 Bonilla By Lieu — **24–15** (pass) · upper
- AB 240 BONILLA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **49–26** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **5–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bonilla — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-03** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-04** From printer. May be heard in committee March 6.
- **2011-02-18** Referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-08** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. & E. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-03-09** Re-referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-14** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (April 13). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 50. Noes 22. Page 1237.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-05** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-05-19** Referred to Com. on L. & I.R. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-02** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on L. & I.R. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-06-08** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 4. Noes 2.) (June 8). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-07-11** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-07-12** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-18** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 24. Noes 15. Page 1965.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-08-18** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 20 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2011-08-22** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 49. Noes 26. Page 2489.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-08-26** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2011-09-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-09-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 272, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c7fec93d-40d2-4f8b-b073-e8dc8779f551`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).