republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-501.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public school employment."
description: "(1) Under existing law, public school employees have the right to form, join, and participate in activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Existing law defines the term \"public school employer\" or \"employer\" for the purposes of negotiations on collective bargaining agreements covering public school employees, as the governing board of a school district, a school district, a county board of education, a county superintendent of schools, or certain charter schools. Existing law also authorizes public agencies to agree to join together as joint powers agencies for specified purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 501"
citation: "California AB 501 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public school employment."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Campos"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 21
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2011-02-15"
last_action: "2011-10-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/01a25d93-3971-4232-bd43-3e1bbf569e27"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB501"
source_hash: "dfa51f48f52e8b212134c57146011e6ec8aa33c27d0d677a58b858c04e2305ac"
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 501 (20112012) — Public school employment.

(1) Under existing law, public school employees have the right to form, join, and participate in activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Existing law defines the term "public school employer" or "employer" for the purposes of negotiations on collective bargaining agreements covering public school employees, as the governing board of a school district, a school district, a county board of education, a county superintendent of schools, or certain charter schools. Existing law also authorizes public agencies to agree to join together as joint powers agencies for specified purposes.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB501&version=20110AB50199INT)
2. **04/06/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB501&version=20110AB50198AMD)
3. **10/09/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB501&version=20110AB50196CHP)
4. **AB501** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB501)
5. **09/09/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB501&version=20110AB50197ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **6–3** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **3–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB501 Campos By Negrete McLeod — **23–12** (pass) · upper
- AB 501 CAMPOS Assembly Third Reading — **51–27** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **4–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Campos — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-16** From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.
- **2011-03-03** Referred to Com. on P.E., R. & S.S. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-30** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 2.) (March 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-04-07** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-13** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 27). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 51. Noes 27. Page 1666.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-31** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-08** Referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 3. Noes 2.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-15** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-08-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 3.) (August 25). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-09-07** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 23. Noes 12. Page 2360.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-09-07** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2011-09-14** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2011-10-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 674, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/01a25d93-3971-4232-bd43-3e1bbf569e27`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).