republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-1793.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Contractors: license requirements: recovery actions."
description: "Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, creates the Contractors' State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs and provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors. Existing law authorizes a person who utilizes an unlicensed contractor to bring an action in any court of competent jurisdiction in this state for recovery of compensation paid to the unlicensed contractor for performance of any act or contract. Existing law authorizes a court to determine that a contractor has substantially complied with licensure requirements if specified conditions are met, including that the contractor did not know or should not reasonably have known, that he or she was not duly licensed when the performance under the contract occurred. Existing law also requires a contractor to demonstrate that he or she acted promptly and in good faith to reinstate his or her license upon learning it was invalid in order to meet substantial compliance of these licensure requirements."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1793"
citation: "California AB 1793 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Contractors: license requirements: recovery actions."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Holden"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 23
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2016-02-04"
last_action: "2016-08-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b109a06f-e127-4195-b463-7e0d51f8309b"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1793"
source_hash: "36ceaa5c23bffc72d3f685e9b6f60b8300dbefd0f5fbcd7774908a7b4a117bfc"
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 1793 (20152016) — Contractors: license requirements: recovery actions.

Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, creates the Contractors' State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs and provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors. Existing law authorizes a person who utilizes an unlicensed contractor to bring an action in any court of competent jurisdiction in this state for recovery of compensation paid to the unlicensed contractor for performance of any act or contract. Existing law authorizes a court to determine that a contractor has substantially complied with licensure requirements if specified conditions are met, including that the contractor did not know or should not reasonably have known, that he or she was not duly licensed when the performance under the contract occurred. Existing law also requires a contractor to demonstrate that he or she acted promptly and in good faith to reinstate his or her license upon learning it was invalid in order to meet substantial compliance of these licensure requirements.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/04/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1793&version=20150AB179399INT)
2. **04/18/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1793&version=20150AB179398AMD)
3. **05/04/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1793&version=20150AB179397AMD)
4. **08/02/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1793&version=20150AB179396AMD)
5. **08/30/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1793&version=20150AB179394CHP)
6. **AB1793** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1793)
7. **08/16/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1793&version=20150AB179395ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1793 HOLDEN Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1793 HOLDEN Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. To Consent Calendar. — **10–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Holden — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-04** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-02-05** From printer. May be heard in committee March 6.
- **2016-02-18** Referred to Coms. on B. & P. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-18** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on B. & P. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-19** Re-referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-03** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (May 3). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-05-04** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-05** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 4784.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-12** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-05-19** Referred to Coms. on B., P. & E.D. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 6). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-06-20** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2016-08-01** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 28). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-02** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-03** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2016-08-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 4878.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-11** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 14 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-15** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 5809.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-18** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2016-08-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-08-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 244, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b109a06f-e127-4195-b463-7e0d51f8309b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).