republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-1921.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: vote by mail ballots."
description: "Existing law requires that the vote by mail ballot be available to any registered voter. Under existing law, a voter who is unable to return his or her vote by mail ballot may designate his or her spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, or person residing in the same household as the vote by mail voter to return the vote by mail ballot. Except in the case of a candidate or the spouse of a candidate, existing law prohibits the return of a voter's vote by mail ballot by one of those designees who is also a paid or volunteer worker of a general purpose committee, controlled committee, or any other group or organization at whose behest the individual designated to return the ballot is performing a service."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1921"
citation: "California AB 1921 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: vote by mail ballots."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gonzalez"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2016-02-11"
last_action: "2016-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6ca784ef-93c2-4f6a-865d-c0a1ec603be7"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1921"
source_hash: "32b4e9281c13baf5f9e8fae6c026a860c13727aa4df805a669bdef5d9ee37f5c"
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 1921 (20152016) — Elections: vote by mail ballots.

Existing law requires that the vote by mail ballot be available to any registered voter. Under existing law, a voter who is unable to return his or her vote by mail ballot may designate his or her spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, or person residing in the same household as the vote by mail voter to return the vote by mail ballot. Except in the case of a candidate or the spouse of a candidate, existing law prohibits the return of a voter's vote by mail ballot by one of those designees who is also a paid or volunteer worker of a general purpose committee, controlled committee, or any other group or organization at whose behest the individual designated to return the ballot is performing a service.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/11/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1921&version=20150AB192199INT)
2. **04/11/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1921&version=20150AB192198AMD)
3. **08/08/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1921&version=20150AB192197AMD)
4. **09/29/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1921&version=20150AB192195CHP)
5. **AB1921** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1921)
6. **08/31/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1921&version=20150AB192196ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB1921 Gonzalez By Hertzberg — **26–11** (pass) · upper
- AB 1921 GONZALEZ Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **50–29** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 1921 GONZALEZ Assembly Third Reading — **46–29** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gonzalez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-11** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-02-12** From printer. May be heard in committee March 13.
- **2016-02-25** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-11** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-12** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (April 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-04-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 46. Noes 29. Page 4625.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-05-12** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-22** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 21). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-06-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-08** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 11. Page 4975.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-25** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 50. Noes 29. Page 6430.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-09-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2016-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 820, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6ca784ef-93c2-4f6a-865d-c0a1ec603be7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).