republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-401.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Program."
description: "Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including water corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to consider, and authorizes the commission to implement, programs to provide rate relief for low-income ratepayers of a water corporation."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 401"
citation: "California AB 401 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Program."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dodd"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 26
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2015-02-19"
last_action: "2015-10-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/144df469-12e5-432e-b1e6-39e238e84191"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB401"
source_hash: "5b8ff03cf0fd53338ffdc69d23983a0a4f05de58313859cbdba4cfe97f30661e"
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 401 (20152016) — Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Program.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including water corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to consider, and authorizes the commission to implement, programs to provide rate relief for low-income ratepayers of a water corporation.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/19/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB401&version=20150AB40199INT)
2. **04/08/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB401&version=20150AB40198AMD)
3. **07/09/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB401&version=20150AB40197AMD)
4. **09/01/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB401&version=20150AB40196AMD)
5. **09/02/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB401&version=20150AB40195AMD)
6. **10/09/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB401&version=20150AB40193CHP)
7. **AB401** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB401)
8. **09/11/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB401&version=20150AB40194ENR)

## Votes

- AB 401 DODD Assembly Third Reading — **55–22** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–3** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **6–1** (pass) · upper
- AB 401 DODD Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **55–24** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB401 Dodd By McGuire — **28–12** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dodd — primary (person)
- McGuire — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-19** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-20** From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.
- **2015-03-02** Referred to Com. on U. & C. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 3.) (March 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-08** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-15** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2015-05-28** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 28). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-06-01** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 55. Noes 22. Page 1779.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-11** Referred to Com. on E., U., & C. `referral-committee`
- **2015-07-08** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 1.) (June 30). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-07-09** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-17** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2015-08-31** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (August 27). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-08** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 28. Noes 12. Page 2588.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-08** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 10 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2015-09-09** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 52. Noes 28. Page 2990.)
- **2015-09-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 55. Noes 24. Page 2997.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-17** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-10-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 662, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/144df469-12e5-432e-b1e6-39e238e84191`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).