republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-547.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: special elections: all-mailed ballot elections."
description: "Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2020, San Diego County to conduct, as a pilot program, an all-mailed ballot special election or special consolidated election to fill a congressional or legislative vacancy under specified conditions. If such an election is conducted, existing law requires San Diego County to report certain information to the Legislature and the Secretary of State regarding the success of the election."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 547"
citation: "California AB 547 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: special elections: all-mailed ballot elections."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gonzalez"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 21
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2015-02-23"
last_action: "2015-10-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3377d2df-3ea0-4581-83a6-54272f9440db"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB547"
source_hash: "0c5cdbfcc2eb1f8ed93133da82793ccc32d28f467cef8bb6cdaa573d28a4f60b"
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 547 (20152016) — Elections: special elections: all-mailed ballot elections.

Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2020, San Diego County to conduct, as a pilot program, an all-mailed ballot special election or special consolidated election to fill a congressional or legislative vacancy under specified conditions. If such an election is conducted, existing law requires San Diego County to report certain information to the Legislature and the Secretary of State regarding the success of the election.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/23/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB547&version=20150AB54799INT)
2. **03/19/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB547&version=20150AB54798AMD)
3. **04/29/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB547&version=20150AB54797AMD)
4. **05/18/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB547&version=20150AB54796AMD)
5. **10/10/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB547&version=20150AB54794CHP)
6. **AB547** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB547)
7. **08/27/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB547&version=20150AB54795ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. — **4–3** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 547 GONZALEZ Assembly Third Reading — **51–24** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB547 Gonzalez By Allen — **28–11** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Gonzalez — primary (person)
- Mullin — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-23** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-24** From printer. May be heard in committee March 26.
- **2015-03-19** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-19** 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`
- **2015-03-23** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-29** 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`
- **2015-04-30** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-05-14** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 4. Noes 3.) (May 13). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-05-18** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 51. Noes 24. Page 1552.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-22** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-04** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-25** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2015-07-08** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (July 7). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-24** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 28. Noes 11. Page 2144.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-25** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2015-09-01** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-10-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-10** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 727, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3377d2df-3ea0-4581-83a6-54272f9440db`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).