republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-852.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public works: prevailing wages."
description: "Existing law defines \"public works,\" for the purposes of regulating public works contracts, as, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in whole or in part, out of public funds. Existing law further requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works and imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of this requirement."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 852"
citation: "California AB 852 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public works: prevailing wages."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Burke"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2015-02-26"
last_action: "2015-10-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/40206cf4-74c6-4477-aae7-bc698e5daaaa"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB852"
source_hash: "71ccd618c4da8f32e8f49e123791c15c9b1075c12d581f7e1b1d52b1d023774c"
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 852 (20152016) — Public works: prevailing wages.

Existing law defines "public works," for the purposes of regulating public works contracts, as, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in whole or in part, out of public funds. Existing law further requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works and imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of this requirement.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/26/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB852&version=20150AB85299INT)
2. **04/06/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB852&version=20150AB85298AMD)
3. **06/15/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB852&version=20150AB85297AMD)
4. **10/10/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB852&version=20150AB85295CHP)
5. **AB852** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB852)
6. **09/09/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB852&version=20150AB85296ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB852 Burke By Galgiani — **27–13** (pass) · upper
- AB 852 BURKE Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **58–21** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 852 BURKE Assembly Third Reading — **55–24** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Burke — primary (person)
- Dodd — coauthor (person)
- Gonzalez — coauthor (person)
- McCarty — coauthor (person)
- Roger Hernández — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-26** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-27** From printer. May be heard in committee March 29.
- **2015-03-16** Referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. & E. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-07** Re-referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (April 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-22** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (April 22). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-04-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 55. Noes 24. Page 1143.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-27** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-07** Referred to Com. on L. & I.R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on L. & I.R. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-06** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2015-08-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 27. Noes 13. Page 2432.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 4 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2015-09-04** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 58. Noes 21. Page 2904.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-16** 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 745, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/40206cf4-74c6-4477-aae7-bc698e5daaaa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).