republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-929.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Pen registers: authorized use."
description: "Existing law authorizes the Attorney General or a district attorney to make a written application to a judge of a superior court for an order permitting the interception of wire communication and electronic communication, as defined. Existing law permits an application to be made informally and granted orally if an emergency situation exists, and other factors are present. Existing law conditions the granting of an oral approval on the filing of a written application by midnight of the second full court day after the oral approval is made. Existing law prohibits a communication interception from lasting for longer than 30 days. Existing law permits an extension of the original order, not to exceed 30 days, upon a showing that there is continued probable cause that the information sought is likely to be obtained under the extension."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 929"
citation: "California AB 929 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Pen registers: authorized use."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chau"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 23
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2015-02-26"
last_action: "2015-08-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c615d0d1-9b24-4472-aed1-416e0b657812"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB929"
source_hash: "baca16deab22df23dfde5a3d1f7eb96f76937a2dd42a5d56285572b6f2f9b041"
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 929 (20152016) — Pen registers: authorized use.

Existing law authorizes the Attorney General or a district attorney to make a written application to a judge of a superior court for an order permitting the interception of wire communication and electronic communication, as defined. Existing law permits an application to be made informally and granted orally if an emergency situation exists, and other factors are present. Existing law conditions the granting of an oral approval on the filing of a written application by midnight of the second full court day after the oral approval is made. Existing law prohibits a communication interception from lasting for longer than 30 days. Existing law permits an extension of the original order, not to exceed 30 days, upon a showing that there is continued probable cause that the information sought is likely to be obtained under the extension.

## 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=201520160AB929&version=20150AB92999INT)
2. **04/15/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB929&version=20150AB92998AMD)
3. **06/04/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB929&version=20150AB92997AMD)
4. **06/17/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB929&version=20150AB92996AMD)
5. **08/13/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB929&version=20150AB92994CHP)
6. **AB929** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB929)
7. **07/13/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB929&version=20150AB92995ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Privacy and Consumer Protection] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 929 CHAU Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 929 CHAU Consent Calendar Second Day — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB929 Chau By Hall — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Chau — primary (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 Coms. on PUB. S. and P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-14** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 7). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-04-15** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-04-16** Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (April 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-29** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 29). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-30** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-07** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1348.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-07** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-21** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-04** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-16** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 16). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-06-17** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-29** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2015-06-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-07-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1787.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-06** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 8 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2015-07-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2314.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-08-03** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2015-08-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-08-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 204, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c615d0d1-9b24-4472-aed1-416e0b657812`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).