republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-185.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public retirement systems: public divestiture of thermal coal companies."
description: "The California Constitution provides that the Legislature may by statute prohibit retirement board investments if it is in the public interest to do so, and providing that the prohibition satisfies specified fiduciary standards."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 185"
citation: "California SB 185 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public retirement systems: public divestiture of thermal coal companies."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["De León"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 24
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2015-02-09"
last_action: "2015-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7b258a7a-9d0b-492c-b43c-8f008c6b7ba4"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB185"
source_hash: "b692825957e138b2b9a62b4da2d480e36421e212a3f703618d8292ff33d5c285"
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 SB 185 (20152016) — Public retirement systems: public divestiture of thermal coal companies.

The California Constitution provides that the Legislature may by statute prohibit retirement board investments if it is in the public interest to do so, and providing that the prohibition satisfies specified fiduciary standards.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/09/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB185&version=20150SB18599INT)
2. **03/25/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB185&version=20150SB18598AMD)
3. **04/08/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB185&version=20150SB18597AMD)
4. **06/02/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB185&version=20150SB18596AMD)
5. **10/08/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB185&version=20150SB18594CHP)
6. **SB185** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB185)
7. **09/03/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB185&version=20150SB18595ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **3–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- SB 185 De León Senate Third Reading By BONTA — **47–30** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB185 De León — **24–14** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- De León — primary (person)
- Hill — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-09** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2015-02-10** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 12.
- **2015-02-19** Referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-25** Set for hearing April 13.
- **2015-03-25** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-08** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-14** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 3. Noes 2. Page 593.) (April 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-17** Set for hearing April 27.
- **2015-04-27** April 27 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2015-05-23** Set for hearing May 28.
- **2015-06-01** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 1148.) (May 28). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-06-02** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-03** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 24. Noes 14. Page 1284.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-04** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-11** Referred to Com. on P.E., R., & S.S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-15** July 15 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2015-08-28** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (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. (Ayes 47. Noes 30. Page 2794.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2015-09-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2015-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 605, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7b258a7a-9d0b-492c-b43c-8f008c6b7ba4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).