republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-424.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Law enforcement: communications."
description: "Existing law establishes various prohibitions against eavesdropping and recording or intercepting certain communications. A violation of these prohibitions is a crime. Existing law provides that specified law enforcement officers are not prohibited by those provisions from overhearing or recording any communication that they could lawfully overhear or record prior to the January 1, 1968, effective date of those prohibitions."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 424"
citation: "California SB 424 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Law enforcement: communications."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Pan"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 26
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2015-02-25"
last_action: "2015-08-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d9f1de9f-d00f-48c7-8c9c-e1b6c4f504fb"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB424"
source_hash: "475bd39fea373a637b46ad57e858b7b69ccb4b244626963ee472ae1adba17402"
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 424 (20152016) — Law enforcement: communications.

Existing law establishes various prohibitions against eavesdropping and recording or intercepting certain communications. A violation of these prohibitions is a crime. Existing law provides that specified law enforcement officers are not prohibited by those provisions from overhearing or recording any communication that they could lawfully overhear or record prior to the January 1, 1968, effective date of those prohibitions.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/25/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB424&version=20150SB42499INT)
2. **04/21/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB424&version=20150SB42498AMD)
3. **08/10/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB424&version=20150SB42496CHP)
4. **SB424** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB424)
5. **07/27/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB424&version=20150SB42497ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 424 Pan Consent Calendar Second Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Privacy and Consumer Protection] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Pan — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-25** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2015-02-26** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 28.
- **2015-03-05** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-20** Set for hearing April 14.
- **2015-04-07** April 14 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2015-04-14** Set for hearing April 28.
- **2015-04-21** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-22** April 28 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2015-04-23** Set for hearing April 28.
- **2015-04-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 822.) (April 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-01** Set for hearing May 11.
- **2015-05-11** May 11 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2015-05-23** Set for hearing May 28.
- **2015-05-28** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1153.) (May 28). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 1244.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-02** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-18** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2015-07-01** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-08** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (July 7). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-09** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-07-16** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2431.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-16** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2015-07-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 10 a.m.
- **2015-08-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-08-10** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 159, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d9f1de9f-d00f-48c7-8c9c-e1b6c4f504fb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).