republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-505.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Voter Bill of Rights."
description: "Existing law sets forth requirements and entitlements with respect to the right to vote in California elections. Among the requirements for voters is United States citizenship. Existing law establishes a Voter Bill of Rights enumerating the rights of voters as established under existing law and requires the Voter Bill of Rights, worded as specified, to be made available to the public. Existing law permits the Secretary of State to develop regulations to implement and clarify the Voter Bill of Rights."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 505"
citation: "California SB 505 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Voter Bill of Rights."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mendoza"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2015-02-26"
last_action: "2015-09-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0b3bd97f-436c-4769-a6ea-bb52efdbe327"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB505"
source_hash: "cccf145d77e64700a023d47dbdfea3c0f83065cb893b01aa43b4d0a532df0ab8"
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 505 (20152016) — Voter Bill of Rights.

Existing law sets forth requirements and entitlements with respect to the right to vote in California elections. Among the requirements for voters is United States citizenship. Existing law establishes a Voter Bill of Rights enumerating the rights of voters as established under existing law and requires the Voter Bill of Rights, worded as specified, to be made available to the public. Existing law permits the Secretary of State to develop regulations to implement and clarify the Voter Bill of Rights.

## 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=201520160SB505&version=20150SB50599INT)
2. **04/06/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB505&version=20150SB50598AMD)
3. **04/09/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB505&version=20150SB50597AMD)
4. **09/01/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB505&version=20150SB50595CHP)
5. **SB505** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB505)
6. **08/19/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB505&version=20150SB50596ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **26–11** (pass) · upper
- SB 505 Mendoza Senate Third Reading By THURMOND — **52–25** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **10–4** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mendoza — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-26** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2015-02-27** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 29.
- **2015-03-12** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-06** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-09** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-16** Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-17** Set for hearing April 21.
- **2015-04-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 723.) (April 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-24** Set for hearing May 4.
- **2015-05-04** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2015-05-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-14** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 26. Noes 11. Page 994.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-14** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-28** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-07-01** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-08** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 4.) (July 8). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-17** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 52. Noes 25. Page 2468.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-17** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2015-08-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:15 p.m.
- **2015-09-01** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-09-01** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 236, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0b3bd97f-436c-4769-a6ea-bb52efdbe327`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).