republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-549.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Charitable raffles."
description: "The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature to permit private, nonprofit, eligible organizations to conduct raffles as a funding mechanism to support beneficial and charitable works, if, among other conditions, at least 90% of the gross receipts from the raffle go directly to beneficial or charitable purposes in California. The California Constitution further authorizes the Legislature to amend the percentage of gross receipts required to be dedicated to beneficial or charitable purposes by a statute passed by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature. Existing statutory law implements those provisions and requires the Department of Justice to administer and enforce those provisions."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 549"
citation: "California SB 549 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Charitable raffles."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hall"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 30
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2015-02-26"
last_action: "2015-10-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/443b7d8a-3bfb-4b0b-957a-d0865ebd22b0"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB549"
source_hash: "384b7e3301af371f3da1c3b4fc7719a5ff5d89ff7696cd1dce1b641548c911b2"
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 549 (20152016) — Charitable raffles.

The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature to permit private, nonprofit, eligible organizations to conduct raffles as a funding mechanism to support beneficial and charitable works, if, among other conditions, at least 90% of the gross receipts from the raffle go directly to beneficial or charitable purposes in California. The California Constitution further authorizes the Legislature to amend the percentage of gross receipts required to be dedicated to beneficial or charitable purposes by a statute passed by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature. Existing statutory law implements those provisions and requires the Department of Justice to administer and enforce those provisions.

## 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=201520160SB549&version=20150SB54999INT)
2. **04/28/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB549&version=20150SB54998AMD)
3. **06/02/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB549&version=20150SB54997AMD)
4. **06/23/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB549&version=20150SB54996AMD)
5. **08/28/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB549&version=20150SB54995AMD)
6. **10/05/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB549&version=20150SB54993CHP)
7. **SB549** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB549)
8. **09/04/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB549&version=20150SB54994ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB549 Hall Concurrence — **37–2** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Public Safety] — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 549 Hall Senate Third Reading By JONES-SAWYER — **64–7** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hall — primary (person)
- Gray — coauthor (person)
- Jones-Sawyer — coauthor (person)
- Mendoza — coauthor (person)
- Stone — coauthor (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 Coms. on G.O. and PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-17** Set for hearing April 14.
- **2015-04-14** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. (Ayes 10. Noes 0. Page 592.) (April 14). Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-20** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2015-04-20** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-24** Set for hearing May 4.
- **2015-04-28** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-28** May 4 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **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.
- **2015-06-01** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1156.) (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 38. Noes 0. Page 1298.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-04** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-18** Referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-23** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (July 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-19** August 19 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2015-08-28** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (August 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-08-28** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 64. Noes 7. Page 2783.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2015-09-03** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 37. Noes 2. Page 2444.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2015-10-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-05** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 509, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/443b7d8a-3bfb-4b0b-957a-d0865ebd22b0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).