republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-1556.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Employment discrimination: unlawful employment practices."
description: "Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination, abridgment, or harassment on account of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status, except as specified. The FEHA also prohibits the owner of any housing accommodation from discriminating against any person because of the race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, disability, or genetic information of that person. In furtherance of these purposes, the FEHA establishes the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Fair Employment and Housing Council and prescribes the duties of that department and council. The FEHA also establishes procedures for the prevention and elimination of unlawful employment practices and of discrimination in housing."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1556"
citation: "California AB 1556 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Employment discrimination: unlawful employment practices."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark Stone"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2017-02-17"
last_action: "2017-10-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d4c09fb9-ed13-4623-b44c-805247402cce"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1556"
source_hash: "99ef74bf994fffb255bb843259361d1a7f0df07b3769971c1605ed15a6eb6293"
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 1556 (20172018) — Employment discrimination: unlawful employment practices.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination, abridgment, or harassment on account of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status, except as specified. The FEHA also prohibits the owner of any housing accommodation from discriminating against any person because of the race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, disability, or genetic information of that person. In furtherance of these purposes, the FEHA establishes the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Fair Employment and Housing Council and prescribes the duties of that department and council. The FEHA also establishes procedures for the prevention and elimination of unlawful employment practices and of discrimination in housing.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1556&version=20170AB155699INT)
2. **03/28/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1556&version=20170AB155698AMD)
3. **05/31/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1556&version=20170AB155697AMD)
4. **06/19/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1556&version=20170AB155696AMD)
5. **10/14/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1556&version=20170AB155694CHP)
6. **AB1556** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1556)
7. **09/07/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1556&version=20170AB155695ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB1556 Mark Stone By Atkins — **37–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- AB 1556 STONE Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **63–7** (pass) · lower
- AB 1556 STONE Assembly Third Reading — **62–5** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Mark Stone — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2017-03-27** Referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-28** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. & E. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (April 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-26** Measure version as amended on March 28 corrected. `amendment-passage`
- **2017-05-01** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2017-05-01** Ordered to second reading.
- **2017-05-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 62. Noes 5. Page 1384.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-04** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-18** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-31** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-15** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 13). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-19** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 1. Page 2324.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 2 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-09-05** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 63. Noes 7. Page 2942.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
- **2017-10-14** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-14** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 799, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d4c09fb9-ed13-4623-b44c-805247402cce`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).