republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-1957.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Social services: communications: computer-generated text messages."
description: "Existing law provides for various public social services programs for purposes of providing on behalf of the general public, and within the limits of public resources, reasonable support and maintenance for needy and dependent families and persons, including, among others, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals, CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county, and the Cash Assistance Program for Aged, Blind, and Disabled Legal Immigrants (CAPI) , which provides cash benefits to aged, blind, and disabled legal immigrants who meet specified criteria."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1957"
citation: "California AB 1957 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Social services: communications: computer-generated text messages."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Berman"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 34
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2018-01-30"
last_action: "2018-09-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6763caf0-21af-46db-a2db-4554345d01d0"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957"
source_hash: "6e8a12dfeb8a2dd716bd31f62494a1ad974260fee9cddc393ef5ec93ebe9cf9c"
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 1957 (20172018) — Social services: communications: computer-generated text messages.

Existing law provides for various public social services programs for purposes of providing on behalf of the general public, and within the limits of public resources, reasonable support and maintenance for needy and dependent families and persons, including, among others, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals, CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county, and the Cash Assistance Program for Aged, Blind, and Disabled Legal Immigrants (CAPI) , which provides cash benefits to aged, blind, and disabled legal immigrants who meet specified criteria.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/30/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957&version=20170AB195799INT)
2. **03/14/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957&version=20170AB195798AMD)
3. **04/02/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957&version=20170AB195797AMD)
4. **04/09/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957&version=20170AB195796AMD)
5. **04/19/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957&version=20170AB195795AMD)
6. **06/18/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957&version=20170AB195794AMD)
7. **08/17/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957&version=20170AB195793AMD)
8. **09/14/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957&version=20170AB195791CHP)
9. **AB1957** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957)
10. **08/29/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1957&version=20170AB195792ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1957 BERMAN Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1957 Berman By Wiener — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1957 BERMAN Assembly Third Reading — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Privacy and Consumer Protection] — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Berman — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-30** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-01-31** From printer. May be heard in committee March 2.
- **2018-02-08** Referred to Coms. on HUM. S. and P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-06** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2018-03-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-03-15** Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-23** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 20). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-04-02** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-04-03** Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-10** Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-18** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (April 17). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-04-19** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-04-23** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-23** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-25** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 5298.)
- **2018-05-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 25). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-05-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 5395.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-05-30** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-06-07** Referred to Coms. on HUMAN S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 12). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-18** 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`
- **2018-06-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-08-06** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2018-08-17** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-08-17** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5555.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-22** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 24 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2018-08-27** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 6606.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-09-04** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2018-09-14** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-14** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 384, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6763caf0-21af-46db-a2db-4554345d01d0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).