republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-2501.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Drinking water: state administrators: consolidation and extension of service."
description: "(1) Existing law declares it to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties. The act authorizes the state board to order consolidation with a receiving water system where a public water system or a state small water system, serving a disadvantaged community, consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. The act authorizes the state board to order the extension of service to an area within a disadvantaged community that does not have access to an adequate supply of safe drinking water so long as the extension of service is an interim extension of service in preparation for consolidation. The act requires the state board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to fulfill certain requirements, including, among other things, holding a public meeting, and to establishing a reasonable deadline, as prescribed, for a potentially receiving water system and a potentially subsumed water system to negotiate consolidation or another means of providing an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water. The act requires the state board to conduct a public hearing at the expiration of the reasonable deadline, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 2501"
citation: "California AB 2501 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Drinking water: state administrators: consolidation and extension of service."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chu"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 33
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2018-02-14"
last_action: "2018-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7809a286-ff6a-4ec4-aa44-b75b9a31b1bc"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2501"
source_hash: "6c1551481ace3147feb7e8c7d2d8e90130a976386b071f59fa7d0d9f8a64b38b"
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 2501 (20172018) — Drinking water: state administrators: consolidation and extension of service.

(1) Existing law declares it to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties. The act authorizes the state board to order consolidation with a receiving water system where a public water system or a state small water system, serving a disadvantaged community, consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. The act authorizes the state board to order the extension of service to an area within a disadvantaged community that does not have access to an adequate supply of safe drinking water so long as the extension of service is an interim extension of service in preparation for consolidation. The act requires the state board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to fulfill certain requirements, including, among other things, holding a public meeting, and to establishing a reasonable deadline, as prescribed, for a potentially receiving water system and a potentially subsumed water system to negotiate consolidation or another means of providing an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water. The act requires the state board to conduct a public hearing at the expiration of the reasonable deadline, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2501&version=20170AB250199INT)
2. **04/17/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2501&version=20170AB250198AMD)
3. **06/11/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2501&version=20170AB250197AMD)
4. **06/27/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2501&version=20170AB250196AMD)
5. **08/24/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2501&version=20170AB250195AMD)
6. **09/28/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2501&version=20170AB250193CHP)
7. **AB2501** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2501)
8. **09/05/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2501&version=20170AB250194ENR)

## Votes

- That the measure be returned to Senate Floor for consideration. Ordered to third reading. — **4–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 2501 Chu Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **54–22** (pass) · lower
- With recommendation: That Senate amendments be concurred in. — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- AB 2501 CHU Assembly Third Reading — **55–21** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **13–3** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB2501 Chu et al. By Hertzberg — **26–13** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Chu — primary (person)
- Friedman — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2018-03-08** Referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-02** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2018-04-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E.S. & T.M. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-18** Re-referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-05-16** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 3.) (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 55. Noes 21. Page 5428.) `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 Com. on EQ. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-11** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on EQ. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-06-26** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (June 20). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-06-27** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2018-08-06** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2018-08-17** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-08-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-24** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2018-08-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-27** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(b). `referral-committee`
- **2018-08-27** From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on EQ. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(b). (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) Re-referred to Com. on EQ. `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-08-28** From committee: That the measure be returned to Senate Floor for consideration. (Ayes 4. Noes 2.) (August 28) `committee-passage`
- **2018-08-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 13. Page 6056.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-30** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2018-08-31** Re-referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. `referral-committee`
- **2018-08-31** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended.
- **2018-08-31** From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (August 31). `committee-passage`
- **2018-08-31** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 54. Noes 22.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2018-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 871, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7809a286-ff6a-4ec4-aa44-b75b9a31b1bc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).