republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-3109.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Contracts: waiver of right of petition or free speech."
description: "The California Constitution provides that the people have the right to petition government for redress of grievances and to assemble freely to consult for the common good. The California Constitution provides that every person may freely speak, write, and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of this right. Existing law generally regulates formation and enforcement of contracts, including what constitutes an unlawful contract. Under existing law, a contract is unlawful if it is contrary to an express provision of law, contrary to the policy of express law, though not expressly prohibited, or otherwise contrary to good morals. A contract is also void to the extent that it restrains a person from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 3109"
citation: "California AB 3109 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Contracts: waiver of right of petition or free speech."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark Stone"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 23
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2018-02-16"
last_action: "2018-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/856c4cbf-0a1c-4a7e-b595-913395724e14"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3109"
source_hash: "6936568e0e0901489232de683fbe0a274788e99f13b4a3ae27ae2560b27deab7"
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 3109 (20172018) — Contracts: waiver of right of petition or free speech.

The California Constitution provides that the people have the right to petition government for redress of grievances and to assemble freely to consult for the common good. The California Constitution provides that every person may freely speak, write, and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of this right. Existing law generally regulates formation and enforcement of contracts, including what constitutes an unlawful contract. Under existing law, a contract is unlawful if it is contrary to an express provision of law, contrary to the policy of express law, though not expressly prohibited, or otherwise contrary to good morals. A contract is also void to the extent that it restrains a person from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3109&version=20170AB310999INT)
2. **05/02/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3109&version=20170AB310998AMD)
3. **05/09/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3109&version=20170AB310997AMD)
4. **05/31/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3109&version=20170AB310996AMD)
5. **06/19/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3109&version=20170AB310995AMD)
6. **09/30/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3109&version=20170AB310993CHP)
7. **AB3109** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3109)
8. **08/22/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB3109&version=20170AB310994ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar AB3109 — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 3109 STONE Assembly Third Reading — **70–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 3109 STONE Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Mark Stone — primary (person)
- Friedman — principal coauthor (person)
- Reyes — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2018-03-22** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-23** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2018-05-02** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-03** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-08** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (May 8). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-05-09** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-05-10** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 70. Noes 0. Page 5206.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-05-17** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-05-30** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-31** 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`
- **2018-06-12** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2018-06-19** 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`
- **2018-07-03** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-07-05** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-13** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 5277.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-14** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 16 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2018-08-20** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 6363.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-08-27** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2018-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 949, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/856c4cbf-0a1c-4a7e-b595-913395724e14`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).