republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-867.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political Reform Act of 1974: contributions."
description: "The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and related matters, including campaign contributions. The act defines \"contribution\" as a payment, a forgiveness of a loan, a payment of a loan by a third party, or an enforceable promise to make a payment except to the extent that full and adequate consideration is received, unless it is clear from the surrounding circumstances that it is not made for political purposes. The act further describes types of payments that are expressly included or excluded from the definition, including specified payments made at the behest of a committee, elected officer, or member of the Public Utilities Commission. The act requires that certain behested payments that are made principally for legislative, governmental, or charitable purposes be reported, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 867"
citation: "California AB 867 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Political Reform Act of 1974: contributions."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cooley"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2017-02-16"
last_action: "2017-10-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ec92ae91-bb7d-49fc-9e09-03d4b73babaa"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB867"
source_hash: "4ba43d0ee3d9cd3cefa352bb298e13535f0649dd4ae83da4db4c3003c5ae3f1c"
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 867 (20172018) — Political Reform Act of 1974: contributions.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and related matters, including campaign contributions. The act defines "contribution" as a payment, a forgiveness of a loan, a payment of a loan by a third party, or an enforceable promise to make a payment except to the extent that full and adequate consideration is received, unless it is clear from the surrounding circumstances that it is not made for political purposes. The act further describes types of payments that are expressly included or excluded from the definition, including specified payments made at the behest of a committee, elected officer, or member of the Public Utilities Commission. The act requires that certain behested payments that are made principally for legislative, governmental, or charitable purposes be reported, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB867&version=20170AB86799INT)
2. **04/17/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB867&version=20170AB86798AMD)
3. **10/13/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB867&version=20170AB86796CHP)
4. **AB867** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB867)
5. **09/07/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB867&version=20170AB86797ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB867 Cooley By Stern — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 867 COOLEY Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cooley — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2017-03-02** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-06** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (April 5). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-04-17** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-04-18** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-26** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-04-27** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1392.) `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 E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-26** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2471.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-05** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2017-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2017-10-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 749, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ec92ae91-bb7d-49fc-9e09-03d4b73babaa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).