republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/sb-235.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: ballot designation requirements."
description: "Existing law provides, with the exception of candidates for Justice of the State Supreme Court or court of appeal, that each candidate for elective city, county, district, state, or federal office may choose to have only one of specified designations, including his or her current principal professions, vocations, or occupations appear immediately under his or her name as a candidate on an election ballot."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 235"
citation: "California SB 235 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: ballot designation requirements."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Allen"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 28
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-02-06"
last_action: "2017-10-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f3e63cc7-7b35-4021-8146-83f969c34d6e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB235"
source_hash: "990c0b33e5abd1885b4b60ec9bfd2a27ff9cb54b7d28c94052f64aee84b1001f"
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 SB 235 (20172018) — Elections: ballot designation requirements.

Existing law provides, with the exception of candidates for Justice of the State Supreme Court or court of appeal, that each candidate for elective city, county, district, state, or federal office may choose to have only one of specified designations, including his or her current principal professions, vocations, or occupations appear immediately under his or her name as a candidate on an election ballot.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/06/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB235&version=20170SB23599INT)
2. **03/28/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB235&version=20170SB23598AMD)
3. **05/16/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB235&version=20170SB23597AMD)
4. **06/29/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB235&version=20170SB23596AMD)
5. **09/08/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB235&version=20170SB23595AMD)
6. **10/05/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB235&version=20170SB23593CHP)
7. **SB235** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB235)
8. **09/20/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB235&version=20170SB23594ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **10–1** (pass) · lower
- SB 235 Allen Senate Third Reading By CUNNINGHAM — **69–7** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB235 Allen Concurrence — **34–4** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **6–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **34–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Allen — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-06** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-07** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 9.
- **2017-02-16** Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-28** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-03-29** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2017-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-05** Re-referred to Coms. on E. & C.A. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-25** Set for hearing May 2.
- **2017-05-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 929.) (May 2). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-04** Set for hearing May 9.
- **2017-05-15** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 1. Page 1020.) (May 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2017-05-16** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-05-16** Published May 16 at 9 p.m.
- **2017-05-22** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 34. Noes 1. Page 1133.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-23** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-01** Referred to Coms. on E. & R. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-28** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (June 28). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2017-06-29** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-07-18** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 1.) (July 18). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-07-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-08** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-09-08** Ordered to third reading.
- **2017-09-14** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 69. Noes 7. Page 3399.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-15** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2017-09-15** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 34. Noes 4. Page 2993.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-22** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-10-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-05** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 512, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f3e63cc7-7b35-4021-8146-83f969c34d6e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).