republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-646.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: voter eligibility."
description: "Existing law prohibits a person who is on parole for the conviction of a felony from voting, registering to vote, or preregistering to vote."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 646"
citation: "California AB 646 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: voter eligibility."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["McCarty"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 26
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-02-15"
last_action: "2020-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4d59eebb-2a3c-4f5a-92a1-e1b9229289ec"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB646"
source_hash: "402d506f961ffd335e11161d57bcfa5170b2898fd30114ceb6efc1625b919e98"
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 646 (20192020) — Elections: voter eligibility.

Existing law prohibits a person who is on parole for the conviction of a felony from voting, registering to vote, or preregistering to vote.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB646&version=20190AB64699INT)
2. **01/23/20 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB646&version=20190AB64697AMD)
3. **03/13/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB646&version=20190AB64698AMD)
4. **07/08/20 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB646&version=20190AB64696AMD)
5. **09/30/20 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB646&version=20190AB64694CHP)
6. **AB646** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB646)
7. **09/01/20 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB646&version=20190AB64695ENR)

## Votes

- AB 646 McCarty Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **51–16** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB646 McCarty et al. By Hertzberg — **29–10** (pass) · upper
- AB 646 McCarty Assembly Third Reading — **48–20** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- McCarty — primary (person)
- Gonzalez — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2019-02-25** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-03-14** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (April 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-24** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-16** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-01-23** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (January 23). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2020-01-23** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-01-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-01-27** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 58. Noes 18. Page 3893.)
- **2020-01-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 48. Noes 20. Page 3938.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-01-30** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2020-06-23** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2020-07-08** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2020-08-04** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (August 4). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-08-13** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2020-08-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 20). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2020-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-08-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 10. Page 4399.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-08-28** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2020-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 51. Noes 16. Page 5347.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-09-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2020-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2020-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 320, Statutes of 2020.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4d59eebb-2a3c-4f5a-92a1-e1b9229289ec`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).