republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-903.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political Reform Act of 1974."
description: "The Political Reform of Act of 1974 defines \"expenditure\" to include any monetary or nonmonetary payment made by any person that is used for communications that expressly advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or candidates, or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a clearly identified ballot measure. The act excludes from the definition the costs incurred by a broadcasting station to cover or carry a news story, commentary, or editorial, and the costs incurred in publishing a regularly published newsletter or periodical whose circulation is limited to an organization's members, employees, shareholders, other affiliated individuals, and those who request or purchase the publication."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 903"
citation: "California AB 903 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Political Reform Act of 1974."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Levine"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-02-20"
last_action: "2019-07-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/34e67a50-2e6e-47c3-bf0b-d19a3c022d38"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB903"
source_hash: "958acc65dac51f6d70445183e56ebb2030159dcab9e5179abc23254bcbec12bf"
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 903 (20192020) — Political Reform Act of 1974.

The Political Reform of Act of 1974 defines "expenditure" to include any monetary or nonmonetary payment made by any person that is used for communications that expressly advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or candidates, or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a clearly identified ballot measure. The act excludes from the definition the costs incurred by a broadcasting station to cover or carry a news story, commentary, or editorial, and the costs incurred in publishing a regularly published newsletter or periodical whose circulation is limited to an organization's members, employees, shareholders, other affiliated individuals, and those who request or purchase the publication.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/20/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB903&version=20190AB90399INT)
2. **03/28/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB903&version=20190AB90398AMD)
3. **07/12/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB903&version=20190AB90396CHP)
4. **AB903** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB903)
5. **07/03/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB903&version=20190AB90397ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar AB903 — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 903 Levine Consent Calendar Second Day — **72–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Levine — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-20** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-21** From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.
- **2019-03-04** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-27** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 27). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-03-28** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-01** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-03** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-04-04** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 1190.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-04-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-04-24** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (May 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-24** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2019-06-25** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-07-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1878.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-07-01** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2019-07-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-07-12** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-07-12** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 102, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/34e67a50-2e6e-47c3-bf0b-d19a3c022d38`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).