republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-979.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Corporations: boards of directors: underrepresented communities."
description: "Existing law, no later than the close of the 2019 calendar year, requires a publicly held domestic or foreign corporation whose principal executive office is located in California to have a minimum of one female director on its board. Existing law, no later than the close of the 2021 calendar year, additionally requires such a corporation with 5 directors to have a minimum of 2 female directors and such a corporation with 6 or more directors to have a minimum of 3 female directors. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to impose fines for violations of these provisions, as specified, and requires the moneys from these fines to be available, upon appropriation, to offset the cost of administering these requirements."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 979"
citation: "California AB 979 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Corporations: boards of directors: underrepresented communities."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Holden"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 35
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2019-02-21"
last_action: "2020-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ff699a0b-91a3-489d-8021-7a3e48e6d021"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979"
source_hash: "6d84d20fece28537ef98e8f04a72ca319e83e37d040dfc3f1cfd5e4acd1871fe"
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 979 (20192020) — Corporations: boards of directors: underrepresented communities.

Existing law, no later than the close of the 2019 calendar year, requires a publicly held domestic or foreign corporation whose principal executive office is located in California to have a minimum of one female director on its board. Existing law, no later than the close of the 2021 calendar year, additionally requires such a corporation with 5 directors to have a minimum of 2 female directors and such a corporation with 6 or more directors to have a minimum of 3 female directors. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to impose fines for violations of these provisions, as specified, and requires the moneys from these fines to be available, upon appropriation, to offset the cost of administering these requirements.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/21/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979&version=20190AB97999INT)
2. **01/06/20 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979&version=20190AB97998AMD)
3. **06/29/20 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979&version=20190AB97997AMD)
4. **07/14/20 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979&version=20190AB97996AMD)
5. **07/28/20 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979&version=20190AB97995AMD)
6. **08/20/20 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979&version=20190AB97994AMD)
7. **09/30/20 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979&version=20190AB97992CHP)
8. **AB979** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979)
9. **09/01/20 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB979&version=20190AB97993ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · lower
- AB 979 Reyes Assembly Third Reading — **73–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB979 Holden et al. By Hueso — **26–8** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **4–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 979 Holden Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **56–8** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Holden — primary (person)
- Chiu — author (person)
- Cristina Garcia — author (person)
- Hueso — principal coauthor (person)
- Reyes — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-21** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-22** From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.
- **2019-03-04** Referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-24** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2020-01-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P.E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (January 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (January 23). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2020-01-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-01-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 3894.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-01-28** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2020-06-23** Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2020-06-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2020-06-30** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2020-06-30** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2020-07-02** Re-referred to Com. on B. & F.I. `referral-committee`
- **2020-07-09** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-07-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B. & F.I. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2020-07-28** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B. & F.I. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2020-07-30** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-08-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (August 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-08-17** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2020-08-20** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 4. Noes 2.) (August 20). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2020-08-20** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 8. Page 4432.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-08-29** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2020-08-30** Re-referred to Com. on B. & F. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. `referral-committee`
- **2020-08-30** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 5274.)
- **2020-08-30** From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 8. Noes 1.) (August 30). `committee-passage`
- **2020-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 56. Noes 8. Page 5377.). `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 316, Statutes of 2020.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ff699a0b-91a3-489d-8021-7a3e48e6d021`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).