republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/sb-641.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Special elections."
description: "Existing law requires the Governor to call a statewide special election by proclamation. Existing law generally requires the Governor to issue this proclamation within 14 calendar days of a vacancy in a congressional or legislative office, and it permits that election to be conducted within 180 days following the proclamation, as specified, in order to consolidate the election with a regularly scheduled election."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 641"
citation: "California SB 641 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Special elections."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Allen"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 25
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-02-22"
last_action: "2019-09-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bd322ecd-e6c0-4437-8b99-3b3aff1fb66a"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB641"
source_hash: "db621230d3790555cdb5932895910bf760ea13959c349f145c374246302137ea"
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 641 (20192020) — Special elections.

Existing law requires the Governor to call a statewide special election by proclamation. Existing law generally requires the Governor to issue this proclamation within 14 calendar days of a vacancy in a congressional or legislative office, and it permits that election to be conducted within 180 days following the proclamation, as specified, in order to consolidate the election with a regularly scheduled election.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/22/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB641&version=20190SB64199INT)
2. **04/04/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB641&version=20190SB64198AMD)
3. **04/24/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB641&version=20190SB64197AMD)
4. **08/22/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB641&version=20190SB64196AMD)
5. **09/20/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB641&version=20190SB64194CHP)
6. **SB641** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB641)
7. **09/06/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB641&version=20190SB64195ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 641 Allen Senate Third Reading By Berman — **71–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB641 Allen Concurrence — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Allen — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-22** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2019-02-25** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 27.
- **2019-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-27** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-29** Set for hearing April 23.
- **2019-04-04** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-23** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 771.) (April 23). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-04-24** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-05-03** Set for hearing May 13.
- **2019-05-06** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2019-05-06** Ordered to second reading.
- **2019-05-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-13** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 1031.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-13** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-30** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 19). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-06-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-08-22** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-08-22** Ordered to third reading.
- **2019-08-26** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 71. Noes 1. Page 2845.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-08-26** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2019-09-04** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2499.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2019-09-20** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-09-20** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 328, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bd322ecd-e6c0-4437-8b99-3b3aff1fb66a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).