republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-331.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Organized theft."
description: "Prior law, until July 1, 2021, made a person guilty of organized retail theft, punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony, as specified, if the person acted in concert with one or more persons to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplaces with the intent to sell or return the merchandise for value, acted in concert with 2 or more persons to receive, purchase, or possess merchandise knowing or believing it to have been stolen, acted as an agent of another to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplaces as part of an organized plan to commit theft, or recruited, coordinated, organized, supervised, directed, managed, or financed another to undertake acts of theft."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 331"
citation: "California AB 331 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Organized theft."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jones-Sawyer"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 27
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-01-27"
last_action: "2021-07-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6b366328-447f-4993-a9e4-948b8497fff0"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB331"
source_hash: "34fcb6286ec2072f75e03c1f9fb2201400b06c30748a64307fb948875b1cd704"
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 331 (20212022) — Organized theft.

Prior law, until July 1, 2021, made a person guilty of organized retail theft, punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony, as specified, if the person acted in concert with one or more persons to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplaces with the intent to sell or return the merchandise for value, acted in concert with 2 or more persons to receive, purchase, or possess merchandise knowing or believing it to have been stolen, acted as an agent of another to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplaces as part of an organized plan to commit theft, or recruited, coordinated, organized, supervised, directed, managed, or financed another to undertake acts of theft.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/27/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB331&version=20210AB33199INT)
2. **03/16/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB331&version=20210AB33198AMD)
3. **07/08/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB331&version=20210AB33197AMD)
4. **07/09/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB331&version=20210AB33196AMD)
5. **07/21/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB331&version=20210AB33194CHP)
6. **AB331** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB331)
7. **07/15/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB331&version=20210AB33195ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB331 Jones-Sawyer By Roth Urgency Clause — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 331 Jones-Sawyer Third Reading Urgency — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 331 JONES-SAWYER Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **68–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jones-Sawyer — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-27** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-01-28** From printer. May be heard in committee February 27.
- **2021-02-12** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-16** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-03-17** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (March 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-14** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 20). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-27** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1598.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-28** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-09** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-01** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-07-06** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-07-08** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-12** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 12). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-07-15** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1979.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-07-15** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 17 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2021-07-15** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 58. Noes 19. Page 2364.)
- **2021-07-15** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 58. Noes 19. Page 2364.)
- **2021-07-15** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 68. Noes 0. Page 2370.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-15** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2021-07-21** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-21** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 113, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6b366328-447f-4993-a9e4-948b8497fff0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).