republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/ab-1037.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vote by mail ballots: signature verification."
description: "Existing law requires a county elections official, upon receiving a vote by mail ballot, to compare the signature on the identification envelope with the voter's signature appearing on specified voter registration records. If the elections official determines that the signatures do not match, or if the identification envelope does not contain a signature, existing law requires the elections official to permit the voter to submit a signature verification statement or unsigned identification envelopment statement, respectively, that contains the voter's signature. Existing law requires instructions to be sent to the voter specifying that they may submit these statements by email, by facsimile transmission, or in person at a polling place within the county or a ballot dropoff box."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 1037"
citation: "California AB 1037 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vote by mail ballots", "signature verification"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Berman"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-02-15"
last_action: "2023-10-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f6f50e8b-b5f9-442a-97ae-8b22bfd7cbb1"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1037"
source_hash: "3f7fce6dec2e84026f9ed487e08b4b4e9606d6f385c49c55774a76a891896931"
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 1037 (20232024) — Vote by mail ballots: signature verification.

Existing law requires a county elections official, upon receiving a vote by mail ballot, to compare the signature on the identification envelope with the voter's signature appearing on specified voter registration records. If the elections official determines that the signatures do not match, or if the identification envelope does not contain a signature, existing law requires the elections official to permit the voter to submit a signature verification statement or unsigned identification envelopment statement, respectively, that contains the voter's signature. Existing law requires instructions to be sent to the voter specifying that they may submit these statements by email, by facsimile transmission, or in person at a polling place within the county or a ballot dropoff box.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1037&version=20230AB103799INT)
2. **04/11/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1037&version=20230AB103798AMD)
3. **09/06/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1037&version=20230AB103797AMD)
4. **10/10/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1037&version=20230AB103795CHP)
5. **AB1037** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1037)
6. **09/14/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1037&version=20230AB103796ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **12–3** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 1037 Berman Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **62–18** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–1** (pass) · upper
- AB 1037 Berman Assembly Third Reading — **61–16** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1037 Berman et al. By Newman — **31–8** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Berman — primary (person)
- Cervantes — author (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2023-02-16** From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.
- **2023-02-23** Referred to Com. on ELECTIONS. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-11** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ELECTIONS. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-04-12** Re-referred to Com. on ELECTIONS. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (April 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-10** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 3.) (May 10). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 61. Noes 16. Page 1695.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-31** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-07-03** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2023-07-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-06** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 8. Page 2589.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-11** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 13 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2023-09-12** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 3228.)
- **2023-09-12** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 62. Noes 18. Page 3293.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2023-10-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-10-10** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 673, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f6f50e8b-b5f9-442a-97ae-8b22bfd7cbb1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).