republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/sb-901.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "The military: eligibility."
description: "Existing law establishes within state government a Military Department that includes, among other things, the office of the Adjutant General, the California National Guard, and the State Guard. Existing law generally governs the administration of the military, including its enlisted persons and officers. Existing law provides that an enlisted person may be discharged from the California National Guard under honorable, general, or undesirable conditions without a court-martial and requires a bad conduct or dishonorable discharge to be awarded only by a court-martial. Existing law specifies the causes for discharge of an enlisted person from the California National Guard and provides the conditions for the Governor or the Adjutant General to discharge an enlisted person. Existing law authorizes the discharge of an officer from the California National Guard only by sentence of a general court-martial and approval by the Governor. Existing law prohibits a person from being commissioned or enlisted in the State Guard if the person is not a citizen of the United States or has not declared their intent to become a citizen of the United States or has been expelled from a military or naval organization, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 901"
citation: "California SB 901 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["The military", "eligibility"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Umberg"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 29
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2024-01-03"
last_action: "2024-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a892cc86-6c8f-410e-b523-7565e7cf8802"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB901"
source_hash: "a31166796b9b65a55abac73cf9120e11ac7957231d3c6267a9848fd8032791d9"
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 901 (20232024) — The military: eligibility.

Existing law establishes within state government a Military Department that includes, among other things, the office of the Adjutant General, the California National Guard, and the State Guard. Existing law generally governs the administration of the military, including its enlisted persons and officers. Existing law provides that an enlisted person may be discharged from the California National Guard under honorable, general, or undesirable conditions without a court-martial and requires a bad conduct or dishonorable discharge to be awarded only by a court-martial. Existing law specifies the causes for discharge of an enlisted person from the California National Guard and provides the conditions for the Governor or the Adjutant General to discharge an enlisted person. Existing law authorizes the discharge of an officer from the California National Guard only by sentence of a general court-martial and approval by the Governor. Existing law prohibits a person from being commissioned or enlisted in the State Guard if the person is not a citizen of the United States or has not declared their intent to become a citizen of the United States or has been expelled from a military or naval organization, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/03/24 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB901&version=20230SB90199INT)
2. **03/11/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB901&version=20230SB90198AMD)
3. **04/15/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB901&version=20230SB90197AMD)
4. **06/04/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB901&version=20230SB90196AMD)
5. **06/12/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB901&version=20230SB90195AMD)
6. **09/27/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB901&version=20230SB90193CHP)
7. **SB901** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB901)
8. **09/03/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB901&version=20230SB90194ENR)

## Votes

- SB 901 Umberg Senate Third Reading By Jackson — **54–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB901 Umberg Concurrence — **33–0** (pass) · upper
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Amendments (Committee's) — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **12–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Umberg — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-03** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2024-01-04** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 3.
- **2024-02-14** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-11** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-03-20** Re-referred to Coms. on M. & V.A. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2024-04-02** Set for hearing April 8.
- **2024-04-11** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 3512.) (April 8). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-04-12** Set for hearing April 23 in JUD. pending receipt.
- **2024-04-15** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-04-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 3724.) (April 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-05-03** Set for hearing May 13.
- **2024-05-13** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2024-05-14** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-05-16** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 3920.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-05-16** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2024-06-03** Referred to Coms. on M. & V.A. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2024-06-04** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on M. & V.A. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-11** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 10). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-06-12** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-18** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 18). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-26** June 26 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2024-07-02** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (July 2). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-07-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-22** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 54. Noes 0. Page 6443.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-22** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2024-08-29** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 33. Noes 0. Page 5647.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2024-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 774, Statutes of 2024. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a892cc86-6c8f-410e-b523-7565e7cf8802`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).