republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20252026/ab-420.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public utilities: property, franchises, and permits: exemption."
description: "Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law prohibits public utilities, other than certain common carriers, from selling, leasing, assigning, mortgaging, or otherwise disposing of, or encumbering, its assets that are necessary or useful in the performance of its duties to the public, unless the public utility has secured an order from the commission to do so for a qualified transaction above $5,000,000 or an approval from the commission through the filing of an advice letter for a qualified transaction at or below $5,000,000."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "AB 420"
citation: "California AB 420 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Publicutilities", "exemption", "property", "franchises", "andpermits"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Petrie-Norris"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-02-05"
last_action: "2025-10-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bdc6f3e9-b7da-4ee7-9aaf-2cfe1741e4f7"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB420"
source_hash: "bf0d96973c994cab76a4a0d24af246509c73637f37e515efe6858fb0fc986781"
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 420 (20252026) — Public utilities: property, franchises, and permits: exemption.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law prohibits public utilities, other than certain common carriers, from selling, leasing, assigning, mortgaging, or otherwise disposing of, or encumbering, its assets that are necessary or useful in the performance of its duties to the public, unless the public utility has secured an order from the commission to do so for a qualified transaction above $5,000,000 or an approval from the commission through the filing of an advice letter for a qualified transaction at or below $5,000,000.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/05/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB420&version=20250AB42099INT)
2. **04/09/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB420&version=20250AB42098AMD)
3. **04/28/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB420&version=20250AB42097AMD)
4. **07/17/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB420&version=20250AB42096AMD)
5. **10/01/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB420&version=20250AB42094CHP)
6. **AB420** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB420)
7. **09/05/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB420&version=20250AB42095ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar 2nd AB420 Petrie-Norris — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 420 Petrie-Norris Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 420 Petrie-Norris Consent Calendar Second Day — **71–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Petrie-Norris — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-05** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2025-02-06** From printer. May be heard in committee March 8.
- **2025-02-18** Referred to Com. on U. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on U. & E. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-04-10** Re-referred to Com. on U. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-24** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (April 23). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-28** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-04-29** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2025-05-14** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 14). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-15** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-05-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 71. Noes 0. Page 1661.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-05-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2025-06-04** Referred to Com. on E., U & C. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-26** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2025-07-17** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (July 15). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2025-07-17** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-08-19** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2025-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-08-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2250.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-08-26** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2025-09-03** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2854.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2025-10-01** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-01** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 150, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bdc6f3e9-b7da-4ee7-9aaf-2cfe1741e4f7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).