republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20252026/ab-78.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Attorney's fees: book accounts.	Under existing law, in any action on a contract based on a book account, as defined, that does not provide for attorney's fees and costs, the prevailing party on the contract is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and costs, and the court is required to fix the attorney's fees in an amount that does not exceed the lesser of $960 for book accounts that are maintained for personal, family, or household purposes of a natural person, and $1,200 for book accounts that are maintained for all other purposes, or 25% of the principal obligation owing on the contract, as applicable.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20252026	AB 78	California AB 78 (20252026)	bill	Attorney'sfees bookaccounts	enacted	Chen	4	16	4	2024-12-18	2025-07-14	openstates	ocd-bill/a2e892ff-a3df-49d6-966a-e336578ab3fc	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB78	b37f6c1b862ef13be463b378cf9977609895edae43207686680af1939004782b	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California AB 78 (20252026) — Attorney's fees: book accounts.

Under existing law, in any action on a contract based on a book account, as defined, that does not provide for attorney's fees and costs, the prevailing party on the contract is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and costs, and the court is required to fix the attorney's fees in an amount that does not exceed the lesser of $960 for book accounts that are maintained for personal, family, or household purposes of a natural person, and $1,200 for book accounts that are maintained for all other purposes, or 25% of the principal obligation owing on the contract, as applicable.

Version chain

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

1. 12/18/24 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 07/14/25 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
3. AB78 (committee substitute) — source
4. 07/08/25 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — 12–0 (pass) · upper
• AB 78 Chen Consent Calendar Second Day — 72–0 (pass) · lower
• Consent Calendar 2nd — 35–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — 12–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Chen — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2024-12-18 Introduced. To print. introduction
• 2024-12-19 From printer. May be heard in committee January 18.
• 2025-01-06 Read first time. reading-1
• 2025-02-03 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
• 2025-03-04 From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (March 4). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-03-05 Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. reading-1, reading-2
• 2025-03-10 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 572.) passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2025-03-11 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. reading-1
• 2025-05-07 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
• 2025-06-25 From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 24). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-06-26 Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. reading-1, reading-2
• 2025-07-03 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 1931.). passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2025-07-03 In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. committee-passage
• 2025-07-11 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m.
• 2025-07-14 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2025-07-14 Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 28, Statutes of 2025. became-law

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/a2e892ff-a3df-49d6-966a-e336578ab3fc. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).