republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20092010/ab-1494.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public meetings: definition."
description: "(1) The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a state body be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend any meeting of a state body. The act defines \"meeting\" for the purposes of the act and, with the exception of teleconferencing, prohibits any use of direct communication, personal intermediaries, or technological devices employed by a majority of the members of the state body to develop a collective concurrence as to action to be taken on an item by the members of the state body. Existing law specifies the contacts, conferences, and other types of gatherings that are excluded from this prohibition."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010"
identifier: "AB 1494"
citation: "California AB 1494 (20092010)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public meetings: definition."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eng"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2009-02-27"
last_action: "2009-08-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3da8aaff-edf7-4ec2-8850-26cdfc3ebf9e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1494"
source_hash: "3d1e10c47bb06991fa19f454434fb8f9ce50a80dddfaff7fed65d78825af5729"
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 1494 (20092010) — Public meetings: definition.

(1) The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a state body be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend any meeting of a state body. The act defines "meeting" for the purposes of the act and, with the exception of teleconferencing, prohibits any use of direct communication, personal intermediaries, or technological devices employed by a majority of the members of the state body to develop a collective concurrence as to action to be taken on an item by the members of the state body. Existing law specifies the contacts, conferences, and other types of gatherings that are excluded from this prohibition.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/27/09 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1494&version=20090AB149499INT)
2. **04/13/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1494&version=20090AB149498AMD)
3. **06/04/09 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1494&version=20090AB149497AMD)
4. **08/06/09 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1494&version=20090AB149495CHP)
5. **AB1494** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1494)
6. **07/15/09 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1494&version=20090AB149496ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent #12 AB1494 Eng — **pass** (pass) · upper
- AB 1494 ENG Consent Calendar Second Day Regular Session — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- AB 1494 ENG Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Eng — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2009-02-27** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2009-03-01** From printer. May be heard in committee March 30.
- **2009-03-02** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2009-04-02** Referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on G.O. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-04-13** Re-referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-23** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Re-referred. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 22). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-05-07** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (May 6). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-05-11** Read second time. To Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-05-14** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 1470.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-05-14** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2009-05-21** Referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2009-06-04** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on G.O. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2009-06-09** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Re-referred. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-06-29** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2009-06-30** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-07-02** Ordered to Special Consent Calendar.
- **2009-07-09** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 1667.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-07-09** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 11 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2009-07-13** Senate amendments concurred in. To enrollment. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2473.) `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2009-07-30** Enrolled and to the Governor at 1 p.m.
- **2009-08-05** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2009-08-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 150, Statutes of 2009.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3da8aaff-edf7-4ec2-8850-26cdfc3ebf9e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).