republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20092010/ab-1999.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Underage drinkers: immunity from prosecution."
description: "The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides that any person under the age of 21 years who purchases any alcoholic beverage, who consumes any such beverage in any on-sale premises, or who possesses any such beverage on any street or highway or in any public place open to the public is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law also provides that any person under the age of 21 years who attempts to purchase any alcoholic beverage from a licensee, or the licensee's agent or employee, is guilty of an infraction."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010"
identifier: "AB 1999"
citation: "California AB 1999 (20092010)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Underage drinkers: immunity from prosecution."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Portantino"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 23
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2010-02-17"
last_action: "2010-09-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0276188b-2cbc-4f57-ac56-e79dd491ee21"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1999"
source_hash: "9be553722fcbef5bdbdec8aac96ffe536b7df7f782953242e7feceda2c968af9"
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 1999 (20092010) — Underage drinkers: immunity from prosecution.

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides that any person under the age of 21 years who purchases any alcoholic beverage, who consumes any such beverage in any on-sale premises, or who possesses any such beverage on any street or highway or in any public place open to the public is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law also provides that any person under the age of 21 years who attempts to purchase any alcoholic beverage from a licensee, or the licensee's agent or employee, is guilty of an infraction.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/10 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1999&version=20090AB199999INT)
2. **03/18/10 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1999&version=20090AB199998AMD)
3. **05/06/10 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1999&version=20090AB199997AMD)
4. **06/02/10 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1999&version=20090AB199996AMD)
5. **08/02/10 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1999&version=20090AB199995AMD)
6. **09/24/10 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1999&version=20090AB199993CHP)
7. **AB1999** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1999)
8. **08/24/10 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB1999&version=20090AB199994ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- AB 1999 PORTANTINO Assembly Third Reading — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Assembly 3rd Reading AB1999 Portantino By Calderon — **pass** (pass) · upper
- AB 1999 PORTANTINO Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Portantino — primary (person)
- Calderon — principal coauthor (person)
- DeVore — coauthor (person)
- Torres — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2010-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2010-02-18** From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
- **2010-03-04** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2010-03-18** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2010-03-22** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2010-03-24** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 23). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2010-03-25** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2010-04-05** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 3. Page 4448.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2010-04-05** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2010-04-29** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2010-05-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2010-06-02** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2010-06-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 15). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2010-06-16** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2010-08-02** Read third time, amended. To second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2010-08-03** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2010-08-18** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 0. Page 4585.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2010-08-18** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 20 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2010-08-19** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6396.)
- **2010-08-19** Senate amendments concurred in. To enrollment. (Ayes 74. Noes 2. Page 6396.) `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2010-08-26** Enrolled and to the Governor at 4:45 p.m.
- **2010-09-23** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2010-09-24** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 245, Statutes of 2010.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0276188b-2cbc-4f57-ac56-e79dd491ee21`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).