republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20092010/ab-370.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Unlicensed contractors."
description: "Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors by the Contractors' State License Board. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person to engage in the business or act in the capacity of a contractor without having a license and makes a first offense punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for no more than 6 months, or by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. Existing law requires a court to impose upon a person who has been previously convicted of that offense a fine of 20% of the price of the contract, as specified, or $4,500, whichever is greater, and imprisonment in the county jail for at least 90 days, except as specified. Existing law specifies that a 3rd or subsequent conviction is punishable by a fine of not less than $4,500 nor more than the greater of $10,000 or 20% of the contract price or by imprisonment in the county jail, as specified, or both, and applies those penalty provisions to a person who is named on a revoked license and is held responsible for the act or omission resulting in the revocation. Existing law requires a court to order a defendant convicted of a crime under those provisions, or under provisions related to the offering or performance of repairs caused by a natural disaster, to pay restitution to the victim, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010"
identifier: "AB 370"
citation: "California AB 370 (20092010)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Unlicensed contractors."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eng"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2009-02-23"
last_action: "2009-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1dcf7127-a337-426f-a70d-b46d12d5665b"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB370"
source_hash: "e158c4a03fa1aeefa0650767a5f34946f078f2adb2f95522966aba5c7aa4813d"
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 370 (20092010) — Unlicensed contractors.

Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors by the Contractors' State License Board. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person to engage in the business or act in the capacity of a contractor without having a license and makes a first offense punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for no more than 6 months, or by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. Existing law requires a court to impose upon a person who has been previously convicted of that offense a fine of 20% of the price of the contract, as specified, or $4,500, whichever is greater, and imprisonment in the county jail for at least 90 days, except as specified. Existing law specifies that a 3rd or subsequent conviction is punishable by a fine of not less than $4,500 nor more than the greater of $10,000 or 20% of the contract price or by imprisonment in the county jail, as specified, or both, and applies those penalty provisions to a person who is named on a revoked license and is held responsible for the act or omission resulting in the revocation. Existing law requires a court to order a defendant convicted of a crime under those provisions, or under provisions related to the offering or performance of repairs caused by a natural disaster, to pay restitution to the victim, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/23/09 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB370&version=20090AB37099INT)
2. **03/23/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB370&version=20090AB37098AMD)
3. **06/29/09 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB370&version=20090AB37097AMD)
4. **10/11/09 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB370&version=20090AB37095CHP)
5. **AB370** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB370)
6. **09/02/09 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB370&version=20090AB37096ENR)

## Votes

- AB 370 ENG Assembly Third Reading — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- AB 370 ENG Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Public Safety. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Assembly 3rd Reading AB370 Eng By Negrete McLeod — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **pass** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Eng — primary (person)
- Blumenfield — coauthor (person)
- Huffman — coauthor (person)
- Nestande — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2009-02-23** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2009-02-24** From printer. May be heard in committee March 26.
- **2009-03-09** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2009-03-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on B. & P. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-03-24** Re-referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2009-03-31** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Re-referred. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (March 31). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-04-23** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 1.) (April 22). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-04-27** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-05-11** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1349.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-05-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2009-05-21** Referred to Coms. on B., P. & E.D. and PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2009-06-08** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Re-referred. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 8). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-06-29** 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`
- **2009-06-30** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2009-06-30** Withdrawn from committee. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2009-07-14** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2009-07-15** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-08-27** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1969.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-08-27** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2009-08-31** Senate amendments concurred in. To enrollment. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2800.) `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2009-09-08** Enrolled and to the Governor at 4:15 p.m.
- **2009-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2009-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 319, Statutes of 2009.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1dcf7127-a337-426f-a70d-b46d12d5665b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).