republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-1654.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public employment: disqualification from employment."
description: "The California Constitution provides that a person shall be disqualified from holding office if he or she has been convicted of bribery, and directs the Legislature to enact laws to exclude persons convicted of malfeasance in office or other high crimes from office. Under existing statutory law, a person is disqualified from holding any office upon the conviction of specified crimes designated in the Constitution or statute. Existing law enumerates events causing a vacancy in office, including the conviction of a felony or any offense involving a violation of official duties."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 1654"
citation: "California AB 1654 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public employment: disqualification from employment."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cook"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 18
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2012-02-13"
last_action: "2012-07-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f0c55488-fb0b-4c8c-9164-9263ea4124e9"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1654"
source_hash: "9866ab4bc1ec2ede2ca9b36b13f7d620dd3dccfafd3956bd175ffca646f8ea22"
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 1654 (20112012) — Public employment: disqualification from employment.

The California Constitution provides that a person shall be disqualified from holding office if he or she has been convicted of bribery, and directs the Legislature to enact laws to exclude persons convicted of malfeasance in office or other high crimes from office. Under existing statutory law, a person is disqualified from holding any office upon the conviction of specified crimes designated in the Constitution or statute. Existing law enumerates events causing a vacancy in office, including the conviction of a felony or any offense involving a violation of official duties.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/13/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1654&version=20110AB165499INT)
2. **04/09/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1654&version=20110AB165498AMD)
3. **05/07/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1654&version=20110AB165497AMD)
4. **07/09/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1654&version=20110AB165495CHP)
5. **AB1654** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1654)
6. **06/19/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1654&version=20110AB165496ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar 2nd — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be placed on the Consent Calendar. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1654 COOK Assembly Third Reading — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **5–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cook — primary (person)
- Achadjian — coauthor (person)
- Cannella — coauthor (person)
- Dutton — coauthor (person)
- Fletcher — coauthor (person)
- Huff — coauthor (person)
- Jeffries — coauthor (person)
- Portantino — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-13** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-02-14** From printer. May be heard in committee March 15.
- **2012-03-22** Referred to Com. on P.E., R. & S.S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P.E., R. & S.S. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on P.E., R. & S.S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-02** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (May 2). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-07** Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 4708.) `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-05-14** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 4814.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-14** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-24** Referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-12** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-06-13** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-06-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 3939.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-06-15** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2012-06-28** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:15 a.m.
- **2012-07-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-07-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 54, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f0c55488-fb0b-4c8c-9164-9263ea4124e9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).