republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-703.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Property taxation: welfare exemption: nature resources and open-space lands."
description: "Existing property tax law, in accordance with the California Constitution, provides for a welfare exemption under which property used exclusively for religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable purposes and owned and operated by funds, foundations, or corporations meeting certain statutory requirements is exempt from taxation. Existing law also provides that property used exclusively for the preservation of specified nature resources or open-space lands meeting other specified criteria shall be deemed to be included within the welfare exemption. Existing law makes the inclusion of this property within the welfare exemption inoperative on the lien date in 2012, which is January 1, 2012, and repeals this provision on January 1, 2013."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 703"
citation: "California AB 703 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Property taxation: welfare exemption: nature resources and open-space lands."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gordon"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 21
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2011-02-17"
last_action: "2011-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/926a2528-c81f-4e9f-9256-71977b34ae38"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB703"
source_hash: "499fac5a0a94afc8197721acc568e790486e98d0c0c6db8818207e3bec52a62f"
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 703 (20112012) — Property taxation: welfare exemption: nature resources and open-space lands.

Existing property tax law, in accordance with the California Constitution, provides for a welfare exemption under which property used exclusively for religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable purposes and owned and operated by funds, foundations, or corporations meeting certain statutory requirements is exempt from taxation. Existing law also provides that property used exclusively for the preservation of specified nature resources or open-space lands meeting other specified criteria shall be deemed to be included within the welfare exemption. Existing law makes the inclusion of this property within the welfare exemption inoperative on the lien date in 2012, which is January 1, 2012, and repeals this provision on January 1, 2013.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB703&version=20110AB70399INT)
2. **05/24/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB703&version=20110AB70398AMD)
3. **10/08/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB703&version=20110AB70396CHP)
4. **AB703** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB703)
5. **09/02/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB703&version=20110AB70397ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 703 GORDON Assembly Third Reading — **77–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB703 Gordon By Kehoe — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gordon — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-18** From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
- **2011-03-07** Referred to Com. on REV. & TAX. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-04** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to REV. & TAX. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-23** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (May 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-24** Read second time and amended. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-05-25** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-27** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 27). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 1. Page 1702.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-08** Referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 15). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2124.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-08-31** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2011-09-07** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2011-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 575, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/926a2528-c81f-4e9f-9256-71977b34ae38`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).