republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-861.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public Utilities Act: remedies for violation: gas and electrical corporation executive officer compensation incentives."
description: "(1) The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission, with regulatory jurisdiction over all public utilities, as defined. The Public Utilities Act provides that every public utility and every officer, agent, or employee of a public utility, who violates or fails to comply with, or who procures, aids, or abets any violation by any public utility of any provision of the California Constitution or of the act, or who fails to comply with any part of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, or who procures, aids, or abets any public utility in a violation or noncompliance, in a case in which a penalty has not otherwise been provided, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both fine and imprisonment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 861"
citation: "California AB 861 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public Utilities Act: remedies for violation: gas and electrical corporation executive officer compensation incentives."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hill"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 35
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2011-02-17"
last_action: "2012-09-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8b401801-b170-4ff3-92dd-94585da55069"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861"
source_hash: "5f48f3caece0051f3f88e5094c2294a1843a1a9333a033854b867dc2fb988359"
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 861 (20112012) — Public Utilities Act: remedies for violation: gas and electrical corporation executive officer compensation incentives.

(1) The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission, with regulatory jurisdiction over all public utilities, as defined. The Public Utilities Act provides that every public utility and every officer, agent, or employee of a public utility, who violates or fails to comply with, or who procures, aids, or abets any violation by any public utility of any provision of the California Constitution or of the act, or who fails to comply with any part of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, or who procures, aids, or abets any public utility in a violation or noncompliance, in a case in which a penalty has not otherwise been provided, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both fine and imprisonment.

## 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=201120120AB861&version=20110AB86199INT)
2. **05/14/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861&version=20110AB86197AMD)
3. **05/27/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861&version=20110AB86198AMD)
4. **06/07/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861&version=20110AB86196AMD)
5. **06/19/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861&version=20110AB86195AMD)
6. **07/02/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861&version=20110AB86194AMD)
7. **08/24/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861&version=20110AB86193AMD)
8. **09/23/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861&version=20110AB86191CHP)
9. **AB861** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861)
10. **09/11/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB861&version=20110AB86192ENR)

## Votes

- Set, final hearing. Failed passage in Committee. Reconsideration granted. — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **7–4** (pass) · upper
- AB 861 HILL Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **59–17** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 861 HILL Assembly Third Reading — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- amendments be concurred in. — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB861 Hill By Leno — **22–12** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–4** (fail) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **17–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hill — 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.
- **2011-03-10** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (March 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-06** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-27** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 27). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-27** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-05-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 1744.) `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 HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-29** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2011-07-06** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2012-05-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-05-16** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2012-05-16** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-24** Re-referred to Com. on E., U. & C. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-06** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-06-07** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E., U. & C. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-06-19** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E., U. & C. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-06-28** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 4.) (June 25). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-07-02** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-08-06** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2012-08-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-24** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 22. Noes 12. Page 4974.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-29** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 31 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-30** Re-referred to Com. on U. & C. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. `referral-committee`
- **2012-08-30** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Ayes 52. Noes 26. Page 6648.)
- **2012-08-30** From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (August 30). `committee-passage`
- **2012-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 59. Noes 17. Page 6698.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12:15 p.m.
- **2012-09-23** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-23** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 464, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8b401801-b170-4ff3-92dd-94585da55069`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).