republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20132014/ab-494.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Prisoners: literacy and education."
description: "Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement in every state prison literacy programs that are designed to ensure that, upon parole, inmates are able to achieve a 9th grade reading level. Existing law further requires the department to prepare an implementation plan for the literacy programs and to request sufficient funds to make the programs available to a certain percentage of inmates by specified dates."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "AB 494"
citation: "California AB 494 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Prisoners: literacy and education."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["V. Manuel Pérez"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 22
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2013-02-20"
last_action: "2013-10-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/df34ac96-6ede-4bef-9576-5bdaa47b889d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB494"
source_hash: "0659ab00dc171a3e9ff3d0ea3cb2f2b254b76df0c0a5895f612095c0bc76e78e"
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 494 (20132014) — Prisoners: literacy and education.

Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement in every state prison literacy programs that are designed to ensure that, upon parole, inmates are able to achieve a 9th grade reading level. Existing law further requires the department to prepare an implementation plan for the literacy programs and to request sufficient funds to make the programs available to a certain percentage of inmates by specified dates.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/20/13 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB494&version=20130AB49499INT)
2. **04/01/13 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB494&version=20130AB49498AMD)
3. **05/07/13 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB494&version=20130AB49497AMD)
4. **05/21/13 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB494&version=20130AB49496AMD)
5. **10/13/13 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB494&version=20130AB49494CHP)
6. **AB494** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB494)
7. **09/12/13 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB494&version=20130AB49495ENR)

## Votes

- AB 494 PÉREZ, V.M. Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB494 V. Manuel Pérez By Hancock — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 494 PÉREZ, V.M. Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- V. Manuel Pérez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-20** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2013-02-21** From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.
- **2013-03-04** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-01** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-04-02** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-03** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2013-04-10** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 10). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2013-04-11** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-04-18** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1007.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-04-18** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2013-05-02** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2013-05-07** 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, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2013-05-20** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (May 14). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2013-05-21** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2013-06-24** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2013-06-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-09-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2113.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-09-04** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 6 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2013-09-06** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2910.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2013-09-26** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2013-10-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2013-10-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 784, Statutes of 2013.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/df34ac96-6ede-4bef-9576-5bdaa47b889d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).