republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-1729.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Examination of petitions."
description: "Existing law requires elections officials to preserve initiative and referendum petitions received or filed in their offices for 8 months after the certification of the results of the election for which the petition qualified, or 8 months after the final examination of the petition by the elections official if the measure is not submitted to the voters. Existing law requires the elections officials to thereafter destroy these petitions as soon as practicable unless certain conditions are satisfied. Existing law authorizes the proponents of a petition, no later than 21 days after certification of the insufficiency, to examine a petition found to be insufficient."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1729"
citation: "California AB 1729 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Examination of petitions."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Committee on Elections and Redistricting"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-03-23"
last_action: "2017-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8e302939-e9ba-43c9-a0a2-209d9825d234"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1729"
source_hash: "e52891375407c940e175dfa46f9d3ad513fc04f1ce50f66bb7c8b508e7d1d102"
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 1729 (20172018) — Examination of petitions.

Existing law requires elections officials to preserve initiative and referendum petitions received or filed in their offices for 8 months after the certification of the results of the election for which the petition qualified, or 8 months after the final examination of the petition by the elections official if the measure is not submitted to the voters. Existing law requires the elections officials to thereafter destroy these petitions as soon as practicable unless certain conditions are satisfied. Existing law authorizes the proponents of a petition, no later than 21 days after certification of the insufficiency, to examine a petition found to be insufficient.

## Version chain

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

1. **03/23/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1729&version=20170AB172999INT)
2. **07/05/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1729&version=20170AB172998AMD)
3. **09/28/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1729&version=20170AB172996CHP)
4. **AB1729** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1729)
5. **09/07/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1729&version=20170AB172997ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1729 E. & R. (Berman) By Stern — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1729 E. & R. Concurrence in Senate Amendments By BERMAN — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1729 E. & R. Consent Calendar Second Day — **69–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Committee on Elections and Redistricting — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-03-23** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-03-24** From printer. May be heard in committee April 23.
- **2017-04-03** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-02** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. by unanimous consent. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-10** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 10). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-11** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-18** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 69. Noes 0. Page 1620.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-18** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-01** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-07-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-07-06** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2017-07-17** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage`
- **2017-07-18** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-07-20** From Consent Calendar.
- **2017-07-20** Ordered to third reading.
- **2017-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2308.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 2 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-09-05** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2945.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
- **2017-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 354, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8e302939-e9ba-43c9-a0a2-209d9825d234`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).