republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-2554.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public postsecondary education: exemption from mandatory systemwide tuition and fees: surviving child or spouse of a federal firefighter."
description: "(1) Existing law prohibits the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the Trustees of the California State University, and, if they adopt an appropriate resolution, the Regents of the University of California, from collecting mandatory systemwide tuition and fees from any surviving spouse or surviving child of a deceased person who was a resident of the state and employed by or contracting with a public agency, whose principal duties consisted of active law enforcement service or active fire suppression and prevention, and who died as a result of his or her duties, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 2554"
citation: "California AB 2554 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public postsecondary education: exemption from mandatory systemwide tuition and fees: surviving child or spouse of a federal firefighter."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonta"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2018-02-15"
last_action: "2018-08-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5b7833f7-3900-45d8-b692-c2f72a5add22"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2554"
source_hash: "7051146c37c5ba850a6396367700152afea2f628522f2f9d65d87a96ca21adb6"
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 2554 (20172018) — Public postsecondary education: exemption from mandatory systemwide tuition and fees: surviving child or spouse of a federal firefighter.

(1) Existing law prohibits the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the Trustees of the California State University, and, if they adopt an appropriate resolution, the Regents of the University of California, from collecting mandatory systemwide tuition and fees from any surviving spouse or surviving child of a deceased person who was a resident of the state and employed by or contracting with a public agency, whose principal duties consisted of active law enforcement service or active fire suppression and prevention, and who died as a result of his or her duties, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2554&version=20170AB255499INT)
2. **03/12/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2554&version=20170AB255498AMD)
3. **08/24/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2554&version=20170AB255496CHP)
4. **AB2554** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2554)
5. **08/10/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2554&version=20170AB255497ENR)

## Votes

- AB 2554 BONTA Consent Calendar Second Day — **74–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2554 Bonta By Pan — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **13–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bonta — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-02-16** From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.
- **2018-03-05** Referred to Com. on HIGHER ED. `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-12** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HIGHER ED. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-03-13** Re-referred to Com. on HIGHER ED. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-04** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (April 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-04-18** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (April 18). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-04-19** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-26** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 4900.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-04-26** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-05-10** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-25** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-06-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 5230.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-09** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2018-08-14** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2018-08-24** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-08-24** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 191, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5b7833f7-3900-45d8-b692-c2f72a5add22`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).