republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-539.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Search warrants."
description: "Existing law allows a search warrant to be issued upon probable cause, supported by affidavit, naming or describing the person to be searched or searched for, and particularly describing the property, thing, or things and the place to be searched. Existing law also specifies the grounds upon which a search warrant may be issued, including, among other grounds, when the property or things to be seized constitute evidence showing that a felony has been committed."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 539"
citation: "California AB 539 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Search warrants."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Acosta"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 22
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-02-13"
last_action: "2017-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1688dcae-4ce4-4369-b673-017038988950"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB539"
source_hash: "5e19e278f69e8a37e8fbe5a2367891d89cd5c2861a4a703e4a221654cc6eafb4"
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 539 (20172018) — Search warrants.

Existing law allows a search warrant to be issued upon probable cause, supported by affidavit, naming or describing the person to be searched or searched for, and particularly describing the property, thing, or things and the place to be searched. Existing law also specifies the grounds upon which a search warrant may be issued, including, among other grounds, when the property or things to be seized constitute evidence showing that a felony has been committed.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/13/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB539&version=20170AB53999INT)
2. **04/04/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB539&version=20170AB53998AMD)
3. **06/20/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB539&version=20170AB53997AMD)
4. **07/03/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB539&version=20170AB53996AMD)
5. **09/28/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB539&version=20170AB53994CHP)
6. **AB539** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB539)
7. **09/15/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB539&version=20170AB53995ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB539 Acosta By Nguyen — **36–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 539 ACOSTA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Acosta — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-13** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-14** From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
- **2017-02-27** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-21** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2017-04-03** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (March 28). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-04-04** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-04-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-04-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 1014.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-04-17** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-10** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-19** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (June 13). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-20** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-07-03** 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`
- **2017-07-10** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-07-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 2. Page 2758.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-13** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 15 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-09-13** Assembly Rule 77(a) suspended. (Ayes 54. Noes 25. Page 3255.)
- **2017-09-14** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 3367.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2017-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 342, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1688dcae-4ce4-4369-b673-017038988950`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).