republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-551.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political Reform Act of 1974: postemployment restrictions."
description: "The Political Reform Act of 1974 prohibits, for a period of one year after the official leaves his or her position, elected and other specified local officials who held positions with a local government agency, as defined, from acting as agents or attorneys for, or otherwise representing, for compensation, any other person, by appearing before, or communicating with, that local government agency, or any committee, subcommittee, or present member of that local government agency, or any officer or employee of the local government agency, if the appearance or communication is made for the purpose of influencing administrative or legislative action, as specified, or influencing any action or proceeding involving the issuance, amendment, awarding, or revocation of a permit, license, grant, or contract, or the sale or purchase of goods or property. Existing law excludes from this prohibition appearances and communications by a board member, officer, or employee of another local government agency, or an employee or representative of a public agency, as specified, if the individual is appearing or communicating on behalf of that agency."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 551"
citation: "California AB 551 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Political Reform Act of 1974: postemployment restrictions."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Levine"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2017-02-14"
last_action: "2017-09-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/992071c4-88e4-4d96-8bb5-758ff3ea3a18"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB551"
source_hash: "466cc33bb724666451b22ba02dbddd8cdcc71f230fba904543c1329acd8ba826"
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 551 (20172018) — Political Reform Act of 1974: postemployment restrictions.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 prohibits, for a period of one year after the official leaves his or her position, elected and other specified local officials who held positions with a local government agency, as defined, from acting as agents or attorneys for, or otherwise representing, for compensation, any other person, by appearing before, or communicating with, that local government agency, or any committee, subcommittee, or present member of that local government agency, or any officer or employee of the local government agency, if the appearance or communication is made for the purpose of influencing administrative or legislative action, as specified, or influencing any action or proceeding involving the issuance, amendment, awarding, or revocation of a permit, license, grant, or contract, or the sale or purchase of goods or property. Existing law excludes from this prohibition appearances and communications by a board member, officer, or employee of another local government agency, or an employee or representative of a public agency, as specified, if the individual is appearing or communicating on behalf of that agency.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB551&version=20170AB55199INT)
2. **03/13/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB551&version=20170AB55198AMD)
3. **04/18/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB551&version=20170AB55197AMD)
4. **09/01/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB551&version=20170AB55195CHP)
5. **AB551** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB551)
6. **08/23/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB551&version=20170AB55196ENR)

## Sponsors

- Levine — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2017-02-27** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-14** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-17** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (April 5). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-04-18** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-04-19** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 1.) (April 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-04-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-08** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 1. Page 1420.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-08** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-18** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-31** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2017-06-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **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`
- **2017-08-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2179.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-08-22** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2017-08-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-09-01** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-01** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 196, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/992071c4-88e4-4d96-8bb5-758ff3ea3a18`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).