republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-785.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Firearms: possession of firearms by convicted persons."
description: "Existing law generally prohibits a person who has been convicted of certain misdemeanors from possessing a firearm within 10 years of the conviction. Under existing law, a violation of this prohibition is a crime, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both that imprisonment and fine. Existing law, as a result of Proposition 63, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, codifies these provisions in separate, nonconflicting, identically numbered sections."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 785"
citation: "California AB 785 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Firearms: possession of firearms by convicted persons."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jones-Sawyer"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 22
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2017-02-15"
last_action: "2017-10-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5e4f35b3-797b-45f3-b8c0-3ea35155a499"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB785"
source_hash: "71c78ead23095a35e69d195c6a97d5fd3f8e7ee4ea8f41906103e1cba676d3ac"
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 785 (20172018) — Firearms: possession of firearms by convicted persons.

Existing law generally prohibits a person who has been convicted of certain misdemeanors from possessing a firearm within 10 years of the conviction. Under existing law, a violation of this prohibition is a crime, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both that imprisonment and fine. Existing law, as a result of Proposition 63, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, codifies these provisions in separate, nonconflicting, identically numbered sections.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB785&version=20170AB78599INT)
2. **06/12/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB785&version=20170AB78598AMD)
3. **06/15/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB785&version=20170AB78597AMD)
4. **09/01/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB785&version=20170AB78596AMD)
5. **10/14/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB785&version=20170AB78594CHP)
6. **AB785** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB785)
7. **09/13/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB785&version=20170AB78595ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jones-Sawyer — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-16** From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.
- **2017-03-02** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-04-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 67. Noes 0. Page 1376.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-04** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-18** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-12** 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`
- **2017-06-15** 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`
- **2017-06-26** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-01** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-09-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2505.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-06** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 8 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-09-11** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 3109.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-10-14** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-14** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 784, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5e4f35b3-797b-45f3-b8c0-3ea35155a499`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).