republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-1588.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Drinking water and wastewater operator certification programs."
description: "Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board to examine and certify persons as to their qualifications to operate water treatment plants and water distribution systems. Existing law requires the certification to indicate the classification of water treatment plant or water distribution system that the person is qualified to operate. Existing law requires the board to issue a water treatment operator certificate and water distribution operator certificate by reciprocity to any person holding a valid, unexpired, comparable certification issued by another state, the United States, prescribed territories or tribal governments, or a unit of any of these. Existing law requires the board to classify types of wastewater treatment plants for the purpose of determining the levels of competence necessary to operate them. Existing law requires a person who operates a nonexempt wastewater treatment plant to possess a valid, unexpired wastewater certificate or water treatment operator certificate of the appropriate grade."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 1588"
citation: "California AB 1588 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Drinking water and wastewater operator certification programs."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gloria"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 33
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-02-22"
last_action: "2019-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ae2e0c62-ab32-4ea0-aa30-f57ddc726957"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1588"
source_hash: "68b4241b746ac56321681ad013f149d162b44e11ba4322057ded52e4cba960f7"
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 1588 (20192020) — Drinking water and wastewater operator certification programs.

Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board to examine and certify persons as to their qualifications to operate water treatment plants and water distribution systems. Existing law requires the certification to indicate the classification of water treatment plant or water distribution system that the person is qualified to operate. Existing law requires the board to issue a water treatment operator certificate and water distribution operator certificate by reciprocity to any person holding a valid, unexpired, comparable certification issued by another state, the United States, prescribed territories or tribal governments, or a unit of any of these. Existing law requires the board to classify types of wastewater treatment plants for the purpose of determining the levels of competence necessary to operate them. Existing law requires a person who operates a nonexempt wastewater treatment plant to possess a valid, unexpired wastewater certificate or water treatment operator certificate of the appropriate grade.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/22/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1588&version=20190AB158899INT)
2. **04/02/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1588&version=20190AB158898AMD)
3. **05/08/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1588&version=20190AB158897AMD)
4. **06/25/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1588&version=20190AB158896AMD)
5. **08/20/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1588&version=20190AB158895AMD)
6. **10/11/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1588&version=20190AB158893CHP)
7. **AB1588** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1588)
8. **09/09/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1588&version=20190AB158894ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1588 Gloria Assembly Third Reading — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1588 Gloria Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Veterans Affairs] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1588 Gloria et al. By Wilk — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gloria — primary (person)
- Bates — coauthor (person)
- Boerner Horvath — coauthor (person)
- Chang — coauthor (person)
- Dodd — coauthor (person)
- Gray — author (person)
- Maienschein — coauthor (person)
- Nielsen — coauthor (person)
- Patterson — coauthor (person)
- Stone — coauthor (person)
- Voepel — coauthor (person)
- Wilk — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-22** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2019-02-23** From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
- **2019-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-14** Referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-02** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E.S. & T.M. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-04-03** Re-referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-05-08** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2019-05-08** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-05-09** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-13** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 1609.)
- **2019-05-15** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-16** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 1760.)
- **2019-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (May 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1901.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-24** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-06-06** Referred to Coms. on EQ. and V.A. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-24** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on V.A. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 19). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-06-25** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on V.A. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-08-12** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2019-08-13** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-08-15** From Consent Calendar.
- **2019-08-15** Ordered to third reading.
- **2019-08-20** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-08-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-08-26** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2281.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-08-27** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 29 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-09-05** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3009.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 760, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ae2e0c62-ab32-4ea0-aa30-f57ddc726957`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).