republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-272.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Pupils: use of smartphones."
description: "Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district or its designee to regulate the possession or use of any electronic signaling device that operates through the transmission or receipt of radio waves, including, but not limited to, paging and signaling equipment, by pupils of the school district while the pupils are on campus, attending school-sponsored activities, or under the supervision or control of school district employees."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 272"
citation: "California AB 272 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Pupils: use of smartphones."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Muratsuchi"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-01-24"
last_action: "2019-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e7fa5917-d17d-48b7-990b-9a6ea2d501c3"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB272"
source_hash: "1e7bd931e0de9568b7cf42d49c444c741209cf54c3df1e0830bda5eb01dc7fe8"
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 272 (20192020) — Pupils: use of smartphones.

Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district or its designee to regulate the possession or use of any electronic signaling device that operates through the transmission or receipt of radio waves, including, but not limited to, paging and signaling equipment, by pupils of the school district while the pupils are on campus, attending school-sponsored activities, or under the supervision or control of school district employees.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/24/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB272&version=20190AB27299INT)
2. **03/19/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB272&version=20190AB27298AMD)
3. **04/11/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB272&version=20190AB27297AMD)
4. **07/01/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB272&version=20190AB27295CHP)
5. **AB272** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB272)
6. **06/18/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB272&version=20190AB27296ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 272 Muratsuchi Assembly Third Reading — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar AB272 — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Muratsuchi — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-24** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-01-25** From printer. May be heard in committee February 24.
- **2019-03-18** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-19** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-03-20** Re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (April 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-11** 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`
- **2019-04-22** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-22** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2019-04-22** Ordered to second reading.
- **2019-04-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 1466.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-16** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-05** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 5). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-06-06** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-06-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1607.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-06-18** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2019-06-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-07-01** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-07-01** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 42, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e7fa5917-d17d-48b7-990b-9a6ea2d501c3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).