republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-912.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Marine invasive species: ballast water and biofouling management requirements."
description: "(1) Existing law, the Marine Invasive Species Act, requires the State Lands Commission (hereafter the commission) to implement and administer laws regulating the uptake or discharge of ballast water from vessels that impact marine species in the state's waterways. The act, among other things, requires the master, owner, operator, or person in charge of a vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water, that operates in the waters of the state to take various actions to minimize the uptake and release of nonindigenous species, including, among other things, to clean the ballast tanks regularly in mid-ocean waters, or under controlled arrangements in port or in drydock, to remove sediments and biofouling organisms, as specified, and to make available to the commission additional information, including a separate ballast water log to outline ballast water management activities for each ballast water tank on board the vessel. Existing law exempts the master, operator, or person in charge of a vessel from conducting a ballast water management practice upon a specified determination relating to safety."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 912"
citation: "California AB 912 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Marine invasive species: ballast water and biofouling management requirements."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Muratsuchi"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 26
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-02-20"
last_action: "2019-10-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3d6e691a-36ab-4acc-ac8d-3d4fc8da3bd9"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB912"
source_hash: "c079ef808f5a46953e1fa0560585b7849dfa78a9004dafc10eacf95e66b67ba6"
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 912 (20192020) — Marine invasive species: ballast water and biofouling management requirements.

(1) Existing law, the Marine Invasive Species Act, requires the State Lands Commission (hereafter the commission) to implement and administer laws regulating the uptake or discharge of ballast water from vessels that impact marine species in the state's waterways. The act, among other things, requires the master, owner, operator, or person in charge of a vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water, that operates in the waters of the state to take various actions to minimize the uptake and release of nonindigenous species, including, among other things, to clean the ballast tanks regularly in mid-ocean waters, or under controlled arrangements in port or in drydock, to remove sediments and biofouling organisms, as specified, and to make available to the commission additional information, including a separate ballast water log to outline ballast water management activities for each ballast water tank on board the vessel. Existing law exempts the master, operator, or person in charge of a vessel from conducting a ballast water management practice upon a specified determination relating to safety.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/20/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB912&version=20190AB91299INT)
2. **05/06/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB912&version=20190AB91298AMD)
3. **06/18/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB912&version=20190AB91297AMD)
4. **06/26/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB912&version=20190AB91296AMD)
5. **08/14/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB912&version=20190AB91295AMD)
6. **10/02/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB912&version=20190AB91293CHP)
7. **AB912** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB912)
8. **09/03/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB912&version=20190AB91294ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 912 Muratsuchi Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB912 Muratsuchi et al. By Hill — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 912 Muratsuchi Assembly Third Reading — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Environmental Quality] — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Muratsuchi — primary (person)
- O'Donnell — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-20** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2019-02-21** From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.
- **2019-03-14** Referred to Coms. on E.S. & T.M. and W., P., & W. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-26** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2019-04-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-30** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 24). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-01** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-06** Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 1518.) `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-20** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 1721.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-20** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-29** Referred to Coms. on N.R. & W. and EQ. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-06** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2019-06-18** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-06-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on EQ. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on EQ. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-26** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on EQ. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-07-03** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-08-07** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2019-08-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-08-19** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2019-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-08-26** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2291.). `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.
- **2019-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 2896.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2019-10-02** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-02** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 443, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3d6e691a-36ab-4acc-ac8d-3d4fc8da3bd9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).