republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/sb-578.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vacation Ownership and Time-share Act of 2004: incentives."
description: "(1) Existing law, the Vacation Ownership and Time-share Act of 2004 (VOTA) , requires a person who sells a time-share interest or creates a time-share plan to register the time-share plan with the Real Estate Commissioner, except as specified. Existing law obligates a developer of a time-share plan for the expenses associated with unsold inventory and authorizes a developer of a time-share plan to satisfy that obligation by, among other methods, entering into a deficit subsidy agreement with an association, subject to certain requirements. Existing law also authorizes a developer to undertake to pay a portion of the assessments otherwise payable by each purchaser pursuant to a buy down subsidy contract with the association, as specified. Existing law requires the developer to furnish an assurance, or security, to ensure the fulfillment of the developer's obligations pursuant to those provisions. Existing law requires a deficit subsidy agreement or buy down subsidy agreement entered into after July 1, 2005, to provide that if there is a dispute between the parties, the issue shall be submitted to arbitration in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. Existing law also provides that, if there is a dispute between the developer and the association with respect to the questions of satisfaction of the conditions for exoneration or release of the security, the issue be submitted to arbitration in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 578"
citation: "California SB 578 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vacation Ownership and Time-share Act of 2004: incentives."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jones"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-02-22"
last_action: "2019-07-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3dd9dc35-79af-4dbe-a7d7-dbafd5c1e769"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB578"
source_hash: "42c107f869124bd28e58802b6c694409e6a9c96cb95e7edc02eab7e894d1eb00"
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 SB 578 (20192020) — Vacation Ownership and Time-share Act of 2004: incentives.

(1) Existing law, the Vacation Ownership and Time-share Act of 2004 (VOTA) , requires a person who sells a time-share interest or creates a time-share plan to register the time-share plan with the Real Estate Commissioner, except as specified. Existing law obligates a developer of a time-share plan for the expenses associated with unsold inventory and authorizes a developer of a time-share plan to satisfy that obligation by, among other methods, entering into a deficit subsidy agreement with an association, subject to certain requirements. Existing law also authorizes a developer to undertake to pay a portion of the assessments otherwise payable by each purchaser pursuant to a buy down subsidy contract with the association, as specified. Existing law requires the developer to furnish an assurance, or security, to ensure the fulfillment of the developer's obligations pursuant to those provisions. Existing law requires a deficit subsidy agreement or buy down subsidy agreement entered into after July 1, 2005, to provide that if there is a dispute between the parties, the issue shall be submitted to arbitration in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. Existing law also provides that, if there is a dispute between the developer and the association with respect to the questions of satisfaction of the conditions for exoneration or release of the security, the issue be submitted to arbitration in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association.

## 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=201920200SB578&version=20190SB57899INT)
2. **03/28/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB578&version=20190SB57898AMD)
3. **04/11/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB578&version=20190SB57897AMD)
4. **07/30/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB578&version=20190SB57895CHP)
5. **SB578** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB578)
6. **07/10/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB578&version=20190SB57896ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 578 Jones Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jones — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-22** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2019-02-25** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 27.
- **2019-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-07** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-19** Set for hearing April 9.
- **2019-03-28** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-10** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 653.) (April 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-04-11** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-11** (Corrected April 30).
- **2019-04-18** Set for hearing April 29.
- **2019-04-29** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2019-04-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-06** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 961.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-07** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2019-06-03** Referred to Coms. on B. & P. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-18** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (June 18). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-07-02** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (July 2). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-07-03** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-07-08** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 2574.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-07-08** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2019-07-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2019-07-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-07-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 153, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3dd9dc35-79af-4dbe-a7d7-dbafd5c1e769`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).