republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-1601.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Employment protections: mass layoff, relocation, or termination of employees: call centers."
description: "Existing law generally regulates the wages, hours, and working conditions of people employed in any occupation. Existing law creates the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the head of which is the Labor Commissioner. Existing law prohibits an employer from ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination, as defined, at a covered establishment, as defined, without giving a written notice of the order to certain parties and entities, including the employees, the Employment Development Department, and specified local officials."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 1601"
citation: "California AB 1601 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Employment protections: mass layoff", "relocation", "or termination of employees: call centers."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Akilah Weber"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 26
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2022-01-03"
last_action: "2022-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/81add43f-6fdf-442f-a806-5a6fb52dce5e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1601"
source_hash: "8c71347000216fadf9fd88e94363b2b84a49d3f3d71a1e4e3f0846f96de423c8"
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 1601 (20212022) — Employment protections: mass layoff, relocation, or termination of employees: call centers.

Existing law generally regulates the wages, hours, and working conditions of people employed in any occupation. Existing law creates the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the head of which is the Labor Commissioner. Existing law prohibits an employer from ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination, as defined, at a covered establishment, as defined, without giving a written notice of the order to certain parties and entities, including the employees, the Employment Development Department, and specified local officials.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/03/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1601&version=20210AB160199INT)
2. **05/19/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1601&version=20210AB160198AMD)
3. **06/30/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1601&version=20210AB160197AMD)
4. **08/11/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1601&version=20210AB160196AMD)
5. **08/25/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1601&version=20210AB160195AMD)
6. **09/29/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1601&version=20210AB160193CHP)
7. **AB1601** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1601)
8. **09/01/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1601&version=20210AB160194ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. — **12–4** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1601 Akilah Weber Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **55–18** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1601 Akilah Weber By Durazo — **28–10** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 1601 Akilah Weber Assembly Third Reading — **51–19** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–3** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Governmental Organization] — **4–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Akilah Weber — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-03** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2022-01-04** From printer. May be heard in committee February 3.
- **2022-01-14** Referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-17** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (March 16). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-30** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-05-19** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (May 19). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2022-05-19** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-26** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 51. Noes 19.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-27** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2022-06-08** Referred to Coms. on L., P.E. & R., G.O. and GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-09** Action rescinded whereby the bill was referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-14** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on G.O. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 13). Re-referred to Com. on G.O. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-29** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 3.) (June 28). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-30** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-02** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 11). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2022-08-11** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-25** Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 28. Noes 10. Page 5223.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-30** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2022-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 55. Noes 18.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2022-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 752, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/81add43f-6fdf-442f-a806-5a6fb52dce5e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).