republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-2608.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Elections: vote by mail ballots."
description: "Prior law, in effect until January 1, 2022, required county elections officials to permit voters with a disability, and military or overseas voters, to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system. Prior law required a county elections official to mail a ballot to every registered voter for all elections proclaimed or conducted prior to January 1, 2022. Existing law, in effect since January 1, 2022, requires a county elections official to permit any voter to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system. Existing law indefinitely extends the requirement for a county elections official to mail a ballot to every registered voter for all elections. Existing law establishes procedures to apply for vote by mail status and requires elections officials to mail materials to vote by mail voters, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 2608"
citation: "California AB 2608 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections: vote by mail ballots."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Berman"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2022-02-18"
last_action: "2022-08-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cb8ffa8d-322a-4778-b8c3-82a7a8b01ab1"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2608"
source_hash: "1df9db7034f9da1945c08b182382e0d47058218a58704fd9a34e3e652ae06a18"
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 2608 (20212022) — Elections: vote by mail ballots.

Prior law, in effect until January 1, 2022, required county elections officials to permit voters with a disability, and military or overseas voters, to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system. Prior law required a county elections official to mail a ballot to every registered voter for all elections proclaimed or conducted prior to January 1, 2022. Existing law, in effect since January 1, 2022, requires a county elections official to permit any voter to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system. Existing law indefinitely extends the requirement for a county elections official to mail a ballot to every registered voter for all elections. Existing law establishes procedures to apply for vote by mail status and requires elections officials to mail materials to vote by mail voters, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/18/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2608&version=20210AB260899INT)
2. **03/28/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2608&version=20210AB260898AMD)
3. **04/07/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2608&version=20210AB260897AMD)
4. **08/22/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2608&version=20210AB260895CHP)
5. **AB2608** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2608)
6. **08/17/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2608&version=20210AB260896ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **11–4** (pass) · lower
- AB 2608 Berman Third Reading Urgency By MULLIN — **57–19** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2608 Berman By Umberg Urgency Clause — **29–9** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Berman — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-18** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2022-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2022-03-10** Referred to Com. on ELECTIONS. `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-28** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ELECTIONS. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on ELECTIONS. `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-06** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (April 6). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2022-04-07** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-04-18** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 4.) (April 27). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-04-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-25** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 57. Noes 19. Page 5021.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-26** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2022-06-08** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-01** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2022-08-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-17** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 29. Noes 9. Page 4868.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-18** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2022-08-18** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2022-08-22** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-08-22** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 161, 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/cb8ffa8d-322a-4778-b8c3-82a7a8b01ab1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).