republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-289.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Classified school employees: merit system: adoption and termination."
description: "Existing law authorizes both the adoption and termination of a merit system in a school district or community college district by a majority vote of its classified employees or by a majority of the voting electors of the school district or community college district, as provided. Upon the filing of a petition for the adoption or for the termination of the merit system for classified employees of a school district or community college district, existing law requires the governing board of the district to perform specified activities in response, including, among others, devising an identification system to ensure against fraud in the balloting process and forming a tabulation committee."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 289"
citation: "California AB 289 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Classified school employees: merit system: adoption and termination."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Calderon"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-01-21"
last_action: "2021-07-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d5477904-b920-496f-9aa0-6eab7c865411"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB289"
source_hash: "11d78890ed90b6e04b809aae8f1430d0b1e48e03c412cafd61adbeea070a1100"
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 289 (20212022) — Classified school employees: merit system: adoption and termination.

Existing law authorizes both the adoption and termination of a merit system in a school district or community college district by a majority vote of its classified employees or by a majority of the voting electors of the school district or community college district, as provided. Upon the filing of a petition for the adoption or for the termination of the merit system for classified employees of a school district or community college district, existing law requires the governing board of the district to perform specified activities in response, including, among others, devising an identification system to ensure against fraud in the balloting process and forming a tabulation committee.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/21/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB289&version=20210AB28999INT)
2. **03/04/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB289&version=20210AB28998AMD)
3. **07/16/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB289&version=20210AB28996CHP)
4. **AB289** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB289)
5. **07/06/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB289&version=20210AB28997ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB289 Calderon By Durazo — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Higher Education] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 289 Calderon Assembly Third Reading — **70–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Calderon — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-21** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-01-22** From printer. May be heard in committee February 21.
- **2021-01-28** Referred to Coms. on P.E. & R. and HIGHER ED. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-04** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P.E. & R. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-03-08** Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HIGHER ED. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 15). Re-referred to Com. on HIGHER ED. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 1.) (April 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-05** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (May 5). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-13** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 70. Noes 0. Page 1401.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-13** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-27** Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-21** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2021-06-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-07-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1802.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-07-05** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2021-07-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.
- **2021-07-16** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-16** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 88, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d5477904-b920-496f-9aa0-6eab7c865411`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).