republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-804.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Free hunting days."
description: "Existing law authorizes the Director of Fish and Wildlife to establish 2 free hunting days per year: one in the fall, and one in the winter. Existing law authorizes a California unlicensed resident to hunt during a free hunting day if accompanied by a licensed hunter, subject to certain conditions. Existing law prohibits these provisions from being implemented until the Department of Fish and Wildlife's Automated License Data System is fully operational for at least one year."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 804"
citation: "California AB 804 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Free hunting days."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Megan Dahle"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 25
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-02-16"
last_action: "2021-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5b913cb0-028c-49c1-82a4-2add9ad3ddd6"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB804"
source_hash: "06d6dcb40342d03312555a4f85e46ea9ea09a87f295580aa4b531ebe7cb92180"
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 804 (20212022) — Free hunting days.

Existing law authorizes the Director of Fish and Wildlife to establish 2 free hunting days per year: one in the fall, and one in the winter. Existing law authorizes a California unlicensed resident to hunt during a free hunting day if accompanied by a licensed hunter, subject to certain conditions. Existing law prohibits these provisions from being implemented until the Department of Fish and Wildlife's Automated License Data System is fully operational for at least one year.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB804&version=20210AB80499INT)
2. **06/07/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB804&version=20210AB80498AMD)
3. **06/30/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB804&version=20210AB80497AMD)
4. **08/16/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB804&version=20210AB80496AMD)
5. **09/30/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB804&version=20210AB80494CHP)
6. **AB804** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB804)
7. **09/07/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB804&version=20210AB80495ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 804 Megan Dahle Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **64–9** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 804 Megan Dahle Assembly Third Reading — **58–11** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB804 Megan Dahle et al. By Dahle — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Megan Dahle — primary (person)
- Dodd — coauthor (person)
- Gallagher — coauthor (person)
- Jones — coauthor (person)
- Mathis — coauthor (person)
- Smith — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2021-02-25** Referred to Com. on W.,P., & W. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (April 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-21** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 2.) (April 21). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 58. Noes 11. Page 1247.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-03** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-12** Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-07** 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. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-09** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-06-29** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 1720.) (June 29). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-30** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-12** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-07-21** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-08-16** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-23** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 23). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2291.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-01** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 3 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2021-09-02** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 57. Noes 14. Page 2703.)
- **2021-09-02** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 64. Noes 9. Page 2737.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2021-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 413, 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/5b913cb0-028c-49c1-82a4-2add9ad3ddd6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).