republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-838.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "State Housing Law: enforcement response to complaints."
description: "Existing law, the State Housing Law, a violation of which is a crime, establishes statewide construction and occupancy standards for buildings used for human habitation. Existing law authorizes a city or county to designate and charge a specified department or officer with the enforcement of the State Housing Law, the building standards published in the California Building Standards Code, or any other rules and regulations adopted pursuant to the State Housing Law for the protection of the public health, safety, and general welfare."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 838"
citation: "California AB 838 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["State Housing Law: enforcement response to complaints."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Friedman"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 27
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-02-17"
last_action: "2021-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5afbdd4b-c055-410f-91ed-a3b7780b1c93"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB838"
source_hash: "4ca78a0da8434fe4dbe4ec55cac90702146c9fbe23461f2e7e5cea0019e8a5b2"
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 838 (20212022) — State Housing Law: enforcement response to complaints.

Existing law, the State Housing Law, a violation of which is a crime, establishes statewide construction and occupancy standards for buildings used for human habitation. Existing law authorizes a city or county to designate and charge a specified department or officer with the enforcement of the State Housing Law, the building standards published in the California Building Standards Code, or any other rules and regulations adopted pursuant to the State Housing Law for the protection of the public health, safety, and general welfare.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB838&version=20210AB83899INT)
2. **04/05/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB838&version=20210AB83898AMD)
3. **06/23/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB838&version=20210AB83897AMD)
4. **07/13/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB838&version=20210AB83896AMD)
5. **09/28/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB838&version=20210AB83894CHP)
6. **AB838** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB838)
7. **09/07/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB838&version=20210AB83895ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Rules] — **6–1** (pass) · upper
- AB 838 Friedman Assembly Third Reading — **45–18** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB838 Friedman et al. By Durazo — **26–10** (pass) · upper
- AB 838 Friedman Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **51–20** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–4** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Friedman — primary (person)
- Durazo — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-18** From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
- **2021-02-25** Referred to Com. on H. & C.D. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on H. & C.D. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-06** Re-referred to Com. on H. & C.D. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (April 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-28** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (April 28). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-10** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 45. Noes 18. Page 1357.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-19** Referred to Com. on HOUSING. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-11** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2021-06-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HOUSING. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-01** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on RLS. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-07** Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-12** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (July 8). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-13** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-16** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 10. Page 2296.). `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 51. Noes 20. Page 2738.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2021-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 351, 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/5afbdd4b-c055-410f-91ed-a3b7780b1c93`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).