republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-851.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Personal Income Tax Law: Small Business Relief Act: elective tax."
description: "Existing law, the Small Business Relief Act, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, authorizes a partnership or \"S\" corporation that meets certain other requirements to elect to pay an elective tax at a rate based on its net income, as specified, for the taxable year. The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a credit against the personal income tax to a taxpayer, other than a partnership, that is a partner, shareholder, or member of an entity that elects to pay the elective tax authorized by the Small Business Relief Act, in an amount equal to a specified percentage of the partner's, shareholder's, or member's pro rata share or distributive share, as applicable, of income subject to the elective tax paid by the entity."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 851"
citation: "California SB 851 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Personal Income Tax Law: Small Business Relief Act: elective tax."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Portantino"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 33
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2022-01-18"
last_action: "2022-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/eab318ce-7c82-43e0-95f4-628935691f66"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB851"
source_hash: "89ea9ae044e42959f64c52af1942cc2fbc4cfa24a826b0f0ded92b1500bd4c52"
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 SB 851 (20212022) — Personal Income Tax Law: Small Business Relief Act: elective tax.

Existing law, the Small Business Relief Act, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, authorizes a partnership or "S" corporation that meets certain other requirements to elect to pay an elective tax at a rate based on its net income, as specified, for the taxable year. The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a credit against the personal income tax to a taxpayer, other than a partnership, that is a partner, shareholder, or member of an entity that elects to pay the elective tax authorized by the Small Business Relief Act, in an amount equal to a specified percentage of the partner's, shareholder's, or member's pro rata share or distributive share, as applicable, of income subject to the elective tax paid by the entity.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/18/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB851&version=20210SB85199INT)
2. **02/23/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB851&version=20210SB85198AMD)
3. **05/19/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB851&version=20210SB85197AMD)
4. **08/25/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB851&version=20210SB85196AMD)
5. **09/28/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB851&version=20210SB85194CHP)
6. **SB851** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB851)
7. **09/07/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB851&version=20210SB85195ENR)

## Votes

- SB 851 Portantino Senate Third Reading By Petrie-Norris — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent SB851 Portantino et al. — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB851 Portantino Concurrence — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **12–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Portantino — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-18** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-01-19** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 18.
- **2022-01-26** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-07** Art. IV. Sec. 8(a) of the Constitution dispensed with.
- **2022-02-07** (Ayes 31. Noes 6.)
- **2022-02-07** Joint Rule 55 suspended. (Ayes 31. Noes 6. Page 2880.)
- **2022-02-18** Set for hearing March 9.
- **2022-02-23** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ED. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 3060.) (March 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-25** Set for hearing April 4.
- **2022-04-04** April 4 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2022-05-13** Set for hearing May 19.
- **2022-05-19** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 3771.) (May 19). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-19** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-24** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2022-05-26** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 3983.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-27** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2022-06-02** Referred to Com. on HIGHER ED. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-03** August 3 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (August 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-25** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-25** Ordered to third reading.
- **2022-08-25** Re-referred to Com. on REV. & TAX. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. `referral-committee`
- **2022-08-30** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (August 30). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-31** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2022-08-31** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 5412.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2022-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 705, 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/eab318ce-7c82-43e0-95f4-628935691f66`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).