republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/ab-1863.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "California Emergency Services Act: notification systems: Feather Alert."
description: "Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes use of the Emergency Alert System to inform the public of local, state, and national emergencies. Existing law authorizes a law enforcement agency to request the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate a \"Feather Alert,\" as defined, if the law enforcement agency determines that specified criteria are satisfied with respect to an endangered indigenous person who has been reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. Existing law requires the department, if it concurs that those specified requirements are met, to activate a Feather Alert within the appropriate geographical area requested by the investigating law enforcement agency and to assist the agency by disseminating specified alert messages and signs. Existing law requires the department to create and submit a report to the Governor's office and the Legislature that includes an evaluation of the Feather Alert, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 1863"
citation: "California AB 1863 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["California Emergency Services Act", "Feather Alert", "notification systems"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ramos"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-01-18"
last_action: "2024-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0a6e4fb4-1981-4809-8c00-c47cc9bd94b2"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1863"
source_hash: "2388ebd6cc85c6b20f07fcc6f18cc4b4ff20ed1434994a454b17a901381c85a2"
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 1863 (20232024) — California Emergency Services Act: notification systems: Feather Alert.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes use of the Emergency Alert System to inform the public of local, state, and national emergencies. Existing law authorizes a law enforcement agency to request the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate a "Feather Alert," as defined, if the law enforcement agency determines that specified criteria are satisfied with respect to an endangered indigenous person who has been reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. Existing law requires the department, if it concurs that those specified requirements are met, to activate a Feather Alert within the appropriate geographical area requested by the investigating law enforcement agency and to assist the agency by disseminating specified alert messages and signs. Existing law requires the department to create and submit a report to the Governor's office and the Legislature that includes an evaluation of the Feather Alert, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/18/24 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1863&version=20230AB186399INT)
2. **03/21/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1863&version=20230AB186398AMD)
3. **05/20/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1863&version=20230AB186397AMD)
4. **09/27/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1863&version=20230AB186395CHP)
5. **AB1863** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1863)
6. **08/14/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1863&version=20230AB186396ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Public Safety] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar 2nd AB1863 Ramos et al. — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1863 Ramos Assembly Third Reading — **70–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ramos — primary (person)
- Alvarado-Gil — coauthor (person)
- Friedman — coauthor (person)
- Jackson — coauthor (person)
- Pacheco — coauthor (person)
- Quirk-Silva — coauthor (person)
- Schiavo — coauthor (person)
- Soria — coauthor (person)
- Ta — coauthor (person)
- Valencia — coauthor (person)
- Wendy Carrillo — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-18** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2024-01-19** From printer. May be heard in committee February 18.
- **2024-03-21** Referred to Coms. on E.M. and PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-21** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E.M. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-04-01** Re-referred to Com. on E.M. `referral-committee`
- **2024-04-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 8). Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-04-24** Coauthors revised.
- **2024-04-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-05-08** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2024-05-20** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (May 16). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2024-05-20** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-05-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-05-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 70. Noes 0. Page 5537.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-05-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2024-06-05** Referred to Com. on PUB S. `referral-committee`
- **2024-06-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-08-05** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2024-08-06** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 5042.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-12** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2024-08-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2024-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 659, Statutes of 2024. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0a6e4fb4-1981-4809-8c00-c47cc9bd94b2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).