republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/ab-2561.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Local public employees: vacant positions."
description: "Existing law, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (act) , authorizes local public employees, as defined, to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on matters of labor relations. The act requires the governing body of a public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations and to consider fully presentations that are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members before arriving at a determination of policy or course of action."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 2561"
citation: "California AB 2561 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Local public employees", "vacant positions"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["McKinnor"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 29
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2024-02-14"
last_action: "2024-09-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6dc5c353-3cbf-4314-b933-dcda0f76a49b"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561"
source_hash: "28675a679e8fce624cea9ea6e3c8f5a9ef08d59cf31687c93f8a6fd197f27b98"
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 2561 (20232024) — Local public employees: vacant positions.

Existing law, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (act) , authorizes local public employees, as defined, to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on matters of labor relations. The act requires the governing body of a public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations and to consider fully presentations that are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members before arriving at a determination of policy or course of action.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/24 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561&version=20230AB256199INT)
2. **03/11/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561&version=20230AB256198AMD)
3. **06/27/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561&version=20230AB256197AMD)
4. **07/03/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561&version=20230AB256196AMD)
5. **08/15/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561&version=20230AB256195AMD)
6. **08/23/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561&version=20230AB256194AMD)
7. **09/22/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561&version=20230AB256192CHP)
8. **AB2561** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561)
9. **09/05/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2561&version=20230AB256193ENR)

## Votes

- AB 2561 McKinnor Assembly Third Reading — **51–5** (pass) · lower
- AB 2561 McKinnor Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **57–6** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2561 McKinnor By Smallwood-Cuevas — **27–10** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **11–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 2561 McKinnor Concurrence in Senate Amendments Move The Previous Question By BAUER-KAHAN — **53–10** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- McKinnor — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2024-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
- **2024-03-11** Referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-11** 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`
- **2024-03-12** Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-19** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2024-04-17** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (April 17). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-05-01** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2024-05-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 2.) (May 16). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-05-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 51. Noes 5. Page 5491.) `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 L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2024-06-13** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2024-06-27** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-07-03** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (July 3). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2024-07-03** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-08-05** In committee: Referred to APPR suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2024-08-15** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 15). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2024-08-15** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-23** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 27. Noes 10.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2024-08-31** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 57. Noes 6.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2024-09-22** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-22** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 409, 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/6dc5c353-3cbf-4314-b933-dcda0f76a49b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).