republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/ab-956.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "California State Auditor: background checks."
description: "Existing law generally requires government agencies and publicly created entities to provide the California State Auditor with specified records, documents, and information when the California State Auditor is conducting an audit of the agency or entity. Existing law prohibits the California State Auditor from releasing to the public certain records, documents, and information it obtains during the audit, such as personal papers and correspondence of a person providing assistance to the California State Auditor who has requested that they be kept confidential, records pertaining to an audit not yet completed, or information deemed confidential pursuant to the California Whistleblower Protection Act."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 956"
citation: "California AB 956 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill", "appropriation"]
subjects: ["California State Auditor", "background checks"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alvarez"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-02-14"
last_action: "2023-07-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ac22825d-ada4-4b89-8852-fae8e7771161"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB956"
source_hash: "409e76247d17571d331787f7f3e3d61f328bf19ce66e6686977d60a1331c8960"
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 956 (20232024) — California State Auditor: background checks.

Existing law generally requires government agencies and publicly created entities to provide the California State Auditor with specified records, documents, and information when the California State Auditor is conducting an audit of the agency or entity. Existing law prohibits the California State Auditor from releasing to the public certain records, documents, and information it obtains during the audit, such as personal papers and correspondence of a person providing assistance to the California State Auditor who has requested that they be kept confidential, records pertaining to an audit not yet completed, or information deemed confidential pursuant to the California Whistleblower Protection Act.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB956&version=20230AB95699INT)
2. **03/22/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB956&version=20230AB95698AMD)
3. **06/05/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB956&version=20230AB95697AMD)
4. **07/21/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB956&version=20230AB95695CHP)
5. **AB956** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB956)
6. **07/07/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB956&version=20230AB95696ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 956 Alvarez Consent Calendar Second Day — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 956 Alvarez Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **69–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Alvarez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2023-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2023-03-02** Referred to Com. on A. & A.R. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-22** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on A. & A.R. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-03-23** Re-referred to Com. on A. & A.R. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-26** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-27** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 1462.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-04** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-17** Referred to Com. on PUB S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB S. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-06-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-06-26** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2023-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-06-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1828.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-06-29** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 1 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2023-07-06** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 69. Noes 0. Page 2568.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-07-14** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m.
- **2023-07-21** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-07-21** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 94, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ac22825d-ada4-4b89-8852-fae8e7771161`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).