republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20252026/ab-521.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Contractors State License Board: bond deposits: liability for legal fees and costs."
description: "Existing law, the Contractors State License Law, establishes the Contractors State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the licensure and regulation of contractors. Existing law requires the board, with the approval of the Director of Consumer Affairs, to appoint a registrar of contractors to serve as the executive officer and secretary of the board."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "AB 521"
citation: "California AB 521 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ContractorsStateLicenseBoard", "bonddeposits", "liabilityforlegalfeesandcosts"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carrillo"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 20
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2025-02-10"
last_action: "2025-10-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/97dee22f-2ebe-4f93-a399-4f7d49127818"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB521"
source_hash: "9caa01315731e166a68ea931d364cf6e078fb8f2b8e475267c34307aa74fb809"
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 521 (20252026) — Contractors State License Board: bond deposits: liability for legal fees and costs.

Existing law, the Contractors State License Law, establishes the Contractors State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the licensure and regulation of contractors. Existing law requires the board, with the approval of the Director of Consumer Affairs, to appoint a registrar of contractors to serve as the executive officer and secretary of the board.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/10/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB521&version=20250AB52199INT)
2. **10/03/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB521&version=20250AB52197CHP)
3. **AB521** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB521)
4. **08/27/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB521&version=20250AB52198ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 521 Carrillo Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Carrillo — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-10** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2025-02-11** From printer. May be heard in committee March 13.
- **2025-02-24** Referred to Coms. on B. & P. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-01** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 1). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (April 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-23** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (April 23). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-24** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-05-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1386.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-05-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2025-05-14** Referred to Coms. on B. P. & E.D. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 9). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-06-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-07-09** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2025-08-19** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2025-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-08-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2250.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-08-26** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2025-09-02** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2025-10-03** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-03** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 265, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/97dee22f-2ebe-4f93-a399-4f7d49127818`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).