republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20252026/sb-617.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act."
description: "Existing law, the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, governs mass layoffs, relocations, and terminations. Existing law prohibits an employer, with certain exceptions, from ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment without giving prescribed written notice to the employees, the Employment Development Department, and other local agencies."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "SB 617"
citation: "California SB 617 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CaliforniaWorkerAdjustmentandRetrainingAct"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Arreguín"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 26
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-02-20"
last_action: "2025-10-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/18255452-fa41-4d45-beaf-bdd3dbae9c58"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB617"
source_hash: "1661733c8c337c19f6aba3d7501acf91fd577b59e847b180615a7f0dafbe5e1f"
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 617 (20252026) — California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act.

Existing law, the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, governs mass layoffs, relocations, and terminations. Existing law prohibits an employer, with certain exceptions, from ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment without giving prescribed written notice to the employees, the Employment Development Department, and other local agencies.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/20/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB617&version=20250SB61799INT)
2. **03/24/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB617&version=20250SB61798AMD)
3. **06/27/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB617&version=20250SB61797AMD)
4. **08/27/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB617&version=20250SB61796AMD)
5. **10/01/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB617&version=20250SB61794CHP)
6. **SB617** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB617)
7. **09/05/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB617&version=20250SB61795ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 617 Arreguín Senate Third Reading By Ortega — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB617 Arreguín Concurrence — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Arreguín — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-20** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-02-21** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 23.
- **2025-03-05** Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-24** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-11** Set for hearing April 30.
- **2025-04-30** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 967.) (April 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-05-02** Set for hearing May 12.
- **2025-05-12** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2025-05-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-05-28** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 1272.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-05-28** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2025-06-05** Referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-27** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on L. & E. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-07-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-08-20** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (August 20). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-08-21** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-08-25** From consent calendar on motion of Assembly Member Garcia.
- **2025-08-25** Ordered to third reading.
- **2025-08-27** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-08-27** Ordered to third reading.
- **2025-09-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2819.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-03** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2025-09-04** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2511.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2025-10-01** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-01** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 229, 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/18255452-fa41-4d45-beaf-bdd3dbae9c58`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).