republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/sb-398.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Retirement: placement agents."
description: "Existing law regulates investments made by public pension and retirement systems and defines the term \"external manager\" to mean a person who is seeking to be, or is, retained by the retirement board of a public pension or retirement system to manage a portfolio of securities or other assets for compensation, or a person who is engaged, or proposes to be engaged, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding, or trading securities or other assets and who offers or sells, or has offered or sold, securities to a board. Existing law also defines the term \"placement agent\" to mean a person hired, engaged, or retained by, or serving for the benefit of or on behalf of, an external manager, or on behalf of another placement agent, who acts or has acted for compensation as a finder, solicitor, marketer, consultant, broker, or other intermediary in connection with the offer or sale of the securities, assets, or services of an external manager to a board or an investment vehicle, as defined. The Political Reform Act of 1974 defines those terms in a similar way for purposes of an individual acting as a placement agent in connection with a state public retirement system."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "SB 398"
citation: "California SB 398 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Retirement: placement agents."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hernandez"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 24
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2011-02-16"
last_action: "2011-10-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/84ec4c8c-d49d-467d-8552-a12390ea5d75"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB398"
source_hash: "c1eba2263ad4b7987bf8d478c1d1dcb9c2dd5ad6010c8be4562025c6fdab975f"
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 398 (20112012) — Retirement: placement agents.

Existing law regulates investments made by public pension and retirement systems and defines the term "external manager" to mean a person who is seeking to be, or is, retained by the retirement board of a public pension or retirement system to manage a portfolio of securities or other assets for compensation, or a person who is engaged, or proposes to be engaged, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding, or trading securities or other assets and who offers or sells, or has offered or sold, securities to a board. Existing law also defines the term "placement agent" to mean a person hired, engaged, or retained by, or serving for the benefit of or on behalf of, an external manager, or on behalf of another placement agent, who acts or has acted for compensation as a finder, solicitor, marketer, consultant, broker, or other intermediary in connection with the offer or sale of the securities, assets, or services of an external manager to a board or an investment vehicle, as defined. The Political Reform Act of 1974 defines those terms in a similar way for purposes of an individual acting as a placement agent in connection with a state public retirement system.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB398&version=20110SB39899INT)
2. **03/24/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB398&version=20110SB39898AMD)
3. **10/09/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB398&version=20110SB39896CHP)
4. **SB398** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB398)
5. **08/26/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB398&version=20110SB39897ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 398 Hernandez Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations Recommend Consent. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Elections and Redistricting to Consent Calendar. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hernandez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-16** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2011-02-17** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 19.
- **2011-02-24** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-24** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, reading-1, committee-passage, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-03-31** Re-referred to Coms. on P.E. & R. and E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-05** Set for hearing April 11.
- **2011-04-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on E. & C.A. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 620.) (April 11). Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-13** Set for hearing May 3.
- **2011-05-04** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 852.) (May 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-06** Set for hearing May 16.
- **2011-05-17** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage`
- **2011-05-18** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-23** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1062.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-23** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-02** Referred to Coms. on P.E., R. & S.S. and E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 22). Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 5). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-18** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (August 17). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-08-22** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-25** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2595.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-08-25** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2011-08-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m.
- **2011-10-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 704, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/84ec4c8c-d49d-467d-8552-a12390ea5d75`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).