Bill Commons

CA AB 559

in committee

Professions and vocations: contractors: home improvement contracts: prohibited business practices.

California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · lower

Quick answers

Did CA AB 559 pass?

Not yet. CA AB 559 is in committee as of 2025-09-03 and has not come to a final vote. Latest recorded action (2025-09-03): Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Niello.

What is CA AB 559 about?

Existing law, the Contractors State License Law, defines and regulates the activities of contractors and provides for their licensure, regulation, and discipline by the Contractors State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs (department) . That law requires a home improvement contract, as defined, to be in writing and include the contract amount, as specified, and prohibits any downpayment for that contract from exceeding the lesser of $1,000 or 10% of the contract amount. Except for a downpayment, existing law prohibits the contractor from requesting or accepting payment that exceeds the value of the work performed or material delivered. Existing law makes the violation of these provisions a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $5,000, by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would include in the definition of "home improvement" construction, erection, installation, replacement, or improvement of accessory dwelling units on residentially zoned property. The bill would also make a licensee, or an unlicensed person, who violates the above-described downpayment and payment prohibitions subject to revocation of their license and a civil penalty of at least $10,000 in the case of a licensee, or, if the person is unlicensed, subject to a citation and assessment of a civil penalty of at least $10,000.

Who sponsors CA AB 559?

Berman is the primary sponsor of CA AB 559, joined by 1 cosponsor.

Description

Existing law, the Contractors State License Law, defines and regulates the activities of contractors and provides for their licensure, regulation, and discipline by the Contractors State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs (department) . That law requires a home improvement contract, as defined, to be in writing and include the contract amount, as specified, and prohibits any downpayment for that contract from exceeding the lesser of $1,000 or 10% of the contract amount. Except for a downpayment, existing law prohibits the contractor from requesting or accepting payment that exceeds the value of the work performed or material delivered. Existing law makes the violation of these provisions a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $5,000, by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would include in the definition of "home improvement" construction, erection, installation, replacement, or improvement of accessory dwelling units on residentially zoned property. The bill would also make a licensee, or an unlicensed person, who violates the above-described downpayment and payment prohibitions subject to revocation of their license and a civil penalty of at least $10,000 in the case of a licensee, or, if the person is unlicensed, subject to a citation and assessment of a civil penalty of at least $10,000.

Introduced
2025-03-27
Latest action
2025-09-03 — Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Niello.
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Subjects

Sponsors

  • Bermanauthor
  • Nielloprincipal coauthor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2025-02-12

    Read first time. To print.

    reading-1

  2. 2025-02-13

    From printer. May be heard in committee March 15.

  3. 2025-03-03

    Referred to Coms. on B. & P. and JUD.

    referral-committee

  4. 2025-03-27

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on B. & P. Read second time and amended.

    amendment-introduction,amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  5. 2025-03-28

    Re-referred to Com. on B. & P.

    referral-committee

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 2025-04-23

    From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (April 23).

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  9. 2025-04-24

    Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.

    reading-1,reading-2

  10. 2025-05-01

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1386.)

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  11. 2025-05-01

    In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

    reading-1,referral-committee

  12. 2025-05-14

    Referred to Coms. on B. P. & E.D. and JUD.

    referral-committee

  13. 2025-06-30

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  14. 2025-07-09

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (July 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  15. 2025-08-13

    In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

  16. 2025-08-25

    In committee: Referred to suspense file.

    referral-committee

  17. 2025-08-29

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 29).

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  18. 2025-08-29

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  19. 2025-09-03

    Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Niello.

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar

    2025-04-01 · pass · 17-0

    Member-level votes (18)
    • Haney: yes
    • Jackson: yes
    • Ahrens: yes
    • Chen: yes
    • Lowenthal: yes
    • Macedo: yes
    • Krell: yes
    • Nguyen: yes
    • Bains: yes
    • Hadwick: yes
    • Alanis: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Flora: yes
    • Irwin: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Berman: yes
    • Bauer-Kahan: other

  • Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar

    2025-04-08 · pass · 12-0

    Member-level votes (12)
    • Dixon: yes
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Zbur: yes
    • Kalra: yes
    • Papan: yes
    • Bryan: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Connolly: yes
    • Harabedian: yes
    • Sanchez: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Stefani: yes

  • Do pass. To Consent Calendar.

    2025-04-23 · pass · 15-0

    Member-level votes (15)
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Ta: yes
    • Arambula: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Hart: yes
    • Solache: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Calderon: yes
    • Fong: yes
    • Sanchez: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Dixon: yes

  • AB 559 Berman Consent Calendar Second Day

    2025-05-01 · pass · 76-0

    Member-level votes (79)
    • Bains: yes
    • Garcia: yes
    • Quirk-Silva: yes
    • Arambula: yes
    • Calderon: yes
    • Sanchez: yes
    • Schultz: yes
    • Michelle Rodriguez: yes
    • Addis: yes
    • Ahrens: yes
    • Connolly: yes
    • Fong: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Kalra: yes
    • Lowenthal: yes
    • Solache: yes
    • Krell: yes
    • Caloza: yes
    • Lee: yes
    • Hoover: yes
    • Muratsuchi: yes
    • Mark González: yes
    • Rivas: yes
    • Stefani: yes
    • Sharp-Collins: yes
    • Lackey: yes
    • Valencia: yes
    • Bryan: yes
    • Bonta: yes
    • Wilson: yes
    • Wallis: yes
    • Bennett: yes
    • Ellis: yes
    • Ta: yes
    • Aguiar-Curry: yes
    • Macedo: yes
    • Petrie-Norris: yes
    • Carrillo: yes
    • Gabriel: yes
    • Flora: yes
    • Boerner: yes
    • Castillo: yes
    • Dixon: yes
    • Ransom: yes
    • Zbur: yes
    • Irwin: yes
    • Soria: yes
    • Patel: yes
    • Haney: yes
    • Rogers: yes
    • Tangipa: yes
    • Harabedian: yes
    • Gipson: yes
    • Patterson: yes
    • Gallagher: yes
    • Ramos: yes
    • Schiavo: yes
    • Bauer-Kahan: yes
    • Alanis: yes
    • Jackson: yes
    • Hart: yes
    • Pacheco: yes
    • Alvarez: yes
    • DeMaio: yes
    • Ortega: yes
    • Ward: yes
    • Blanca Rubio: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Elhawary: yes
    • Hadwick: yes
    • Jeff Gonzalez: yes
    • Nguyen: yes
    • Celeste Rodriguez: yes
    • Ávila Farías: yes
    • Davies: yes
    • Berman: yes
    • McKinnor: other
    • Papan: other
    • Chen: other

  • Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary]

    2025-06-30 · pass · 10-0

    Member-level votes (11)
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
    • Weber Pierson: yes
    • Choi: yes
    • Umberg: yes
    • Strickland: yes
    • Archuleta: yes
    • Ashby: yes
    • Menjivar: yes
    • Niello: yes
    • Grayson: other

  • Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

    2025-07-08 · pass · 13-0

    Member-level votes (13)
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Valladares: yes
    • Allen: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Laird: yes
    • Niello: yes
    • Weber Pierson: yes
    • Wiener: yes
    • Ashby: yes
    • Durazo: yes
    • Umberg: yes

  • Placed on suspense file

    2025-08-25 · pass · 6-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Grayson: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Dahle: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Wahab: other

  • Do pass

    2025-08-29 · pass · 7-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Richardson: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Dahle: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB559

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T01:34:27.960412Z

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

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