CA AB 78

enacted

Attorney's fees: book accounts.

California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · lower

Description

Under existing law, in any action on a contract based on a book account, as defined, that does not provide for attorney's fees and costs, the prevailing party on the contract is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and costs, and the court is required to fix the attorney's fees in an amount that does not exceed the lesser of $960 for book accounts that are maintained for personal, family, or household purposes of a natural person, and $1,200 for book accounts that are maintained for all other purposes, or 25% of the principal obligation owing on the contract, as applicable. This bill would increase these maximum attorney's fees to an amount not to exceed the lesser of $1,200 for book accounts that are maintained for personal, family, or household purposes of a natural person, and $1,600 for book accounts that are maintained for all other purposes, or 25% of the principal obligation owing on the contract, as applicable.

Introduced: 2024-12-18
Status date: —
Latest action: 2025-07-14 — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 28, Statutes of 2025.
Bill type: bill
Last updated: —

Subjects

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

2024-12-18
Introduced. To print.
introduction
2024-12-19
From printer. May be heard in committee January 18.
2025-01-06
Read first time.
reading-1
2025-02-03
Referred to Com. on JUD.
referral-committee
2025-03-04
From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (March 4).
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2025-03-05
Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.
reading-1,reading-2
2025-03-10
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 572.)
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2025-03-11
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
reading-1,referral-committee
2025-05-07
Referred to Com. on JUD.
referral-committee
2025-06-25
From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 24).
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2025-06-26
Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.
reading-1,reading-2
2025-07-03
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 1931.).
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2025-07-03
In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling.
committee-passage
2025-07-11
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m.
executive-receipt
2025-07-14
Approved by the Governor.
executive-signature
2025-07-14
Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 28, Statutes of 2025.
became-law

Versions

12/18/24 - Introduced — 2024-12-18Compare
07/08/25 - Enrolled — 2025-07-08Compare
07/14/25 - Chaptered — 2025-07-14Compare
AB78Compare
(document, no version)Compare

Documents

Votes

Do pass. To Consent Calendar.
2025-03-04 · pass · 12-0
Member-level votes (12)
- Bryan: yes
- Connolly: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Essayli: yes
- Papan: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Sanchez: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- Zbur: yes
- Chen: yes
- Stefani: yes
AB 78 Chen Consent Calendar Second Day
2025-03-10 · pass · 72-0
Member-level votes (80)
- Gipson: yes
- Ahrens: yes
- Castillo: yes
- Alanis: yes
- Lee: yes
- Patel: yes
- Garcia: yes
- Schiavo: yes
- Chen: yes
- Irwin: yes
- Bonta: yes
- Sharp-Collins: yes
- Rogers: yes
- Alvarez: yes
- Haney: yes
- Calderon: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Rivas: yes
- Arambula: yes
- Ransom: yes
- Bennett: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Petrie-Norris: yes
- Solache: yes
- Wallis: yes
- Sanchez: yes
- Ta: yes
- Blanca Rubio: yes
- Celeste Rodriguez: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Quirk-Silva: yes
- Carrillo: yes
- Davies: yes
- Tangipa: yes
- Wilson: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Jackson: yes
- Fong: yes
- Hadwick: yes
- Nguyen: yes
- Macedo: yes
- Ortega: yes
- Ellis: yes
- Addis: yes
- Papan: yes
- Schultz: yes
- Bains: yes
- Essayli: yes
- Connolly: yes
- Patterson: yes
- Boerner: yes
- Gabriel: yes
- Michelle Rodriguez: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Ávila Farías: yes
- Dixon: yes
- Lackey: yes
- McKinnor: yes
- Zbur: yes
- Flora: yes
- Hoover: yes
- DeMaio: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
- Hart: yes
- Aguiar-Curry: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Jeff Gonzalez: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Berman: yes
- Soria: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Valencia: other
- Ward: other
- Ramos: other
- Bryan: other
- Gallagher: other
- Lowenthal: other
- Muratsuchi: other
- Krell: other
Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar
2025-06-24 · pass · 12-0
Member-level votes (13)
- Niello: yes
- Laird: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Wahab: yes
- Durazo: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Stern: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Arreguín: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Ashby: yes
- Allen: yes
- Valladares: other
Consent Calendar 2nd
2025-07-03 · pass · 35-0
Member-level votes (40)
- Blakespear: yes
- Archuleta: yes
- McGuire: yes
- Becker: yes
- Cortese: yes
- Cervantes: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Niello: yes
- Allen: yes
- Ashby: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Grayson: yes
- Choi: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Laird: yes
- Valladares: yes
- Strickland: yes
- McNerney: yes
- Wahab: yes
- Richardson: yes
- Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
- Padilla: yes
- Gonzalez: yes
- Jones: yes
- Alvarado-Gil: yes
- Arreguín: yes
- Durazo: yes
- Pérez: yes
- Menjivar: yes
- Hurtado: yes
- Limón: yes
- Rubio: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Stern: yes
- Grove: other
- Ochoa Bogh: other
- Reyes: other
- Dahle: other
- Seyarto: other

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB78

Attribution

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

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