CA SB 1418
enactedPreservation of election materials.
California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · upper
Subscribe in a feed reader. The feed covers recorded actions from the last 30 days; Bill Commons may record an action after it happened at the legislature.
Quick answers
Did CA SB 1418 pass?
Yes. CA SB 1418 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-09-19): Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 341, Statutes of 2026.
What is CA SB 1418 about?
Under existing law, various election materials, including ballots, voter rosters, and related documents, must be maintained for a certain amount of time following an election. If an election contest or criminal prosecution has been commenced before the date voted ballots will be destroyed, the ballots may not be destroyed until after final determination of the contest or prosecution. This bill would expand that provision to prohibit the destruction of any document or record that must be preserved after an election and any certified voting technology or electronic data, as defined, used for the election until after final determination of any contest or criminal prosecution. Existing law requires, for an election for the office of the President, Vice president, United States Senator, and United States Representative, specified data to be kept by an elections official, on electronic media, stored and unaltered, for 22 months from the date of the election. For all state and local elections, existing law requires the electronic data to be kept on electronic media for 6 months from the date of the election. This bill would clarify the types of electronic media holding the specified data to include, but not be limited to, a hard drive, solid-state drive, flash drive, memory card, or other digital storage device. The bill would require the electronic media holding the data to be stored in a sealed container. Existing law makes it a crime to knowingly take a package containing ballots from the custody of an elections official. Existing law also authorizes the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and appropriate local elections officials to bring a civil action against a person, business, or entity that takes a package containing ballots from the custody of an elections official. This bill would apply the crime and the authorization to bring a civil action to taking any document, record, certified voting technology, or electronic data, as defined, or portions thereof including source code, or any other election-related material or equipment necessary to the conduct of an election, from the custody of the elections official. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Who sponsors CA SB 1418?
Cervantes is the primary sponsor of CA SB 1418, joined by 2 cosponsors.
Description
Under existing law, various election materials, including ballots, voter rosters, and related documents, must be maintained for a certain amount of time following an election. If an election contest or criminal prosecution has been commenced before the date voted ballots will be destroyed, the ballots may not be destroyed until after final determination of the contest or prosecution. This bill would expand that provision to prohibit the destruction of any document or record that must be preserved after an election and any certified voting technology or electronic data, as defined, used for the election until after final determination of any contest or criminal prosecution. Existing law requires, for an election for the office of the President, Vice president, United States Senator, and United States Representative, specified data to be kept by an elections official, on electronic media, stored and unaltered, for 22 months from the date of the election. For all state and local elections, existing law requires the electronic data to be kept on electronic media for 6 months from the date of the election. This bill would clarify the types of electronic media holding the specified data to include, but not be limited to, a hard drive, solid-state drive, flash drive, memory card, or other digital storage device. The bill would require the electronic media holding the data to be stored in a sealed container. Existing law makes it a crime to knowingly take a package containing ballots from the custody of an elections official. Existing law also authorizes the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and appropriate local elections officials to bring a civil action against a person, business, or entity that takes a package containing ballots from the custody of an elections official. This bill would apply the crime and the authorization to bring a civil action to taking any document, record, certified voting technology, or electronic data, as defined, or portions thereof including source code, or any other election-related material or equipment necessary to the conduct of an election, from the custody of the elections official. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
- Introduced
- 2026-02-20
- Latest action
- 2026-09-19 — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 341, Statutes of 2026.
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Subjects
Sponsors
- Cervantesauthor
- Jacksonprincipal coauthor
- Pellerincoauthor
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
Newest first
2026-09-19
Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 341, Statutes of 2026.
became-law
2026-09-19
Approved by the Governor.
executive-signature
2026-09-04
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
executive-receipt
2026-08-27
Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 30. Noes 10.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-08-27
Urgency clause adopted.
amendment-passage,passage
2026-08-26
From committee: That the Assembly amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.)
committee-passage
2026-08-26
From committee: That the Assembly amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 5925.)
committee-passage
2026-08-24
Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(d).
referral-committee
2026-08-24
From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(d). (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.
committee-passage,referral-committee
2026-08-24
From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(d). (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 5618.) Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.
committee-passage,referral-committee
2026-08-20
Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate.
amendment-passage,passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-08-20
In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
2026-08-20
Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 60. Noes 13. Page 6312.) Ordered to the Senate.
amendment-passage,passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-08-17
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2026-08-13
From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 2.) (August 13).
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-08-13
Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2
2026-08-13
Assembly Rule 63 suspended.
2026-08-05
August 5 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
2026-07-01
Coauthors revised.
2026-07-01
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-06-30
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on ELECTIONS. (Ayes 8. Noes 1.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on ELECTIONS.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2026-06-22
Assembly Rule 56 suspended.
2026-06-15
Re-referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and ELECTIONS pursuant to Assembly Rule 96.
referral-committee
2026-06-11
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ELECTIONS.
amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2026-05-11
Referred to Com. on ELECTIONS.
referral-committee
2026-04-27
In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.
reading-1
2026-04-27
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 4067.) Ordered to the Assembly.
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2026-04-22
Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar.
reading-1,reading-2
2026-04-21
From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 3971.) (April 21).
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-04-09
Set for hearing April 21.
2026-04-08
Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.
referral-committee
2026-03-24
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.
amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2026-03-04
Referred to Com. on RLS.
referral-committee
2026-02-23
From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 23.
2026-02-23
Read first time.
reading-1
2026-02-20
Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.
introduction,referral-committee
Versions
- 02/20/26 - Introduced — 2026-02-20Compare
- 03/24/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-03-24Compare
- 06/11/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-06-11Compare
- 08/13/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-08-13Compare
- 08/31/26 - Enrolled — 2026-08-31Compare
- 09/19/26 - Chaptered — 2026-09-19Compare
- (document, no version)Compare
- SB1418Compare
Documents
- application/pdf
- application/pdf
- application/pdf
- text/html
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf
- application/pdf
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
Votes
Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar
2026-04-21 · pass · 5-0
Member-level votes (5)
- Allen: yes
- Cervantes: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Choi: yes
Consent Calendar 2nd
2026-04-27 · pass · 37-0
Member-level votes (40)
- Wahab: yes
- Dahle: yes
- Choi: yes
- Alvarado-Gil: yes
- Laird: yes
- Reyes: yes
- Blakespear: yes
- McGuire: yes
- Ochoa Bogh: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Cervantes: yes
- Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
- Hurtado: yes
- Cortese: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Archuleta: yes
- Becker: yes
- Valladares: yes
- Padilla: yes
- Pérez: yes
- Ashby: yes
- Allen: yes
- Grayson: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Limón: yes
- Arreguín: yes
- Strickland: yes
- Seyarto: yes
- Jones: yes
- McNerney: yes
- Durazo: yes
- Richardson: yes
- Niello: yes
- Stern: yes
- Menjivar: yes
- Grove: yes
- Caballero: other
- Gonzalez: other
- Rubio: other
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Elections]
2026-06-30 · pass · 8-1
Member-level votes (9)
- Sharp-Collins: yes
- Schultz: yes
- Ramos: yes
- Haney: yes
- Alanis: yes
- Nguyen: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Lackey: no
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2026-07-01 · pass · 6-2
Member-level votes (8)
- Elhawary: yes
- Bennett: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Solache: yes
- Berman: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Ellis: no
- Johnson: no
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-09-21T18:25:32.579903Z
Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:
Session-wide evidence can include changes to other bills:
Use this data
Every field on this page is available from the free public API — no key or licence required. Fetch this bill as JSON: GET /api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=CA&identifier=SB 1418. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.
Known limitations
- Sponsor party and chamber affiliation are not yet captured by this API.
- Committee referrals are not yet captured.
- Some documents have no extracted text yet, so version comparison may be limited.
See the methodology page for data sources and limitations.