CA SB 394
enactedWater theft: fire hydrants.
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 394 pass?
Yes. CA SB 394 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2025-10-10): Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 540, Statutes of 2025.
What is CA SB 394 about?
Existing law authorizes a utility to bring a civil action for damages against any person who commits, authorizes, solicits, aids, abets, or attempts certain acts, including, diverting or causing to be diverted, utility services by any means whatsoever. Existing law creates a rebuttable presumption that there is violation of these provisions if, on premises controlled by the customer or by the person using or receiving the direct benefit of utility service, certain actions occur, including that there is an instrument, apparatus, or device primarily designed to be used to obtain utility service without paying the full lawful charge for the utility. This bill would add to the list of acts for which a utility may bring a civil cause of action under these circumstances to include tampering with a fire hydrant, fire hydrant meter, or fire detector check, or connecting to, diverting water from, or causing water to be diverted from, a fire hydrant without authorization from the utility that owns the fire hydrant, except as provided. The bill would also expand the rebuttable presumption for a violation of these provisions to include, among other things, if a person tampers with or uses a fire hydrant, fire hydrant meter, or fire detector check without authorization to obtain water and without paying the full lawful charge of the water. Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a local agency, as defined, that provides water services to adopt an ordinance that prohibits water theft, as defined, and makes a violation of the ordinance subject to an administrative fine or penalty, as specified. Existing law sets forth a schedule of fines for a violation of an ordinance adopted pursuant to these provisions, including, if the violation is committed via meter tampering, a fine not exceeding $1,300 for a third or additional violation of the same ordinance within one year of the first violation, and for a violation of all other forms of water theft, a fine not exceeding $3,000 for a third or additional violation of the same ordinance within one year. This bill would revise those fines to apply to the third or additional violation without regard to whether the violation occurred within one year of the first violation. This bill would authorize a legislative body of a local agency, as defined, that provides retail water services, to adopt an ordinance that prohibits unauthorized connection to a fire hydrant, as defined, subject to an administrative fine or penalty, as specified. The bill would set forth a schedule of fines for a violation of the ordinance. The bill would prohibit a local agency from imposing a fine for the same offense under both an ordinance adopted by a local agency pursuant to these provisions that prohibits unauthorized connection to a fire hydrant and an ordinance adopted by the local agency pursuant to the provisions described above that prohibits water theft.
Who sponsors CA SB 394?
Allen is the primary sponsor of CA SB 394, joined by 1 cosponsor.
Description
Existing law authorizes a utility to bring a civil action for damages against any person who commits, authorizes, solicits, aids, abets, or attempts certain acts, including, diverting or causing to be diverted, utility services by any means whatsoever. Existing law creates a rebuttable presumption that there is violation of these provisions if, on premises controlled by the customer or by the person using or receiving the direct benefit of utility service, certain actions occur, including that there is an instrument, apparatus, or device primarily designed to be used to obtain utility service without paying the full lawful charge for the utility. This bill would add to the list of acts for which a utility may bring a civil cause of action under these circumstances to include tampering with a fire hydrant, fire hydrant meter, or fire detector check, or connecting to, diverting water from, or causing water to be diverted from, a fire hydrant without authorization from the utility that owns the fire hydrant, except as provided. The bill would also expand the rebuttable presumption for a violation of these provisions to include, among other things, if a person tampers with or uses a fire hydrant, fire hydrant meter, or fire detector check without authorization to obtain water and without paying the full lawful charge of the water. Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a local agency, as defined, that provides water services to adopt an ordinance that prohibits water theft, as defined, and makes a violation of the ordinance subject to an administrative fine or penalty, as specified. Existing law sets forth a schedule of fines for a violation of an ordinance adopted pursuant to these provisions, including, if the violation is committed via meter tampering, a fine not exceeding $1,300 for a third or additional violation of the same ordinance within one year of the first violation, and for a violation of all other forms of water theft, a fine not exceeding $3,000 for a third or additional violation of the same ordinance within one year. This bill would revise those fines to apply to the third or additional violation without regard to whether the violation occurred within one year of the first violation. This bill would authorize a legislative body of a local agency, as defined, that provides retail water services, to adopt an ordinance that prohibits unauthorized connection to a fire hydrant, as defined, subject to an administrative fine or penalty, as specified. The bill would set forth a schedule of fines for a violation of the ordinance. The bill would prohibit a local agency from imposing a fine for the same offense under both an ordinance adopted by a local agency pursuant to these provisions that prohibits unauthorized connection to a fire hydrant and an ordinance adopted by the local agency pursuant to the provisions described above that prohibits water theft.
- Introduced
- 2025-02-14
- Latest action
- 2025-10-10 — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 540, Statutes of 2025.
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Subjects
Sponsors
- Allenauthor
- Rubiocoauthor
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
Newest first
2025-10-10
Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 540, Statutes of 2025.
became-law
2025-10-10
Approved by the Governor.
executive-signature
2025-09-02
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11 a.m.
executive-receipt
2025-08-25
Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2253.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2025-08-21
Ordered to special consent calendar.
2025-07-10
In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
2025-07-10
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 2509.) Ordered to the Senate.
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2025-07-07
Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar.
reading-1,reading-2
2025-07-03
Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2
2025-07-02
From committee: Do pass as amended. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (July 1).
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2025-06-18
Coauthors revised.
2025-06-18
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 18). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-06-09
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.
amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2025-06-05
Referred to Coms. on L. GOV. and JUD.
referral-committee
2025-05-28
In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.
reading-1
2025-05-27
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1239.) Ordered to the Assembly.
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2025-04-22
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2025-04-21
Ordered to second reading.
reading-1,reading-2
2025-04-21
Withdrawn from committee.
withdrawal
2025-04-16
April 21 hearing postponed by committee.
2025-04-04
Set for hearing April 21.
2025-04-02
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0. Page 610.) (April 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-03-24
Set for hearing April 1.
2025-03-19
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 422.) (March 19). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-03-04
Set for hearing March 19.
2025-02-26
Referred to Coms. on L. GOV., JUD., and APPR.
referral-committee
2025-02-18
From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 17.
2025-02-14
Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.
introduction,reading-1,referral-committee
Versions
Documents
- application/pdf
- application/pdf
- 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)
Votes
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary]
2025-03-19 · pass · 7-0
Member-level votes (7)
- Cabaldon: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Choi: yes
- Durazo: yes
- Laird: yes
- Arreguín: yes
- Seyarto: yes
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar
2025-04-01 · pass · 13-0
Member-level votes (13)
- Ashby: yes
- Valladares: yes
- Arreguín: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Laird: yes
- Wahab: yes
- Allen: yes
- Niello: yes
- Stern: yes
- Durazo: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Umberg: yes
3rd Reading
2025-05-27 · pass · 39-0
Member-level votes (40)
- Cabaldon: yes
- Wahab: yes
- Pérez: yes
- Padilla: yes
- Allen: yes
- Seyarto: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Grove: yes
- Archuleta: yes
- Laird: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Stern: yes
- Limón: yes
- Grayson: yes
- McGuire: yes
- Jones: yes
- McNerney: yes
- Ochoa Bogh: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Ashby: yes
- Rubio: yes
- Cortese: yes
- Arreguín: yes
- Richardson: yes
- Hurtado: yes
- Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
- Cervantes: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Alvarado-Gil: yes
- Gonzalez: yes
- Valladares: yes
- Menjivar: yes
- Durazo: yes
- Becker: yes
- Strickland: yes
- Blakespear: yes
- Dahle: yes
- Choi: yes
- Niello: yes
- Reyes: other
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary]
2025-06-18 · pass · 10-0
Member-level votes (10)
- Ta: yes
- Hoover: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Ransom: yes
- Haney: yes
- Carrillo: yes
- Blanca Rubio: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Wilson: yes
- Ramos: yes
Do pass as amended. To Consent Calendar.
2025-07-01 · pass · 12-0
Member-level votes (12)
- Connolly: yes
- Zbur: yes
- Sanchez: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Dixon: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Papan: yes
- Macedo: yes
- Bryan: yes
- Bauer-Kahan: yes
SB 394 Allen Consent Calendar Second Day
2025-07-10 · pass · 72-0
Member-level votes (79)
- Tangipa: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Solache: yes
- Macedo: yes
- Ellis: yes
- Bennett: yes
- Aguiar-Curry: yes
- Bonta: yes
- Lee: yes
- Hoover: yes
- Schiavo: yes
- Addis: yes
- Pacheco: yes
- McKinnor: yes
- Papan: yes
- Ransom: yes
- Michelle Rodriguez: yes
- Quirk-Silva: yes
- Hadwick: yes
- Wallis: yes
- Wilson: yes
- Patel: yes
- Lowenthal: yes
- Bains: yes
- Ortega: yes
- Sharp-Collins: yes
- Jeff Gonzalez: yes
- Boerner: yes
- Nguyen: yes
- Ahrens: yes
- Petrie-Norris: yes
- DeMaio: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Sanchez: yes
- Harabedian: yes
- Lackey: yes
- Celeste Rodriguez: yes
- Blanca Rubio: yes
- Arambula: yes
- Gabriel: yes
- Davies: yes
- Alvarez: yes
- Bryan: yes
- Schultz: yes
- Ávila Farías: yes
- Haney: yes
- Castillo: yes
- Garcia: yes
- Jackson: yes
- Irwin: yes
- Ramos: yes
- Kalra: yes
- Krell: yes
- Calderon: yes
- Rogers: yes
- Zbur: yes
- Connolly: yes
- Hart: yes
- Muratsuchi: yes
- Dixon: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Soria: yes
- Ward: yes
- Ta: yes
- Stefani: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Patterson: yes
- Valencia: yes
- Chen: yes
- Berman: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Fong: yes
- Flora: other
- Gipson: other
- Gallagher: other
- Alanis: other
- Bauer-Kahan: other
- Carrillo: other
- Rivas: other
Special Consent SB394 Allen et al.
2025-08-25 · pass · 37-0
Member-level votes (40)
- Reyes: yes
- Allen: yes
- Jones: yes
- Menjivar: yes
- Dahle: yes
- Niello: yes
- Pérez: yes
- Wahab: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Ochoa Bogh: yes
- Grove: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Blakespear: yes
- Choi: yes
- Richardson: yes
- Limón: yes
- McNerney: yes
- Becker: yes
- Arreguín: yes
- Archuleta: yes
- Grayson: yes
- Cortese: yes
- Cervantes: yes
- Laird: yes
- Stern: yes
- McGuire: yes
- Seyarto: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Durazo: yes
- Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
- Strickland: yes
- Gonzalez: yes
- Padilla: yes
- Ashby: yes
- Valladares: yes
- Hurtado: other
- Alvarado-Gil: other
- Rubio: other
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T01:34:27.960412Z
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 394. 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.