SB 702 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Legislative and gubernatorial appointments: report.

Summary

Existing law establishes various boards and commissions in state government with specified duties and responsibilities. Existing law generally provides for legislative oversight of state board formation, which includes, among other things, any administrative or regulatory board, commission, and committee, whose members are appointed by the Governor, the Legislature, or both. Existing law requires the Governor to appoint every officer whose mode of appointment is not prescribed by law. This bill would require the office of the Governor, commencing January 1, 2027, to maintain on its internet website a list of each state board and commission and the membership list, stated purpose, duties, meeting frequency, internet website, and vacancies in the membership for each board or commission. The bill would require the office of the Governor, on or before January 31, 2028, and annually on January 31 thereafter, to create and publish on its internet website a report containing aggregate demographic information, as defined, of appointments made by the office during the prior calendar year, as specified. The bill would require the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, commencing January 1, 2027, to maintain on their respective internet websites, or to include a link on their respective internet websites to any available resources that contain, a list of each state board or commission that each house has appointment authority over and the membership list, stated purpose, duties, meeting frequency, internet website, and any vacancies in the membership for that board or commission. The bill would also require the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, on or before January 31, 2028, and annually on January 31 thereafter, to publish on their respective internet websites, to the extent available, aggregate demographic information, as defined, on their respective legislative appointments, made during the prior calendar year, as specified. The bill would require the aggregate demographic information to only include legislative appointments created by statute, and prohibit the information from including ex officio appointments of members of the Senate and the Assembly. The bill would require the above-described published aggregate demographic information on gubernatorial or legislative appointments to, among other things, be published on the respective entity's internet websites in a prescribed manner for purposes of ensuring the anonymity of the appointed individuals.

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Jul 2025

Senate Passage

Jun 2025

Assembly Passage

Sep 2025

Signed into Law

Oct 2025

Introduced Feb 21, 2025 Signed Oct 6, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 7 comparisons

What changed between versions

09/02/25 - Amended Assembly → 09/03/25 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · Sep 3, 2025

MODERATE

This amendment primarily reorganizes subsection numbering in Sections 1305 and 1306 for clarity and cleans up markup artifacts (such as a duplicated 'January 1, 31' date). One substantive change narrows the definition of 'demographic information' in both sections by removing the phrase 'but is not limited to,' making the list of reportable categories exhaustive rather than illustrative. The amendment date was updated from September 2 to September 3, 2025.

DEFINITION

In both Section 1305(c) and Section 1306(c), the definition of 'demographic information' was changed from a non-exhaustive list ('includes, but is not limited to') to an exhaustive list ('includes'), meaning only the specifically enumerated categories (ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, county of residence, and for gubernatorial appointments, party affiliation, plus military service) may be reported.

TECHNICAL

Section 1306 subsection structure was reorganized: previously scattered across subsections (b)(2)(A), (c)(B), (d)(1)(C)(i), and (d)(2)(ii), the requirements for statutory-only appointments, anonymity, and the disclaimer are now consolidated under (b)(2) as clauses (A), (B), and (C).

Markup artifacts were cleaned up, including a duplicated date reference ('January 1, 31, 2028' corrected to 'January 31, 2028') and redundant wording ('includes, but is not limited to, includes' reduced to 'includes').

The amendment date was updated from September 2, 2025 to September 3, 2025, with the prior date retained as a secondary line. Page numbers shifted from 96 to 95 due to text reflow.

03/26/25 - Amended Senate → 04/08/25 - Amended Senate · 6 edits · Apr 8, 2025

MODERATE

The April 8 amendment to SB 702 makes several substantive changes to the bill requiring demographic reporting on gubernatorial and legislative appointments. The most significant policy change is that the disclaimer about voluntary self-reporting is now mandatory for the publishing entities themselves (the Governor's office, Senate, and Assembly) rather than only for third parties who republish the data, while third-party republication of the disclaimer becomes merely encouraged rather than required. Additionally, 'region' was removed from the demographic categories, 'party affiliation' was added back for gubernatorial appointments but excluded from legislative ones, and a 'to the extent available' qualifier was added to the legislative reporting requirement.

REQUIREMENT

The disclaimer stating that demographic data is voluntarily reported and does not accurately reflect all appointments is now required to be included in the aggregate demographic information published by the Governor's office, Senate, and Assembly themselves. Previously, only third parties who republished the data were required to include it.

Third-party organizations or individuals who utilize or republish the demographic data are now only 'encouraged' (not required) to include the disclaimer, downgraded from a mandatory requirement in the prior version.

DEFINITION

'Region' was removed from the list of demographic categories included in the definition of 'demographic information' for both gubernatorial and legislative appointments.

'Party affiliation' is now included in the demographic information definition for gubernatorial appointments (Section 1305) but is excluded from the definition for legislative appointments (Section 1306).

SCOPE

A 'to the extent available' qualifier was added to the requirement for the Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the Assembly to publish demographic information on their websites, making the obligation less absolute.

TECHNICAL

Authorship was expanded: Senator Cervantes added as co-introducer, Senator Rubio as principal coauthor, and eight additional Assembly members added as coauthors.

Floor votes · Senate Jun 2, 2025 · Assembly Sep 9, 2025

How they voted

38–0

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 40

Jun 2, 2025

D Democratic30

28 Yea 2

93% Yea

R Republican10

10 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Oct 6, 2025

Signed into law

Approved by the Governor.

legislature

Sep 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2798.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

upper

Sep 9, 2025

Introduced

In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

upper

Sep 9, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3090.) Ordered to the Senate.

lower

Sep 3, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time and amended.

lower

Sep 2, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

lower

Aug 29, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (August 29).

lower

Jul 2, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Jun 26, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 22. Noes 0.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

lower

Jun 9, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on G.O. and JUD.

lower

Jun 2, 2025

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1405.) Ordered to the Assembly.

upper

May 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 1210.) (May 23).

upper

Apr 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0. Page 837.) (April 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Apr 8, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

upper

Mar 26, 2025

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

upper

Mar 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 13. Noes 0. Page 531.) (March 25).

upper

Mar 12, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on G.O. and JUD.

upper

Feb 21, 2025

Introduced

Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 14 co-sponsors