JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND (Form: N-CSR, Received: 07/20/2020 15:37:23)

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-CSR

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED

MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number 811-05979

John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

200 Berkeley Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

Salvatore Schiavone
Treasurer
200 Berkeley Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02116

(Name and address of agent for service)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code: 617-663-4497

Date of fiscal year end:		May 31


Date of reporting period:		May 31, 2020

ITEM 1. REPORTS TO STOCKHOLDERS.

John Hancock

California Tax-Free Income Fund

Annual report 5/31/2020

Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, paper copies of the fund's shareholder reports like this one will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports from the fund or from your financial intermediary. Instead, the reports will be made available on a website, and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a website link to access the report.

If you already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change, and you do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications electronically by calling John Hancock Investment Management at 800-225-5291 (Class A, Class B and Class C shares) or 888-972-8696 (Class I and Class R6 shares) or by contacting your financial intermediary.

You may elect to receive all reports in paper, free of charge, at any time. You can inform John Hancock Investment Management or your financial intermediary that you wish to continue receiving paper copies of your shareholder reports by following the instructions listed above. Your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all funds held with John Hancock Investment Management or your financial intermediary.

A message to shareholders

Dear shareholder,

Global financial markets delivered strong returns during first half of the 12-month period ended May 31, 2020; however, heightened fears over the coronavirus (COVID-19) sent markets tumbling during the latter half of February and early March. Investors reacted by exiting higher-risk assets and moving into cash, leading to a liquidity crunch in the fixed-income markets.

In response to the sell-off, the U.S. Federal Reserve acted quickly, lowering interest rates to near zero and reinstating quantitative easing, as well as announcing its plans to shore up short-term debt. These steps, along with the passage of a $2 trillion federal economic stimulus bill, helped lift the markets during the last two months of the period, while credit spreads rebounded off their highs as liquidity concerns eased.

The continued spread of COVID-19, trade disputes, rising unemployment, and other geopolitical tensions may continue to create uncertainty among businesses and investors. Your financial professional can help position your portfolio so that it's sufficiently diversified to seek to meet your long-term objectives and to withstand the inevitable bouts of market volatility along the way.

On behalf of everyone at John Hancock Investment Management, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome new shareholders and thank existing shareholders for the continued trust you've placed in us.

Sincerely,

Andrew G. Arnott
President and CEO,
John Hancock Investment Management
Head of Wealth and Asset Management,
United States and Europe

This commentary reflects the CEO's views as of this report's period end and are subject to change at any time. Diversification does not guarantee investment returns and does not eliminate risk of loss. All investments entail risks, including the possible loss of principal. For more up-to-date information, you can visit our website at jhinvestments.com.

John Hancock
California Tax-Free Income Fund

Table of contents

2 Your fund at a glance

5 Manager's discussion of fund performance

7 A look at performance

9 Your expenses

11 Fund's investments

18 Financial statements

21 Financial highlights

26 Notes to financial statements

33 Report of independent registered public accounting firm

34 Tax information

35 Statement regarding liquidity risk management

38 Trustees and Officers

42 More information

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 1

Your fund at a glance

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The fund seeks a high level of current income, consistent with preservation of capital, that is exempt from federal and California personal income taxes.

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS AS OF 5/31/2020 (%)

The Bloomberg Barclays California Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index comprising California investment-grade municipal bonds.

It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Index figures do not reflect expenses or sales charges, which would result in lower returns.

The fund's Morningstar category average is a group of funds with similar investment objectives and strategies and is the equal-weighted return of all funds per category. Morningstar places funds in certain categories based on their historical portfolio holdings. Figures from Morningstar, Inc. include reinvested distributions and do not take into account sales charges. Actual load-adjusted performance is lower.

The past performance shown here reflects reinvested distributions and the beneficial effect of any expense reductions, and does not guarantee future results. Performance of the other share classes will vary based on the difference in the fees and expenses of those classes. Shares will fluctuate in value and, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current month-end performance may be lower or higher than the performance cited, and can be found at jhinvestments.com or by calling 800-225-5291. For further information on the fund's objectives, risks, and strategy, see the fund's prospectus.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 2

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS OVER THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS

Municipal bonds performed well despite pandemic

Favorable supply-and-demand dynamics contributed to positive returns for municipal bonds, overcoming extraordinary volatility resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fund underperformed its benchmark

The fund's gain for the period trailed that of its benchmark, the Bloomberg Barclays California Municipal Bond Index.

Education and healthcare bonds detracted

Fund holdings in the education and healthcare sectors, both of which were adversely affected by the pandemic, contributed the most to the fund's underperformance of the benchmark.

QUALITY COMPOSITION AS OF 5/31/2020 (%)

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 3

PORTFOLIO COMPOSITION AS OF 5/31/2020 (%)

SECTOR COMPOSITION AS OF 5/31/2020 (%)

A note about risks

The fund may be subject to various risks as described in the fund's prospectus. A widespread health crisis such as a global pandemic could cause substantial market volatility, exchange trading suspensions and closures, impact the ability to complete redemptions, and affect fund performance. For example, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has resulted in significant disruptions to global business activity. The impact of a health crisis and other epidemics and pandemics that may arise in the future, could affect the global economy in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time. A health crisis may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social, and economic risks. Any such impact could adversely affect the fund's performance, resulting in losses to your investment. For more information, please refer to the "Principal risks" section of the prospectus.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 4

Manager's discussion of fund performance

Can you discuss the municipal bond market's performance during the 12 months ended May 31, 2020?

It was an extraordinary 12-month period. From the beginning of the period into early 2020, municipal bond performance was driven by the same supply-and-demand imbalance that had been in place since early 2018. Demand for the tax benefits of municipal bonds remained strong as investors responded to recently imposed limits on state and local tax deductions, while other tax reform provisions led to a significant decline in municipal bond issuance. This combination, along with three interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) in the latter half of 2019, led to solid gains for municipal bonds.

Market conditions shifted dramatically over the last three months of the period as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global economic activity, resulting in a massive repricing of risk. As the U.S. economy shut down, concerns about a sharp drop-off in state and local tax revenues led to a broad sell-off in the municipal bond market. The Fed responded swiftly, slashing interest rates and announcing new quantitative easing measures, while Congress approved multiple stimulus bills. These efforts, along with the gradual reopening of many states' economies late in the period, helped reverse some of the decline in the municipal market.

Despite the extreme volatility over the last few months, municipal bonds posted positive returns for the period, while California municipal bonds outperformed the broader market.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected municipal credit quality in California?

The credit rating agencies have put some California municipal securities on negative credit watch, but they have generally avoided issuing rating downgrades at this point given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic. There is basically no visibility on state and local tax revenues going forward, though the recent reopenings are a positive sign. In addition, the state of California has maintained prudent fiscal discipline and savvy financial management in recent years, which should help sustain the state's finances during this challenging period.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 5

How did the fund perform?

The fund posted a positive return but trailed its benchmark, the Bloomberg Barclays California Municipal Bond Index. The underperformance occurred entirely during the COVID-related downturn as fund holdings in the education and healthcare sectors detracted the most. The closure of many colleges and universities put downward pressure on higher education bonds, while the cancellation of elective surgeries—a significant source of revenue for many healthcare facilities—weighed on the healthcare sector. On the positive side, the fund's longer duration (a measure of interest-rate sensitivity) added value as the fund benefited more than the index from the overall decline in municipal bond yields.

Did you make any changes to the portfolio in response to the pandemic?

While holding on to our highest-conviction credits, we took advantage of the broad market decline to trade up in quality at attractive yield levels. We believe these adjustments will help the fund weather an uncertain environment, especially in regard to the pandemic and its effects on municipal tax revenues. We expect the favorable supply and demand situation in the municipal market to continue, even as state and local governments increase their borrowing to cover tax revenue shortfalls in the near term.

MANAGED BY

Jeffrey N. Given, CFA, Manulife IM (US)

Dennis DiCicco, Manulife IM (US)

The views expressed in this report are exclusively those of Jeffrey N. Given, CFA and Dennis DiCicco, Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, and are subject to change. They are not meant as investment advice. Please note that the holdings discussed in this report may not have been held by the fund for the entire period. Portfolio composition is subject to review in accordance with the fund's investment strategy and may vary in the future. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 6

A look at performance

TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED MAY 31, 2020

Average annual
total returns (%)
with maximum sales charge Cumulative
total returns (%)
with maximum sales charge SEC
30-day
yield (%)
subsidized SEC
30-day
yield (%)
unsubsidized¹ Tax-
equivalent
subsidized
yield (%)²

1-year 5-year 10-year 5-year 10-year as of
5-31-20 as of
5-31-20 as of
5-31-20

Class A -2.86 2.32 3.92 12.15 46.95 1.98 1.98 3.86

Class B -4.40 2.02 3.71 10.53 44.01 1.34 1.23 2.61

Class C -0.51 2.38 3.56 12.49 41.88 1.33 1.23 2.59

Class I^3,4 1.37 3.25 4.40 17.34 53.82 2.20 2.19 4.29

Class R6^3,4 1.40 3.23 4.39 17.25 53.69 2.24 2.24 4.36

Index 1^† 4.59 3.82 4.59 20.60 56.63 — —

Index 2^† 3.98 3.74 4.14 20.17 49.97 — —

Performance figures assume all distributions have been reinvested. Figures reflect maximum sales charges on Class A shares of 4.0% and the applicable contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC) on Class B and Class C shares. The returns for Class A shares have been adjusted to reflect the reduction in the maximum sales charge from 4.5% to 4.0%, effective 2-3-14. The Class B shares' CDSC declines annually between years 1 to 6 according to the following schedule: 5%, 4%, 3%, 3%, 2%, 1%. No sales charge will be assessed after the sixth year. Class C shares sold within one year of purchase are subject to a 1% CDSC. Sales charges are not applicable to Class I and Class R6 shares.

The expense ratios of the fund, both net (including any fee waivers and/or expense limitations) and gross (excluding any fee waivers and/or expense limitations), are set forth according to the most recent publicly available prospectus for the fund and may differ from those disclosed in the Financial highlights tables in this report. Net expenses reflect contractual expense limitations in effect until September 30, 2021 and are subject to change. Had the contractual fee waivers and expense limitations not been in place, gross expenses would apply. The expense ratios are as follows:

Class A Class B Class C Class I Class R6

Gross (%) 0.86 1.71 1.71 0.71 0.68

Net (%) 0.85 1.60 1.60 0.70 0.67

Please refer to the most recent prospectus and annual or semiannual report for more information on expenses and any expense limitation arrangements for each class.

The returns reflect past results and should not be considered indicative of future performance. The return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Due to market volatility and other factors, the fund's current performance may be higher or lower than the performance shown. For current to the most recent month-end performance data, please call 800-225-5291 or visit the fund's website at jhinvestments.com.

The performance table above and the chart on the next page do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on fund distributions or the redemption of fund shares. The fund's performance results reflect any applicable fee waivers or expense reductions, without which the expenses would increase and results would have been less favorable.

†	Index 1 is the Bloomberg Barclays California Municipal Bond Index; Index 2 is the Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond Index.

See the following page for footnotes.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 7

This chart and table show what happened to a hypothetical $10,000 investment in John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund for the share classes and periods indicated, assuming all distributions were reinvested. For comparison, we've shown the same investment in two separate indexes.

Start date With maximum
sales charge ($) Without
sales charge ($) Index 1 ($) Index 2 ($)

Class B⁵ 5-31-10 14,401 14,401 15,663 14,997

Class C⁵ 5-31-10 14,188 14,188 15,663 14,997

Class I^3,4 5-31-10 15,382 15,382 15,663 14,997

Class R6^3,4 5-31-10 15,369 15,369 15,663 14,997

The values shown in the chart for Class A shares with maximum sales charge have been adjusted to reflect the reduction in the Class A shares' maximum sales charge from 4.5% to 4.0%, which became effective on 2-3-14.

The Bloomberg Barclays California Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of California investment-grade municipal bonds.

The Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index representative of the tax-exempt bond market.

It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Index figures do not reflect expenses or sales charges, which would result in lower returns.

Footnotes related to performance pages

1	Unsubsidized yield reflects what the yield would have been without the effect of reimbursements and waivers.
2	Tax-equivalent yield is based on the maximum federal income tax rate of 40.8% and a state tax rate of 13.3%.
3	Class I shares and Class R6 shares were first offered on 2-13-17 and 8-30-17, respectively. Returns prior to these dates are those of Class A shares that have not been adjusted for class-specific expenses; otherwise, returns would vary.
4	For certain type of investors, as described in the fund's prospectus.
5	The contingent deferred sales charge is not applicable.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 8

Your expenses

These examples are intended to help you understand your ongoing operating expenses of investing in the fund so you can compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.

Understanding fund expenses

As a shareholder of the fund, you incur two types of costs:

■Transaction costs, which include sales charges (loads) on purchases or redemptions (varies by share class), minimum account fee charge, etc.

■Ongoing operating expenses, including management fees, distribution and service fees (if applicable), and other fund expenses.

We are presenting only your ongoing operating expenses here.

Actual expenses/actual returns

The first line of each share class in the table on the following page is intended to provide information about the fund’s actual ongoing operating expenses, and is based on the fund’s actual return. It assumes an account value of $1,000.00 on December 1, 2019, with the same investment held until May 31, 2020.

Together with the value of your account, you may use this information to estimate the operating expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value at May 31, 2020, by $1,000.00, then multiply it by the “expenses paid” for your share class from the table. For example, for an account value of $8,600.00, the operating expenses should be calculated as follows:

Hypothetical example for comparison purposes

The second line of each share class in the table on the following page allows you to compare the fund’s ongoing operating expenses with those of any other fund. It provides an example of the fund’s hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on each class’s actual expense ratio and an assumed 5% annualized return before expenses (which is not the class’s actual return). It assumes an account value of $1,000.00 on December 1, 2019, with the same investment held until May 31, 2020. Look in any other fund shareholder report to find its hypothetical example and you will be able to compare these expenses. Please remember that these hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND

Remember, these examples do not include any transaction costs, therefore, these examples will not help you to determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. If transaction costs were included, your expenses would have been higher. See the prospectus for details regarding transaction costs.

SHAREHOLDER EXPENSE EXAMPLE CHART

		Account value on 12-1-2019	Ending value on 5-31-2020	Expenses paid during period ended 5-31-2020¹	Annualized expense ratio
Class A	Actual expenses/actual returns	$1,000.00	$ 988.30	$4.23	0.85%
	Hypothetical example	1,000.00	1,020.80	4.29	0.85%
Class B	Actual expenses/actual returns	1,000.00	983.70	7.93	1.60%
	Hypothetical example	1,000.00	1,017.00	8.07	1.60%
Class C	Actual expenses/actual returns	1,000.00	984.60	7.94	1.60%
	Hypothetical example	1,000.00	1,017.00	8.07	1.60%
Class I	Actual expenses/actual returns	1,000.00	989.10	3.48	0.70%
	Hypothetical example	1,000.00	1,021.50	3.54	0.70%
Class R6	Actual expenses/actual returns	1,000.00	988.30	3.33	0.67%
	Hypothetical example	1,000.00	1,021.70	3.39	0.67%

¹	Expenses are equal to the annualized expense ratio, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 183/366 (to reflect the one-half year period).

JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND | ANNUAL REPORT

Fund’ s investments

AS OF 5-31-20

	Rate (%)	Maturity date	Par value^	Value
Municipal bonds 98.4%				$207,798,624
(Cost $197,376,428)
California 97.0%				204,869,383
ABAG Finance Authority for Nonprofit Corps. Sharp HealthCare, Series A	5.000	08-01-43	2,000,000	2,194,339
Burbank Unified School District Convertible Capital Appreciation Election 2013, GO (0.000% to 8-1-23, then 4.500% thereafter)	0.000	08-01-37	1,770,000	1,874,412
California Community Housing Agency Annadel Apartments, Series A (A)	5.000	04-01-49	1,000,000	1,037,520
California Community Housing Agency Serenity at Larkspur, Series A (A)	5.000	02-01-50	1,000,000	1,040,370
California Community Housing Agency Verdant at Green Valley Project, Series A (A)	5.000	08-01-49	1,000,000	1,038,670
California County Tobacco Securitization Agency Fresno County Funding Corp.	6.000	06-01-35	1,765,000	1,765,618
California County Tobacco Securitization Agency Kern County Tobacco Funding Corp.	5.000	06-01-40	1,500,000	1,535,415
California Educational Facilities Authority Pepperdine University	5.000	10-01-49	2,550,000	3,013,947
California Educational Facilities Authority University of Redlands, Series A	5.000	10-01-35	1,000,000	1,095,680
California Enterprise Development Authority Academy for Academic Excellence Project, Series A (A)	5.000	07-01-40	430,000	430,237
California Enterprise Development Authority Academy for Academic Excellence Project, Series A (A)	5.000	07-01-50	350,000	341,478
California Enterprise Development Authority Academy for Academic Excellence Project, Series A (A)	5.000	07-01-55	240,000	230,789
California Health Facilities Financing Authority Children's Hospital, Series A	5.000	08-15-47	1,000,000	1,104,810
California Health Facilities Financing Authority City of Hope Obligated Group	4.000	11-15-45	1,000,000	1,100,570
California Health Facilities Financing Authority El Camino Hospital	5.000	02-01-42	1,000,000	1,163,770
California Health Facilities Financing Authority El Camino Hospital	5.000	02-01-47	1,425,000	1,647,728
California Health Facilities Financing Authority Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Series B	5.000	08-15-55	1,000,000	1,133,840
California Health Facilities Financing Authority Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital, Series A	5.000	08-15-43	1,000,000	1,108,560
California Health Facilities Financing Authority Standford Health Care, Series A	4.000	08-15-50	1,000,000	1,134,550
California Health Facilities Financing Authority Sutter Health, Series A	5.000	08-15-43	1,000,000	1,132,910

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND

Fund’ s investments

	Rate (%)	Maturity date	Par value^	Value
California (continued)
California Housing Finance Series A	4.250	01-15-35	989,524	$1,023,435
California Municipal Finance Authority Channing House Project, Series A (B)	4.000	05-15-40	1,500,000	1,650,930
California Municipal Finance Authority Collegiate Housing Foundation Davis-I, LLC, West Village Student Housing Project (B)	4.000	05-15-48	1,365,000	1,379,947
California Municipal Finance Authority HumanGood Obligated Group, Series A	5.000	10-01-44	1,000,000	1,026,110
California Municipal Finance Authority LINXS APM Project, AMT	5.000	12-31-43	1,000,000	1,084,270
California Municipal Finance Authority Paradise Valley Estates Project, Series A (B)	5.000	01-01-49	1,500,000	1,759,470
California Municipal Finance Authority Retirement Housing Foundation Obligation Group, Series A	5.000	11-15-31	1,500,000	1,677,705
California Municipal Finance Authority William Jessup University	5.000	08-01-39	1,500,000	1,511,970
California Municipal Finance Authority Wineville School Project, Series A (B)	5.000	10-01-42	2,000,000	2,292,720
California Pollution Control Financing Authority San Diego County Water Authority Desalination Project Pipeline (A)	5.000	07-01-39	1,000,000	1,102,530
California Pollution Control Financing Authority San Diego County Water Authority Desalination Project Pipeline (A)	5.000	11-21-45	1,500,000	1,637,595
California Pollution Control Financing Authority Waste Management, Inc., Series A1, AMT	3.375	07-01-25	1,000,000	1,073,110
California Pollution Control Financing Authority Waste Management, Inc., Series A3, AMT	4.300	07-01-40	4,675,000	5,225,481
California Public Finance Authority Excelsior Charter Schools Project, Series A (A)	5.000	06-15-50	500,000	494,620
California Public Finance Authority Excelsior Charter Schools Project, Series A (A)	5.000	06-15-55	500,000	484,335
California Public Finance Authority Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital	5.000	10-15-47	2,000,000	2,157,760
California Public Finance Authority Trinity Classical Academy, Series A (A)	5.000	07-01-44	110,000	107,733
California Public Finance Authority Trinity Classical Academy, Series A (A)	5.000	07-01-54	325,000	311,708
California School Finance Authority Aspire Public Schools (A)	5.000	08-01-46	3,275,000	3,398,369
California School Finance Authority Granada Hills Charter High School Obligated Group (A)	5.000	07-01-43	1,000,000	1,046,780
California School Finance Authority Kipp LA Project, Series A (A)	5.000	07-01-47	1,500,000	1,605,270
California State Public Works Board Various Capital Projects, Series A	5.000	04-01-37	1,000,000	1,070,340

JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND | ANNUAL REPORT

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

	Rate (%)	Maturity date	Par value^	Value
California (continued)
California State Public Works Board Various Correctional Facilities, Series A	5.000	09-01-39	2,500,000	$2,845,300
California State University College and University Revenue, Series A	5.000	11-01-44	2,000,000	2,314,840
California Statewide Communities Development Authority Adventist Health System, Series A	5.000	03-01-48	1,885,000	2,184,960
California Statewide Communities Development Authority CHF Irvine LLC	5.000	05-15-40	2,735,000	2,874,102
California Statewide Communities Development Authority Front Porch Communities and Services, Series A	5.000	04-01-47	500,000	564,135
California Statewide Communities Development Authority Infrastructure Program Revenue, Series B	5.000	09-02-44	1,000,000	1,042,650
California Statewide Communities Development Authority Redlands Community Hospital	5.000	10-01-46	2,000,000	2,187,800
California Statewide Communities Development Authority Redwoods Project (B)	5.375	11-15-44	1,500,000	1,690,620
California Statewide Financing Authority Tobacco Settlement, Series A	6.000	05-01-37	2,500,000	2,507,225
California Statewide Financing Authority Tobacco Settlement, Series B	6.000	05-01-37	3,000,000	3,008,670
City of Belmont Library Project, Series A (B)	5.750	08-01-24	1,000,000	1,122,950
City of Irvine Community Facilities District, No. 2013-3 Great Park	5.000	09-01-49	2,000,000	2,145,640
City of La Verne Brethren Hillcrest Homes	5.000	05-15-36	750,000	746,715
City of Long Beach Alamitos Bay Marina Project	5.000	05-15-45	1,000,000	1,007,550
City of Long Beach Community Facilities District 6-Pike Project	6.250	10-01-26	2,035,000	2,038,622
City of Long Beach Harbor Revenue, Series A	5.000	05-15-49	2,000,000	2,460,380
City of Los Angeles Department of Airports Los Angeles International Airport, Series D, AMT	4.000	05-15-44	2,000,000	2,126,440
City of San Clemente Community Facilities District, No. 2006-1	5.000	09-01-46	1,980,000	2,139,806
City of San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Water Revenue Green Bonds, Series A	5.000	11-01-45	1,500,000	1,768,545
City of San Mateo Community Facilities District, No. 2008-1 Bay Meadows	5.500	09-01-44	2,000,000	2,101,100

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND

	Rate (%)	Maturity date	Par value^	Value
California (continued)
College of the Sequoias Tulare Area Improvement District No. 3 Election of 2008, Series B, GO (B)(C)	2.645	08-01-40	2,890,000	$1,693,916
Foothill-Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency Highway Revenue Tolls, Series A	5.750	01-15-46	5,000,000	5,521,000
Golden State Tobacco Securitization Corp. Series A	5.000	06-01-40	5,000,000	5,733,050
Golden State Tobacco Securitization Corp. Series A	5.000	06-01-45	3,250,000	3,700,353
Golden State Tobacco Securitization Corp. Series A-1	3.500	06-01-36	2,000,000	2,004,020
Golden State Tobacco Securitization Corp. Series A-1	5.000	06-01-47	1,610,000	1,610,692
Inland Valley Development Agency Series A	5.000	09-01-44	2,500,000	2,714,700
Lancaster School District School Improvements (B)(C)	0.404	04-01-22	1,380,000	1,369,691
Los Angeles Community Facilities District Cascades Business Park	6.400	09-01-22	240,000	241,421
Los Angeles County Public Works Financing Authority Series D	5.000	12-01-45	3,000,000	3,503,220
Los Angeles County Regional Financing Authority Montecedro, Inc. Project, Series A (B)	5.000	11-15-44	1,355,000	1,490,473
Los Angeles Department of Water & Power Power Systems, Series D	5.000	07-01-44	1,000,000	1,151,050
Los Angeles Unified School District Series RYQ, GO	4.000	07-01-44	1,500,000	1,750,905
Marin Healthcare District Election of 2013, GO	4.000	08-01-45	1,000,000	1,096,650
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Series A	5.000	10-01-49	1,500,000	1,932,165
Morgan Hill Redevelopment Successor Agency Series A	5.000	09-01-33	1,750,000	1,981,455
M-S-R Energy Authority Natural Gas Revenue, Series B	6.500	11-01-39	1,500,000	2,243,925
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport SJC Series A, AMT	5.000	03-01-47	3,000,000	3,380,640
Oakland Unified School District/Alameda County Series A, GO	5.000	08-01-40	1,500,000	1,727,895
Orange County Community Facilities District 2017-1 Esencia Village, Series A	5.000	08-15-47	2,000,000	2,230,420
Pacifica School District Series C, GO (B)(C)	1.118	08-01-26	1,000,000	932,770
Port of Los Angeles Series A, AMT	5.000	08-01-44	2,000,000	2,248,080
River Islands Public Financing Authority Community Facilities District, No. 2003-1	5.500	09-01-45	2,000,000	2,124,840

JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND | ANNUAL REPORT

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

	Rate (%)	Maturity date	Par value^	Value
California (continued)
River Islands Public Financing Authority Community Facilities District, No. 2003-1, Series A	5.000	09-01-48	1,250,000	$1,365,463
Riverside County Transportation Commission Senior Lien, Series A	5.750	06-01-48	1,000,000	1,068,490
Sacramento Municipal Utility District Electric Revenue, Series H	4.000	08-15-45	1,500,000	1,778,700
San Diego Public Facilities Financing Authority Capital Improvement Projects, Series A	5.000	10-15-44	1,000,000	1,182,780
San Diego Public Facilities Financing Authority Series A	3.000	08-01-49	1,500,000	1,572,150
San Diego Public Facilities Financing Authority Series A	4.000	08-01-45	500,000	588,075
San Diego Unified School District Series I, GO (C)	3.511	07-01-39	1,250,000	640,813
San Francisco City & County Airport Commission Special Facilities Lease, SFO Fuel Company LLC, Series A, AMT	5.000	01-01-47	2,000,000	2,313,200
San Francisco City & County Airport Commission (California) Series E, AMT	5.000	05-01-50	1,500,000	1,735,095
San Francisco City & County Redevelopment Successor Agency Department of General Services Lease, No. 6, Mission Bay South, Series A	5.150	08-01-35	1,250,000	1,255,100
San Francisco City & County Redevelopment Successor Agency Mission Bay Project, Series A	5.000	08-01-43	1,000,000	1,092,260
San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency Highway Revenue Tolls, Escrowed to Maturity (C)	0.402	01-01-22	4,500,000	4,470,971
San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency Highway Revenue Tolls, Series A	5.000	01-15-44	2,500,000	2,675,100
San Mateo Joint Powers Financing Authority Capital Projects Program (B)	5.000	07-01-21	1,815,000	1,866,619
Santa Ana Financing Authority Police Administration & Holding Facility, Series A (B)	6.250	07-01-24	5,000,000	5,630,650
Santa Ana Financing Authority Prerefunded, Police Administration & Holding Facility, Series A (B)	6.250	07-01-24	5,000,000	5,598,450
Santa Margarita Water District Community Facilities District, No. 2013-1	5.625	09-01-43	745,000	797,701
Santee School District Election of 2006, Series E, GO (B)(C)	2.973	05-01-51	1,530,000	610,394
South Orange County Public Financing Authority Series A	5.000	08-15-33	1,000,000	1,061,200
South Orange County Public Financing Authority Series A	5.000	08-15-34	450,000	476,942
Southern California Public Power Authority Apex Power Project, Series A	5.000	07-01-38	1,000,000	1,155,380

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND

	Rate (%)	Maturity date	Par value^	Value
California (continued)
Southern California Public Power Authority Natural Gas Project Revenue, Series A	5.250	11-01-26	2,000,000	$2,394,420
State of California Construction Bonds, GO	5.000	10-01-49	1,000,000	1,270,290
State of California Various Purpose, GO	3.000	03-01-50	1,500,000	1,578,915
State of California Various Purpose, GO	5.000	04-01-32	2,000,000	2,805,000
State of California Various Purpose-Bid Group B, GO	5.000	08-01-36	1,000,000	1,274,640
Sweetwater Union High School District Ad Valorem Property Tax, GO	4.000	08-01-42	500,000	541,675
Turlock Irrigation District Electricity, Power & Light Revenues (D)	5.000	01-01-41	1,000,000	1,259,890
University of California Series AZ	5.000	05-15-48	1,500,000	1,847,685
West Covina Community Development Commission Successor Agency Fashion Plaza	6.000	09-01-22	2,215,000	2,369,673
William S. Hart Union High School District Community Facilities District, No. 2015-1	5.000	09-01-47	1,000,000	1,082,880
Puerto Rico 1.4%				2,929,241
Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp. Series A-1	4.750	07-01-53	1,500,000	1,459,530
Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp. Series A-1 (C)	5.247	07-01-46	2,500,000	645,950
Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp. Series A-2	4.784	07-01-58	850,000	823,761

	Par value^	Value
Short-term investments 1.2%		$2,478,000
(Cost $2,478,000)
Repurchase agreement 1.2%		$2,478,000
Barclays Tri-Party Repurchase Agreement dated 5-29-20 at 0.050% to be repurchased at $2,298,010 on 6-1-20, collateralized by $2,000,700 U.S. Treasury Notes, 2.750% due 2-15-28 (valued at $2,344,048)	2,298,000	2,298,000
Repurchase Agreement with State Street Corp. dated 5-29-20 at 0.000% to be repurchased at $180,000 on 6-1-20, collateralized by $175,000 U.S. Treasury Notes, 2.000% due 11-30-22 (valued at $184,553)	180,000	180,000

Total investments (Cost $199,854,428) 99.6%		$210,276,624
Other assets and liabilities, net 0.4%		867,679
Total net assets 100.0%		$211,144,303

JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND | ANNUAL REPORT

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The percentage shown for each investment category is the total value of the category as a percentage of the net assets of the fund.
^All par values are denominated in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated.
Security Abbreviations and Legend
AMT	Interest earned from these securities may be considered a tax preference item for purpose of the Federal Alternative Minimum Tax.
GO	General Obligation
(A)	These securities are exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933. Such securities may be resold, normally to qualified institutional buyers, in transactions exempt from registration.
(B)	Bond is insured by one or more of the companies listed in the insurance coverage table below.
(C)	Zero coupon bonds are issued at a discount from their principal amount in lieu of paying interest periodically. Rate shown is the effective yield at period end.
(D)	Security purchased or sold on a when-issued or delayed delivery basis.

At 5-31-20, the aggregate cost of investments for federal income tax purposes was $198,204,001. Net unrealized appreciation aggregated to $12,072,623, of which $13,199,007 related to gross unrealized appreciation and $1,126,384 related to gross unrealized depreciation.

Insurance coverage	As a % of total investments
National Public Finance Guarantee Corp.	6.7
California Mortgage Insurance	3.1
Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp.	1.7
Build America Mutual Assurance Company	1.7
Ambac Financial Group, Inc.	0.5
TOTAL	13.7

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND

Financial statements

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES 5-31-20

Assets
Unaffiliated investments, at value (Cost $199,854,428)	$210,276,624
Cash	821
Interest receivable	2,447,913
Receivable for fund shares sold	51,386
Other assets	9,420
Total assets	212,786,164
Liabilities
Distributions payable	59,428
Payable for delayed delivery securities purchased	1,211,320
Payable for fund shares repurchased	184,347
Payable to affiliates
Investment management fees	95,980
Accounting and legal services fees	13,457
Transfer agent fees	7,204
Distribution and service fees	21,621
Trustees' fees	182
Other liabilities and accrued expenses	48,322
Total liabilities	1,641,861
Net assets	$211,144,303
Net assets consist of
Paid-in capital	$200,218,452
Total distributable earnings (loss)	10,925,851
Net assets	$211,144,303

Net asset value per share
Based on net asset value and shares outstanding - the fund has an unlimited number of shares authorized with no par value
Class A ($173,206,180 ÷ 16,255,522 shares)¹	$10.66
Class B ($285,028 ÷ 26,731 shares)¹	$10.66
Class C ($15,503,736 ÷ 1,455,005 shares)¹	$10.66
Class I ($15,319,637 ÷ 1,437,040 shares)	$10.66
Class R6 ($6,829,722 ÷ 640,465 shares)	$10.66
Maximum offering price per share
Class A (net asset value per share ÷ 96%)²	$11.10

¹	Redemption price per share is equal to net asset value less any applicable contingent deferred sales charge.
²	On single retail sales of less than $100,000. On sales of $100,000 or more and on group sales the offering price is reduced.

JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund | ANNUAL REPORT

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS For the year ended 5-31-20

Investment income
Interest	$8,484,573
Expenses
Investment management fees	1,178,990
Distribution and service fees	447,915
Accounting and legal services fees	36,194
Transfer agent fees	88,886
Trustees' fees	3,743
Custodian fees	52,319
State registration fees	14,277
Printing and postage	47,425
Professional fees	61,220
Other	17,261
Total expenses	1,948,230
Less expense reductions	(33,306)
Net expenses	1,914,924
Net investment income	6,569,649
Realized and unrealized gain (loss)
Net realized gain (loss) on
Unaffiliated investments	(845,679)
	(845,679)
Change in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of
Unaffiliated investments	(3,587,750)
	(3,587,750)
Net realized and unrealized loss	(4,433,429)
Increase in net assets from operations	$2,136,220

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund

STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS

	Year ended 5-31-20	Year ended 5-31-19
Increase (decrease) in net assets
From operations
Net investment income	$6,569,649	$6,875,934
Net realized gain (loss)	(845,679)	1,195,778
Change in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation)	(3,587,750)	2,813,074
Increase in net assets resulting from operations	2,136,220	10,884,786
Distributions to shareholders
From earnings
Class A	(6,845,190)	(5,986,856)
Class B	(11,003)	(13,485)
Class C	(537,072)	(524,922)
Class I	(483,472)	(383,200)
Class R6	(204,555)	(95,093)
Total distributions	(8,081,292)	(7,003,556)
From fund share transactions	7,406,442	(7,928,934)
Total increase (decrease)	1,461,370	(4,047,704)
Net assets
Beginning of year	209,682,933	213,730,637
End of year	$211,144,303	$209,682,933

JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund | ANNUAL REPORT

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Financial highlights

CLASS A SHARES Period ended	5-31-20	5-31-19	5-31-18	5-31-17	5-31-16
Per share operating performance
Net asset value, beginning of period	$10.94	$10.73	$10.90	$11.22	$10.91
Net investment income¹	0.34	0.36	0.36	0.37	0.39
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments	(0.20)	0.22	(0.16)	(0.30)	0.32
Total from investment operations	0.14	0.58	0.20	0.07	0.71
Less distributions
From net investment income	(0.34)	(0.36)	(0.37)	(0.39)	(0.40)
From net realized gain	(0.08)	(0.01)	—	—	—
Total distributions	(0.42)	(0.37)	(0.37)	(0.39)	(0.40)
Net asset value, end of period	$10.66	$10.94	$10.73	$10.90	$11.22
Total return (%)^2,3	1.22	5.57	1.85	0.63	6.63
Ratios and supplemental data
Net assets, end of period (in millions)	$173	$176	$181	$213	$254
Ratios (as a percentage of average net assets):
Expenses before reductions	0.85	0.86	0.85	0.83	0.84
Expenses including reductions	0.84	0.85	0.84	0.83	0.83
Net investment income	3.12	3.42	3.37	3.35	3.53
Portfolio turnover (%)	22	22	9	17	20

¹	Based on average daily shares outstanding.
²	Total returns would have been lower had certain expenses not been reduced during the applicable periods.
³	Does not reflect the effect of sales charges, if any.

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund

CLASS B SHARES Period ended	5-31-20	5-31-19	5-31-18	5-31-17	5-31-16
Per share operating performance
Net asset value, beginning of period	$10.94	$10.73	$10.91	$11.23	$10.91
Net investment income¹	0.26	0.28	0.28	0.28	0.31
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments	(0.20)	0.22	(0.17)	(0.30)	0.33
Total from investment operations	0.06	0.50	0.11	(0.02)	0.64
Less distributions
From net investment income	(0.26)	(0.28)	(0.29)	(0.30)	(0.32)
From net realized gain	(0.08)	(0.01)	—	—	—
Total distributions	(0.34)	(0.29)	(0.29)	(0.30)	(0.32)
Net asset value, end of period	$10.66	$10.94	$10.73	$10.91	$11.23
Total return (%)^2,3	0.47	4.78	1.00	(0.12)	5.93
Ratios and supplemental data
Net assets, end of period (in millions)	$— ⁴	$— ⁴	$1	$1	$2
Ratios (as a percentage of average net assets):
Expenses before reductions	1.70	1.71	1.70	1.69	1.69
Expenses including reductions	1.59	1.60	1.59	1.58	1.58
Net investment income	2.36	2.67	2.61	2.59	2.78
Portfolio turnover (%)	22	22	9	17	20

¹	Based on average daily shares outstanding.
²	Total returns would have been lower had certain expenses not been reduced during the applicable periods.
³	Does not reflect the effect of sales charges, if any.
⁴	Less than $500,000.

JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund | ANNUAL REPORT

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CLASS C SHARES Period ended	5-31-20	5-31-19	5-31-18	5-31-17	5-31-16
Per share operating performance
Net asset value, beginning of period	$10.94	$10.73	$10.90	$11.22	$10.91
Net investment income¹	0.26	0.28	0.28	0.29	0.31
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments	(0.20)	0.22	(0.16)	(0.31)	0.32
Total from investment operations	0.06	0.50	0.12	(0.02)	0.63
Less distributions
From net investment income	(0.26)	(0.28)	(0.29)	(0.30)	(0.32)
From net realized gain	(0.08)	(0.01)	—	—	—
Total distributions	(0.34)	(0.29)	(0.29)	(0.30)	(0.32)
Net asset value, end of period	$10.66	$10.94	$10.73	$10.90	$11.22
Total return (%)^2,3	0.47	4.78	1.09	(0.13)	5.83
Ratios and supplemental data
Net assets, end of period (in millions)	$16	$19	$21	$30	$36
Ratios (as a percentage of average net assets):
Expenses before reductions	1.70	1.71	1.70	1.68	1.69
Expenses including reductions	1.59	1.60	1.59	1.58	1.58
Net investment income	2.37	2.67	2.62	2.60	2.78
Portfolio turnover (%)	22	22	9	17	20

¹	Based on average daily shares outstanding.
²	Total returns would have been lower had certain expenses not been reduced during the applicable periods.
³	Does not reflect the effect of sales charges, if any.

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund

CLASS I SHARES Period ended	5-31-20	5-31-19	5-31-18	5-31-17 ¹
Per share operating performance
Net asset value, beginning of period	$10.94	$10.73	$10.91	$10.70
Net investment income²	0.35	0.38	0.38	0.12
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments	(0.20)	0.22	(0.17)	0.21
Total from investment operations	0.15	0.60	0.21	0.33
Less distributions
From net investment income	(0.35)	(0.38)	(0.39)	(0.12)
From net realized gain	(0.08)	(0.01)	—	—
Total distributions	(0.43)	(0.39)	(0.39)	(0.12)
Net asset value, end of period	$10.66	$10.94	$10.73	$10.91
Total return (%)³	1.37	5.72	1.91	3.09 ⁴
Ratios and supplemental data
Net assets, end of period (in millions)	$15	$10	$10	$5
Ratios (as a percentage of average net assets):
Expenses before reductions	0.70	0.71	0.70	0.67 ⁵
Expenses including reductions	0.69	0.70	0.69	0.66 ⁵
Net investment income	3.25	3.58	3.53	3.76 ⁵
Portfolio turnover (%)	22	22	9	17 ⁶

¹	The inception date for Class I shares is 2-13-17.
²	Based on average daily shares outstanding.
³	Total returns would have been lower had certain expenses not been reduced during the applicable periods.
⁴	Not annualized.
⁵	Annualized.
⁶	Portfolio turnover is shown for the period from 6-1-16 to 5-31-17.

JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund | ANNUAL REPORT

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CLASS R6 SHARES Period ended	5-31-20	5-31-19	5-31-18 ¹
Per share operating performance
Net asset value, beginning of period	$10.94	$10.73	$10.95
Net investment income²	0.36	0.38	0.29
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments	(0.20)	0.22	(0.22)
Total from investment operations	0.16	0.60	0.07
Less distributions
From net investment income	(0.36)	(0.38)	(0.29)
From net realized gain	(0.08)	(0.01)	—
Total distributions	(0.44)	(0.39)	(0.29)
Net asset value, end of period	$10.66	$10.94	$10.73
Total return (%)³	1.40	5.76	0.66 ⁴
Ratios and supplemental data
Net assets, end of period (in millions)	$7	$4	$2
Ratios (as a percentage of average net assets):
Expenses before reductions	0.67	0.68	0.68 ⁵
Expenses including reductions	0.66	0.67	0.67 ⁵
Net investment income	3.28	3.58	3.56 ⁵
Portfolio turnover (%)	22	22	9 ⁶

¹	The inception date for Class R6 shares is 8-30-17.
²	Based on average daily shares outstanding.
³	Total returns would have been lower had certain expenses not been reduced during the applicable periods.
⁴	Not annualized.
⁵	Annualized.
⁶	Portfolio turnover is shown for the period from 6-1-17 to 5-31-18.

SEE NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund

Notes to financial statements

Note 1—Organization

John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund (the fund) is a series of John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund (the Trust), an open-end management investment company organized as a Massachusetts business trust and registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act). The investment objective of the fund is to seek a high level of current income, consistent with preservation of capital, that is exempt from federal and California personal income taxes.

The fund may offer multiple classes of shares. The shares currently outstanding are detailed in the Statement of assets and liabilities. Class A and Class C shares are offered to all investors. Class B shares are closed to new investors. Class I shares are offered to institutions and certain investors. Class R6 shares are only available to certain retirement plans, institutions and other investors. Class B shares convert to Class A shares eight years after purchase. Class C shares convert to Class A shares ten years after purchase (certain exclusions may apply). Shareholders of each class have exclusive voting rights to matters that affect that class. The distribution and service fees, if any, and transfer agent fees for each class may differ.

Note 2—Significant accounting policies

The financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (US GAAP), which require management to make certain estimates and assumptions as of the date of the financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates and those differences could be significant. The fund qualifies as an investment company under Topic 946 of Accounting Standards Codification of US GAAP.

Events or transactions occurring after the end of the fiscal period through the date that the financial statements were issued have been evaluated in the preparation of the financial statements. The following summarizes the significant accounting policies of the fund:

Security valuation. Investments are stated at value as of the scheduled close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), normally at 4:00 P.M., Eastern Time. In case of emergency or other disruption resulting in the NYSE not opening for trading or the NYSE closing at a time other than the regularly scheduled close, the net asset value (NAV) may be determined as of the regularly scheduled close of the NYSE pursuant to the fund's Valuation Policies and Procedures.

In order to value the securities, the fund uses the following valuation techniques: Debt obligations are typically valued based on evaluated prices provided by an independent pricing vendor. Independent pricing vendors utilize matrix pricing, which takes into account factors such as institutional-size trading in similar groups of securities, yield, quality, coupon rate, maturity, type of issue, trading characteristics and other market data, as well as broker supplied prices.

Other portfolio securities and assets, for which reliable market quotations are not readily available, are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by the fund's Pricing Committee following procedures established by the Board of Trustees. The frequency with which these fair valuation procedures are used cannot be predicted and fair value of securities may differ significantly from the value that would have been used had a ready market for such securities existed.

The fund uses a three-tier hierarchy to prioritize the pricing assumptions, referred to as inputs, used in valuation techniques to measure fair value. Level 1 includes securities valued using quoted prices in active markets for identical securities, including registered investment companies. Level 2 includes securities valued using other significant observable inputs. Observable inputs may include quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds and credit risk. Prices for securities valued using these inputs are received from independent pricing vendors and brokers and are based on an evaluation of the inputs described. Level 3 includes securities valued using significant unobservable inputs when market prices are not readily available or reliable, including the fund's own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments. Factors used in determining value may include market or issuer specific events or trends, changes in interest rates and credit quality. The inputs or

JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund | ANNUAL REPORT

methodology used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risks associated with investing in those securities. Changes in valuation techniques and related inputs may result in transfers into or out of an assigned level within the disclosure hierarchy.

As of May 31, 2020, all investments are categorized as Level 2 under the hierarchy described above.

Repurchase agreements. The fund may enter into repurchase agreements. When the fund enters into a repurchase agreement, it receives collateral that is held in a segregated account by the fund's custodian, or for tri-party repurchase agreements, collateral is held at a third-party custodian bank in a segregated account for the benefit of the fund. The collateral amount is marked-to-market and monitored on a daily basis to ensure that the collateral held is in an amount not less than the principal amount of the repurchase agreement plus any accrued interest. Collateral received by the fund for repurchase agreements is disclosed in the Fund's investments as part of the caption related to the repurchase agreement.

Repurchase agreements are typically governed by the terms and conditions of the Master Repurchase Agreement and/or Global Master Repurchase Agreement (collectively, MRA). Upon an event of default, the non-defaulting party may close out all transactions traded under the MRA and net amounts owed. Absent an event of default, assets and liabilities resulting from repurchase agreements are not offset in the Statement of assets and liabilities. In the event of a default by the counterparty, realization of the collateral proceeds could be delayed, during which time the collateral value may decline or the counterparty may have insufficient assets to pay claims resulting from close-out of the transactions.

When-issued/delayed-delivery securities. The fund may purchase or sell debt securities on a when-issued or delayed-delivery basis, or in a “To Be Announced” (TBA) or “forward commitment” transaction, with delivery or payment to occur at a later date beyond the normal settlement period. TBA securities resulting from these transactions are included in the portfolio or in a schedule to the portfolio (Sale Commitments Outstanding). At the time a fund enters into a commitment to purchase or sell a security, the transaction is recorded and the value of the security is reflected in its NAV. The price of such security and the date that the security will be delivered and paid for are fixed at the time the transaction is negotiated. The value of the security may vary with market fluctuations. No interest accrues until settlement takes place. At the time that the fund enters into this type of transaction, the fund is required to have sufficient cash and/or liquid securities to cover its commitments.

Certain risks may arise upon entering into when-issued or delayed-delivery securities transactions, including the potential inability of counterparties to meet the terms of their contracts, and the issuer’s failure to issue the securities due to political, economic or other factors. Additionally, losses may arise due to declines in the value of the securities purchased or increase in the value of securities sold prior to settlement date.

Security transactions and related investment income. Investment security transactions are accounted for on a trade date plus one basis for daily NAV calculations. However, for financial reporting purposes, investment transactions are reported on trade date. Interest income is accrued as earned. Interest income includes coupon interest and amortization/accretion of premiums/discounts on debt securities. Debt obligations may be placed in a non-accrual status and related interest income may be reduced by stopping current accruals and writing off interest receivable when the collection of all or a portion of interest has become doubtful. Gains and losses on securities sold are determined on the basis of identified cost and may include proceeds from litigation.

Overdraft. The fund may have the ability to borrow from banks for temporary or emergency purposes, including meeting redemption requests that otherwise might require the untimely sale of securities. Pursuant to the fund's custodian agreement, the custodian may loan money to the fund to make properly authorized payments. The fund is obligated to repay the custodian for any overdraft, including any related costs or expenses. The custodian may have a lien, security interest or security entitlement in any fund property that is not otherwise segregated or pledged, to the extent of any overdraft, and to the maximum extent permitted by law.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund

Line of credit. The fund and other affiliated funds have entered into a syndicated line of credit agreement with Citibank, N.A. as the administrative agent that enables them to participate in a $750 million unsecured committed line of credit. Excluding commitments designated for a certain fund and subject to the needs of all other affiliated funds, the fund can borrow up to an aggregate commitment amount of $500 million, subject to asset coverage and other limitations as specified in the agreement. A commitment fee payable at the end of each calendar quarter, based on the average daily unused portion of the line of credit, is charged to each participating fund based on a combination of fixed and asset based allocations and is reflected in Other expenses on the Statement of operations. For the year ended May 31, 2020, the fund had no borrowings under the line of credit. Commitment fees for the year ended May 31, 2020 were $2,916.

Expenses. Within the John Hancock group of funds complex, expenses that are directly attributable to an individual fund are allocated to such fund. Expenses that are not readily attributable to a specific fund are allocated among all funds in an equitable manner, taking into consideration, among other things, the nature and type of expense and the fund’s relative net assets. Expense estimates are accrued in the period to which they relate and adjustments are made when actual amounts are known.

Class allocations. Income, common expenses and realized and unrealized gains (losses) are determined at the fund level and allocated daily to each class of shares based on the net assets of the class. Class-specific expenses, such as distribution and service fees, if any, and transfer agent fees, for all classes, are charged daily at the class level based on the net assets of each class and the specific expense rates applicable to each class.

Change in accounting principle. Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2017-08, Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities, shortens the premium amortization period for purchased non contingently callable debt securities and is effective for public companies with fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. Adoption of the ASU did not have a material impact to the fund.

Federal income taxes. The fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by complying with the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and will not be subject to federal income tax on taxable income that is distributed to shareholders. Therefore, no federal income tax provision is required.

For federal income tax purposes, net capital losses of $1,184,382 that are a result of security transactions occurring after October 31, 2019, are treated as occurring on June 1, 2020, the first day of the fund’s next taxable year.

As of May 31, 2020, the fund had no uncertain tax positions that would require financial statement recognition, derecognition or disclosure. The fund's federal tax returns are subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service for a period of three years.

Distribution of income and gains. Distributions to shareholders from net investment income and net realized gains, if any, are recorded on the ex-date. The fund generally declares dividends daily and pays them monthly. Capital gain distributions, if any, are typically distributed annually.

The tax character of distributions for the years ended May 31, 2020 and 2019 was as follows:

	May 31, 2020	May 31, 2019
Ordinary income	$112,199	$71,775
Exempt Income	6,478,674	6,741,640
Long-term capital gains	1,490,419	190,141
Total	$8,081,292	$7,003,556

JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund | ANNUAL REPORT

Distributions paid by the fund with respect to each class of shares are calculated in the same manner, at the same time and in the same amount, except for the effect of class level expenses that may be applied differently to each class. As of May 31, 2020, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis consisted of $97,038 of undistributed exempt interest.

Such distributions and distributable earnings, on a tax basis, are determined in conformity with income tax regulations, which may differ from US GAAP. Distributions in excess of tax basis earnings and profits, if any, are reported in the fund's financial statements as a return of capital.

Capital accounts within the financial statements are adjusted for permanent book-tax differences. These adjustments have no impact on net assets or the results of operations. Temporary book-tax differences, if any, will reverse in a subsequent period. Book-tax differences are primarily attributable to accretion on debt securities.

Note 3—Guarantees and indemnifications

Under the Trust's organizational documents, its Officers and Trustees are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Trust, including the fund. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the fund enters into contracts with service providers that contain general indemnification clauses. The fund's maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown, as this would involve future claims that may be made against the fund that have not yet occurred. The risk of material loss from such claims is considered remote.

Note 4—Fees and transactions with affiliates

John Hancock Investment Management LLC (the Advisor) serves as investment advisor for the fund. John Hancock Investment Management Distributors LLC (the Distributor), an affiliate of the Advisor, serves as principal underwriter of the fund. The Advisor and the Distributor are indirect, wholly owned subsidiaries of Manulife Financial Corporation. Prior to June 28, 2019, the Advisor was known as John Hancock Advisers, LLC and the Distributor was known as John Hancock Funds, LLC.

Management fee. The fund has an investment management agreement with the Advisor under which the fund pays a monthly management fee to the Advisor, equivalent on an annual basis, to the sum of: (a) 0.550% of the first $500 million of the fund’s average daily net assets, (b) 0.500% of the next $500 million of the fund’s average daily net assets, (c) 0.475% of the next $1 billion of the fund’s average daily net assets; and (d) 0.450% of the fund’s average daily net assets in excess of $2 billion. The Advisor has a subadvisory agreement with Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, an indirectly owned subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation and an affiliate of the Advisor. The fund is not responsible for payment of the subadvisory fees.

The Advisor has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fee and/or reimburse expenses for certain funds of the John Hancock group of funds complex, including the fund (the participating portfolios). This waiver is based upon aggregate net assets of all the participating portfolios. The amount of the reimbursement is calculated daily and allocated among all the participating portfolios in proportion to the daily net assets of each fund. During the year ended May 31, 2020, this waiver amounted to 0.01% of the fund’s average daily net assets. This arrangement expires on July 31, 2022, unless renewed by mutual agreement of the fund and the Advisor based upon a determination that this is appropriate under the circumstances at that time.

For the year ended May 31, 2020, the expense reductions described above amounted to the following:

Class	Expense reduction
Class A	$12,837
Class B	26
Class C	1,262

Class	Expense reduction
Class I	$877
Class R6	363
Total	$15,365

Expenses waived or reimbursed in the current fiscal period are not subject to recapture in future fiscal periods.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund

The investment management fees, including the impact of the waivers and reimbursements as described above, incurred for the year ended May 31, 2020, were equivalent to a net annual effective rate of 0.54% of the fund's average daily net assets.

Accounting and legal services. Pursuant to the Accounting and Legal Services Agreement, the fund reimburses the Advisor for all expenses associated with providing the administrative, financial, legal, compliance, accounting and recordkeeping services to the fund, including the preparation of all tax returns, periodic reports to shareholders and regulatory reports, among other services. These expenses are allocated to each share class based on its relative net assets at the time the expense was incurred. These accounting and legal services fees incurred for the year ended May 31, 2020 amounted to an annual rate of 0.02% of the fund's average daily net assets.

Distribution and service plans. The fund has a distribution agreement with the Distributor. The fund has adopted distribution and service plans for certain classes as detailed below pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act, to pay the Distributor for services provided as the distributor of shares of the fund. The fund may pay up to the following contractual rates of distribution and service fees under these arrangements, expressed as an annual percentage of average daily net assets for each class of the fund's shares:

Class	Rule 12b-1 Fee
Class A	0.15%
Class B	1.00%
Class C	1.00%

The fund’s Distributor has contractually agreed to waive 0.10% of Rule12b-1 fees for Class B and Class C shares. The current waiver agreement expires on September 30, 2021, unless renewed by mutual agreement of the fund and the Distributor based upon a determination that this is appropriate under the circumstances at the time. This contractual waiver amounted to $358 and $17,583 for Class B and Class C shares, respectively, for the year ended May 31, 2020.

Sales charges. Class A shares are assessed up-front sales charges, which resulted in payments to the Distributor amounting to $174,214 for the year ended May 31, 2020. Of this amount, $25,217 was retained and used for printing prospectuses, advertising, sales literature and other purposes and $148,997 was paid as sales commissions to broker-dealers.

Class A, Class B and Class C shares may be subject to contingent deferred sales charges (CDSCs). Certain Class A shares that are acquired through purchases of $1 million or more and are redeemed within one year of purchase are subject to a 1.00% sales charge. Class B shares that are redeemed within six years of purchase are subject to CDSCs, at declining rates, beginning at 5.00%. Class C shares that are redeemed within one year of purchase are subject to a 1.00% CDSC. CDSCs are applied to the lesser of the current market value at the time of redemption or the original purchase cost of the shares being redeemed. Proceeds from CDSCs are used to compensate the Distributor for providing distribution-related services in connection with the sale of these shares. During the year ended May 31, 2020, CDSCs received by the Distributor amounted to $22,729 and $427 for Class A and Class C shares, respectively. During the year ended May 31, 2020, there were no CDSCs received by the Distributor for Class B shares.

Transfer agent fees. The John Hancock group of funds has a complex-wide transfer agent agreement with John Hancock Signature Services, Inc. (Signature Services), an affiliate of the Advisor. The transfer agent fees paid to Signature Services are determined based on the cost to Signature Services (Signature Services Cost) of providing recordkeeping services. It also includes out-of-pocket expenses, including payments made to third-parties for recordkeeping services provided to their clients who invest in one or more John Hancock funds. In addition, Signature Services Cost may be reduced by certain fees that Signature Services receives in connection with retirement and small accounts. Signature Services Cost is calculated monthly and allocated, as applicable, to five categories of share classes: Retail Share and Institutional Share Classes of Non-Municipal Bond Funds, Class R6

JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund | ANNUAL REPORT

Shares, Retirement Share Classes and Municipal Bond Share Classes. Within each of these categories, the applicable costs are allocated to the affected John Hancock affiliated funds and/or classes, based on the relative average daily net assets.

Class level expenses. Class level expenses for the year ended May 31, 2020 were as follows:

Class	Distribution and service fees	Transfer agent fees
Class A	$268,510	$75,469
Class B	3,577	151
Class C	175,828	7,409
Class I	—	5,177
Class R6	—	680
Total	$447,915	$88,886

Trustee expenses. The fund compensates each Trustee who is not an employee of the Advisor or its affiliates. The costs of paying Trustee compensation and expenses are allocated to the fund based on its net assets relative to other funds within the John Hancock group of funds complex.

Note 5—Fund share transactions

Transactions in fund shares for the years ended May 31, 2020 and 2019 were as follows:

	Year Ended 5-31-20		Year Ended 5-31-19
	Shares	Amount	Shares	Amount
Class A shares
Sold	2,742,491	$29,865,452	1,485,306	$15,841,456
Distributions reinvested	550,117	6,010,551	486,236	5,184,585
Repurchased	(3,128,085)	(33,652,400)	(2,729,594)	(29,030,019)
Net increase (decrease)	164,523	$2,223,603	(758,052)	$(8,003,978)
Class B shares
Distributions reinvested	1,002	$10,964	1,180	$12,592
Repurchased	(16,021)	(174,085)	(10,172)	(108,962)
Net decrease	(15,019)	$(163,121)	(8,992)	$(96,370)
Class C shares
Sold	156,921	$1,731,793	170,291	$1,816,298
Distributions reinvested	44,733	488,997	44,213	471,363
Repurchased	(488,762)	(5,312,564)	(414,613)	(4,418,882)
Net decrease	(287,108)	$(3,091,774)	(200,109)	$(2,131,221)
Class I shares
Sold	1,001,484	$10,757,915	402,220	$4,291,234
Distributions reinvested	43,138	471,429	34,749	370,533
Repurchased	(557,882)	(5,999,036)	(379,555)	(4,028,096)
Net increase	486,740	$5,230,308	57,414	$633,671

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund

	Year Ended 5-31-20		Year Ended 5-31-19
	Shares	Amount	Shares	Amount
Class R6 shares
Sold	395,872	$4,305,698	208,519	$2,218,628
Distributions reinvested	18,767	204,555	8,894	95,093
Repurchased	(122,698)	(1,302,827)	(60,709)	(644,757)
Net increase	291,941	$3,207,426	156,704	$1,668,964
Total net increase (decrease)	641,077	$7,406,442	(753,035)	$(7,928,934)

Note 6—Purchase and sale of securities

Purchases and sales of securities, other than short-term investments, amounted to $53,588,114 and $45,486,647, respectively, for the year ended May 31, 2020.

Note 7—State or region risk

To the extent that the fund invests heavily in bonds from any given state or region, its performance could be disproportionately affected by factors particular to that state or region. These factors may include economic or political changes, tax-base erosion, possible state constitutional limits on tax increases, detrimental budget deficits and other financial difficulties, and changes to the credit ratings assigned to those states’ municipal issuers.

Note 8—Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

The novel COVID-19 disease has resulted in significant disruptions to global business activity. A widespread health crisis such as a global pandemic could cause substantial market volatility, exchange trading suspensions and closures, impact the ability to complete redemptions, and affect fund performance.

JOHN HANCOCK California Tax-Free Income Fund | ANNUAL REPORT

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Trustees and Shareholders of John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities, including the Fund’s investments, of John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund (the “Fund”) as of May 31, 2020, the related statement of operations for the year ended May 31, 2020, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the two years in the period ended May 31, 2020, including the related notes, and the financial highlights for each of the periods indicated therein (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of May 31, 2020, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the two years in the period ended May 31, 2020 and the financial highlights for each of the periods indicated therein in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Fund's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of May 31, 2020 by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Boston, Massachusetts

July 13, 2020

We have served as the auditor of one or more investment companies in the John Hancock group of funds since 1988.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND

Tax information (Unaudited)

For federal income tax purposes, the following information is furnished with respect to the distributions of the fund, if any, paid during its taxable year ended May 31, 2020.

99.38% of dividends from net investment income are exempt-interest dividends.

The fund paid $1,490,419 in long term capital gain dividends.

The fund reports the maximum amount allowable of its Section 199A dividends as defined in Proposed Treasury Regulation §1.199A-3(d).

Eligible shareholders will be mailed a 2020 Form 1099-DIV in early 2021. This will reflect the tax character of all distributions paid in calendar year 2020.

Please consult a tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of your investment in the fund.

JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND | ANNUAL REPORT

STATEMENT REGARDING LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT

Operation of the Liquidity Risk Management Program

This section describes operation and effectiveness of the Liquidity Risk Management Program (LRMP) established in accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the Liquidity Rule). The Board of Trustees (the Board) of each Fund in the John Hancock Group of Funds (each a Fund and collectively, the Funds) that is subject to the requirements of the Liquidity Rule has appointed John Hancock Investment Management LLC and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (together, the Advisor) to serve as Administrator of the LRMP with respect to each of the Funds, including John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund, subject to the oversight of the Board. In order to provide a mechanism and process to perform the functions necessary to administer the LRMP, the Advisor established the Liquidity Risk Management Committee (the Committee). The Fund's subadvisor, Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC (the Subadvisor) executes the day-to-day investment management and security-level activities of the Fund in accordance with the requirements of the LRMP, subject to the supervision of the Advisor and the Board.

The Committee holds monthly meetings to: (1) review the day-to-day operations of the LRMP; (2) review and approve month end liquidity classifications; (3) review quarterly testing and determinations, as applicable; and (4) review other LRMP related material. The Committee also conducts daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual quantitative and qualitative assessments of each subadvisor to a Fund that is subject to the requirements of the Liquidity Rule and is a part of the LRMP to monitor investment performance issues, risks and trends. In addition, the Committee may conduct ad-hoc reviews and meetings with subadvisors as issues and trends are identified, including potential liquidity and valuation issues.

The Committee provided the Board at a meeting held on March 15-17, 2020 with a written report which addressed the Committee's assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of the implementation and operation of the LRMP and any material changes to the LRMP. The report, which covered the period December 1, 2018 through December 31, 2019, included an assessment of important aspects of the LRMP including, but not limited to:

•	Operation of the Fund's Redemption-In-Kind Procedures;
•	Highly Liquid Investment Minimum (HLIM) determination;
•	Compliance with the 15% limit on illiquid investments;
•	Reasonably Anticipated Trade Size (RATS) determination;
•	Security-level liquidity classifications; and
•	Liquidity risk assessment.

The report also covered material liquidity matters which occurred or were reported during this period applicable to the Fund, if any, and the Committee's actions to address such matters.

Redemption-In-Kind Procedures

Rule 22e-4 requires any fund that engages in or reserves the right to engage in in-kind redemptions to adopt and implement written policies and procedures regarding in-kind redemptions as part of the management of its liquidity risk. These procedures address the process for redeeming in kind, as well as the circumstances under which the Fund would consider redeeming in kind. Anticipated large redemption activity will be evaluated to identify situations where redeeming in securities instead of cash may be appropriate.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 35

As part of its annual assessment of the LRMP, the Committee reviewed the implementation and operation of the Redemption-In-Kind Procedures and determined they are operating in a manner that such procedures are adequate and effective to manage in-kind redemptions on behalf of the Fund as part of the LRMP.

Highly Liquid Investment Minimum determination

The Committee uses an HLIM model to determine a Fund's HLIM. This process incorporates the Fund's investment strategy, historical redemptions, liquidity classification rollup percentages and cash balances, redemption policy, access to funding sources, distribution channels and client concentrations. If the Fund falls below its established HLIM for a period greater than 7 consecutive calendar days, the Committee prepares a report to the Board within one business day following the seventh consecutive calendar day with an explanation of how the Fund plans to restore its HLIM within a reasonable period of time.

Based on the HLIM model, the Committee has determined that the Fund qualifies as a Primarily Highly Liquid Fund (PHLF). It is therefore not required to establish a HLIM. The Fund is tested quarterly to confirm its PHLF status.

As part of its annual assessment of the LRMP, the Committee reviewed the policies and procedures in place with respect to HLIM and PHLF determinations, and determined that such policies and procedures are operating in a manner that is adequate and effective as part of the LRMP.

Compliance with the 15% limit on illiquid investments

Rule 22e-4 sets an aggregate illiquid investment limit of 15% for a fund. Funds are prohibited from acquiring an illiquid investment if this results in greater than 15% of its net assets being classified as illiquid. When applying this limit, the Committee defines "illiquid investment" to mean any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment. If a 15% illiquid investment limit breach occurs for longer than 1 business day, the Fund is required to notify the Board and provide a plan on how to bring illiquid investments within the 15% threshold, and after 7 days confidentially notify the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC).

In February 2019, as a result of extended security markets closures in connection with the Chinese New Year in certain countries, the SEC released guidance, and the Committee approved and adopted an Extended Market Holiday Policy to plan for and monitor known Extended Market Holidays (defined as all expected market holiday closures spanning four or more calendar days).

As part of its annual assessment of the LRMP, the Committee reviewed the policies and procedures in place with respect to the 15% illiquid investment limit and determined such policies and procedures are operating in a manner that is adequate and effective as part of the LMRP.

Reasonably Anticipated Trade Size determination

In order to assess the liquidity risk of a Fund, the Committee considers the impact on the Fund that redemptions of a RATS would have under both normal and reasonably foreseeable stressed conditions. Modelling the Fund's RATS requires quantifying cash flow volatility and analyzing distribution channel concentration and redemption risk. The model is designed to estimate the amount of assets that the Fund could reasonably anticipate trading on a given day, during both normal and reasonably foreseeable stressed conditions, to satisfy redemption requests.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 36

As part of its annual assessment of the LRMP, the Committee reviewed the policies and procedures in place with respect to RATS determinations and determined that such policies and procedures are operating in a manner that is adequate and effective at making RATS determinations as part of the LRMP.

Security-level liquidity classifications

When classifying the liquidity of portfolio securities, the Fund adheres to the liquidity classification procedures established by the Advisor. In assigning a liquidity classification to Fund portfolio holdings, the following key inputs, among others, are considered: the Fund's RATS, feedback from the applicable Subadvisor on market-, trading- and investment-specific considerations, an assessment of current market conditions and fund portfolio holdings, and a value impact standard. The Subadvisor also provides position-level data to the Committee for use in monthly classification reconciliation in order to identify any classifications that may need to be changed as a result of the above considerations.

As part of its annual assessment of the LRMP, the Committee reviewed the policies and procedures in place with respect to security-level liquidity classifications and determined that such policies and procedures are operating in a manner that is adequate and effective as part of the LRMP.

Liquidity risk assessment

The Committee periodically reviews and assesses, the Fund's liquidity risk, including its investment strategy and liquidity of portfolio investments during both normal and reasonably foreseeable stressed conditions (including whether the investment strategy is appropriate for an open-end fund, the extent to which the strategy involves a relatively concentrated portfolio or large positions in particular issuers, and the use of borrowings for investment purposes and derivatives), cash flow analysis during both normal and reasonably foreseeable stressed conditions, and holdings of cash and cash equivalents, as well as borrowing arrangements and other funding sources.

The Committee also monitors global events, such as the COVID-19 Coronavirus, that could impact the markets and liquidity of portfolio investments and their classifications.

As part of its annual assessment of the LRMP, the Committee reviewed Fund-Level Liquidity Risk Assessment Reports for each of the Funds and determined that the investment strategy for each Fund continues to be appropriate for an open-ended structure.

Adequacy and Effectiveness

Based on the review and assessment conducted by the Committee, the Committee has determined that the LRMP has been implemented, and is operating in a manner that is adequate and effective at assessing and managing the liquidity risk of each Fund.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 37

Trustees and Officers

This chart provides information about the Trustees and Officers who oversee your John Hancock fund. Officers elected by the Trustees manage the day-to-day operations of the fund and execute policies formulated by the Trustees.

Independent Trustees

Name, year of birth
Position(s) held with Trust
Principal occupation(s) and other
directorships during past 5 years Trustee
of the
Trust
since¹ Number of John
Hancock funds
overseen by
Trustee

Hassell H. McClellan, Born: 1945 2012 195

Trustee and Chairperson of the Board
Director/Trustee, Virtus Funds (since 2008); Director, The Barnes Group (since 2010); Associate Professor, The Wallace E. Carroll School of Management, Boston College (retired 2013). Trustee (since 2005) and Chairperson of the Board (since 2017) of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex.

Charles L. Bardelis,² Born: 1941 2012 195

Trustee
Director, Island Commuter Corp. (marine transport). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 1988).

James R. Boyle, Born: 1959 2015 195

Trustee
Chief Executive Officer, Foresters Financial (since 2018); Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Zillion Group, Inc. (formerly HealthFleet, Inc.) (healthcare) (2014-2018); Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Life Insurance Division of Genworth Financial, Inc. (insurance) (January 2014-July 2014); Senior Executive Vice President, Manulife Financial, President and Chief Executive Officer, John Hancock (1999-2012); Chairman and Director, John Hancock Investment Management LLC, John Hancock Investment Management Distributors LLC, and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (2005-2010). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (2005-2014 and since 2015).

Peter S. Burgess,² Born: 1942 2012 195

Trustee
Consultant (financial, accounting, and auditing matters) (since 1999); Certified Public Accountant; Partner, Arthur Andersen (independent public accounting firm) (prior to 1999); Director, Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (since 2004); Director, Symetra Financial Corporation (2010-2016); Director, PMA Capital Corporation (2004-2010). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2005).

William H. Cunningham, Born: 1944 1989 195

Trustee
Professor, University of Texas, Austin, Texas (since 1971); former Chancellor, University of Texas System and former President of the University of Texas, Austin, Texas; Chairman (since 2009) and Director (since 2006), Lincoln National Corporation (insurance); Director, Southwest Airlines (since 2000); former Director, LIN Television (2009-2014). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 1986).

Grace K. Fey, Born: 1946 2012 195

Trustee
Chief Executive Officer, Grace Fey Advisors (since 2007); Director and Executive Vice President, Frontier Capital Management Company (1988-2007); Director, Fiduciary Trust (since 2009). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2008).

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 38

Independent Trustees (continued)

Name, year of birth
Position(s) held with Trust
Principal occupation(s) and other
directorships during past 5 years Trustee
of the
Trust
since¹ Number of John
Hancock funds
overseen by
Trustee

Deborah C. Jackson, Born: 1952 2008 195

Trustee
President, Cambridge College, Cambridge, Massachusetts (since 2011); Board of Directors, Massachusetts Women's Forum (since 2018); Board of Directors, National Association of Corporate Directors/New England (since 2015); Board of Directors, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts (2014-2017); Chief Executive Officer, American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay (2002-2011); Board of Directors of Eastern Bank Corporation (since 2001); Board of Directors of Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation (since 2001); Board of Directors of American Student Assistance Corporation (1996-2009); Board of Directors of Boston Stock Exchange (2002-2008); Board of Directors of Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare (health benefits company) (2007-2011). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2008).

James M. Oates,²Born: 1946 2012 195

Trustee
Managing Director, Wydown Group (financial consulting firm) (since 1994); Chairman and Director, Emerson Investment Management, Inc. (2000-2015); Independent Chairman, Hudson Castle Group, Inc. (formerly IBEX Capital Markets, Inc.) (financial services company) (1997-2011); Director, Stifel Financial (since 1996); Director, Investor Financial Services Corporation (1995-2007); Director, Connecticut River Bancorp (1998-2014); Director/Trustee, Virtus Funds (since 1988). Trustee (since 2004) and Chairperson of the Board (2005-2016) of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex.

Steven R. Pruchansky, Born: 1944 1994 195

Trustee and Vice Chairperson of the Board
Managing Director, Pru Realty (since 2017); Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Greenscapes of Southwest Florida, Inc. (2014-2020); Director and President, Greenscapes of Southwest Florida, Inc. (until 2000); Member, Board of Advisors, First American Bank (until 2010); Managing Director, Jon James, LLC (real estate) (since 2000); Partner, Right Funding, LLC (2014-2017); Director, First Signature Bank & Trust Company (until 1991); Director, Mast Realty Trust (until 1994); President, Maxwell Building Corp. (until 1991). Trustee (since 1992), Chairperson of the Board (2011-2012), and Vice Chairperson of the Board (since 2012) of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex.

Gregory A. Russo, Born: 1949 2009 195

Trustee
Director and Audit Committee Chairman (2012-2020), and Member, Audit Committee and Finance Committee (2011-2020), NCH Healthcare System, Inc. (holding company for multi-entity healthcare system); Director and Member (2012-2018) and Finance Committee Chairman (2014-2018), The Moorings, Inc. (nonprofit continuing care community); Vice Chairman, Risk & Regulatory Matters, KPMG LLP (KPMG) (2002-2006); Vice Chairman, Industrial Markets, KPMG (1998-2002); Chairman and Treasurer, Westchester County, New York, Chamber of Commerce (1986-1992); Director, Treasurer, and Chairman of Audit and Finance Committees, Putnam Hospital Center (1989-1995); Director and Chairman of Fundraising Campaign, United Way of Westchester and Putnam Counties, New York (1990-1995). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2008).

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 39

Non-Independent Trustees³

Name, year of birth
Position(s) held with Trust
Principal occupation(s) and other
directorships during past 5 years Trustee
of the
Trust
since¹ Number of John
Hancock funds
overseen by
Trustee

Andrew G. Arnott, Born: 1971 2017 195

President and Non-Independent Trustee
Head of Wealth and Asset Management, United States and Europe, for John Hancock and Manulife (since 2018); Executive Vice President, John Hancock Financial Services (since 2009, including prior positions); Director and Executive Vice President, John Hancock Investment Management LLC (since 2005, including prior positions); Director and Executive Vice President, John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (since 2006, including prior positions); President, John Hancock Investment Management Distributors LLC (since 2004, including prior positions); President of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2007, including prior positions). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2017).

Marianne Harrison, Born: 1963 2018 195

Non-Independent Trustee
President and CEO, John Hancock (since 2017); President and CEO, Manulife Canadian Division (2013-2017); Member, Board of Directors, CAE Inc. (since 2019); Member, Board of Directors, MA Competitive Partnership Board (since 2018); Member, Board of Directors, American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) (since 2018); Member, Board of Directors, Communitech, an industry-led innovation center that fosters technology companies in Canada (2017-2019); Member, Board of Directors, Manulife Assurance Canada (2015-2017); Board Member, St. Mary's General Hospital Foundation (2014-2017); Member, Board of Directors, Manulife Bank of Canada (2013-2017); Member, Standing Committee of the Canadian Life & Health Assurance Association (2013-2017); Member, Board of Directors, John Hancock USA, John Hancock Life & Health, John Hancock New York (2012-2013). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2018).

Principal officers who are not Trustees

Name, year of birth
Position(s) held with Trust
Principal occupation(s)
during past 5 years Officer
of the
Trust
since

Francis V. Knox, Jr.,Born: 1947 2005

Chief Compliance Officer
Vice President, John Hancock Financial Services (since 2005); Chief Compliance Officer, various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex, John Hancock Investment Management LLC, and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (since 2005).

Charles A. Rizzo, Born: 1957 2007

Chief Financial Officer
Vice President, John Hancock Financial Services (since 2008); Senior Vice President, John Hancock Investment Management LLC and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (since 2008); Chief Financial Officer of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2007).

Salvatore Schiavone, Born: 1965 2010

Treasurer
Assistant Vice President, John Hancock Financial Services (since 2007); Vice President, John Hancock Investment Management LLC and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (since 2007); Treasurer of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2007, including prior positions).

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 40

Principal officers who are not Trustees (continued)

Name, year of birth
Position(s) held with Trust
Principal occupation(s)
during past 5 years Officer
of the
Trust
since

Christopher (Kit) Sechler,Born: 1973 2018

Chief Legal Officer and Secretary
Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel, John Hancock Investments (since 2015); Assistant Vice President and Senior Counsel (2009-2015), John Hancock Investment Management; Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2018); Assistant Secretary of John Hancock Investment Management LLC and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (since 2009).

The business address for all Trustees and Officers is 200 Berkeley Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116-5023.

The Statement of Additional Information of the fund includes additional information about members of the Board of Trustees of the Trust and is available without charge, upon request, by calling 800-225-5291.

1	Each Trustee holds office until his or her successor is elected and qualified, or until the Trustee's death, retirement, resignation, or removal. Mr. Boyle has served as Trustee at various times prior to the date listed in the table.
2	Member of the Audit Committee.
3	The Trustee is a Non-Independent Trustee due to current or former positions with the Advisor and certain affiliates.

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 41

More information

Trustees

Hassell H. McClellan, Chairperson
Steven R. Pruchansky, Vice Chairperson
Andrew G. Arnott^†
Charles L. Bardelis*
James R. Boyle
Peter S. Burgess*
William H. Cunningham
Grace K. Fey
Marianne Harrison^†
Deborah C. Jackson
James M. Oates*
Gregory A. Russo

Officers

Andrew G. Arnott
President

Francis V. Knox, Jr.
Chief Compliance Officer

Charles A. Rizzo
Chief Financial Officer

Salvatore Schiavone
Treasurer

Christopher (Kit) Sechler
Secretary and Chief Legal Officer

Investment advisor

John Hancock Investment Management LLC

Subadvisor

Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC

Portfolio Managers

Dennis DiCicco
Jeffrey N. Given, CFA

Principal distributor

John Hancock Investment Management Distributors LLC

Custodian

State Street Bank and Trust Company

Transfer agent

John Hancock Signature Services, Inc.

Legal counsel

K&L Gates LLP

Independent registered public accounting firm

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

* Member of the Audit Committee
† Non-Independent Trustee

The fund's proxy voting policies and procedures, as well as the fund proxy voting record for the most recent twelve-month period ended June 30, are available free of charge on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website at sec.gov or on our website.

All of the fund's holdings as of the end of the third month of every fiscal quarter are filed with the SEC on Form N-PORT within 60 days of the end of the fiscal quarter. The fund's Form N-PORT filings are available on our website and the SEC's website, sec.gov.

We make this information on your fund, as well as monthly portfolio holdings, and other fund details available on our website at jhinvestments.com or by calling 800-225-5291.

You can also contact us:

800-225-5291
jhinvestments.com
Regular mail:

John Hancock Signature Services, Inc.
PO Box 219909
Kansas City, MO 64121-9909

Express mail:

John Hancock Signature Services, Inc.
430 W 7^th Street
Suite 219909
Kansas City, MO 64105-1407

ANNUAL REPORT | JOHN HANCOCK CALIFORNIA TAX-FREE INCOME FUND 42

John Hancock family of funds

DOMESTIC EQUITY FUNDS

Blue Chip Growth

Classic Value

Disciplined Value

Disciplined Value Mid Cap

Equity Income

Financial Industries

Fundamental All Cap Core

Fundamental Large Cap Core

New Opportunities

Regional Bank

Small Cap Core

Small Cap Growth

Small Cap Value

U.S. Global Leaders Growth

U.S. Quality Growth

GLOBAL AND INTERNATIONAL EQUITY FUNDS

Disciplined Value International

Emerging Markets

Emerging Markets Equity

Fundamental Global Franchise

Global Equity

Global Shareholder Yield

Global Thematic Opportunities

International Dynamic Growth

International Growth

International Small Company

INCOME FUNDS

Bond

California Tax-Free Income

Emerging Markets Debt

Floating Rate Income

Government Income

High Yield

High Yield Municipal Bond

Income

Investment Grade Bond

Money Market

Short Duration Bond

Short Duration Credit Opportunities

Strategic Income Opportunities

Tax-Free Bond

ALTERNATIVE AND SPECIALTY FUNDS

Absolute Return Currency

Alternative Asset Allocation

Alternative Risk Premia

Diversified Macro

Infrastructure

Multi-Asset Absolute Return

Seaport Long/Short

A fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses should be considered carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information about the fund. To obtain a prospectus, contact your financial professional, call John Hancock Investment Management at 800-225-5291, or visit our website at jhinvestments.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing or sending money.

ASSET ALLOCATION

Balanced

Multi-Asset High Income

Multi-Index Lifetime Portfolios

Multi-Index Preservation Portfolios

Multimanager Lifestyle Portfolios

Multimanager Lifetime Portfolios

Retirement Income 2040

EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS

John Hancock Multifactor Consumer Discretionary ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Consumer Staples ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Developed International ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Energy ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Financials ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Healthcare ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Industrials ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Materials ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Media and
Communications ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Small Cap ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Technology ETF

John Hancock Multifactor Utilities ETF

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND
GOVERNANCE FUNDS

ESG All Cap Core

ESG Core Bond

ESG International Equity

ESG Large Cap Core

CLOSED-END FUNDS

Financial Opportunities

Hedged Equity & Income

Income Securities Trust

Investors Trust

Preferred Income

Preferred Income II

Preferred Income III

Premium Dividend

Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income

Tax-Advantaged Global Shareholder Yield

John Hancock Multifactor ETF shares are bought and sold at market price (not NAV), and are not individually redeemed
from the fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.

John Hancock ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC, and are subadvised by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP.
Foreside is not affiliated with John Hancock Investment Management Distributors LLC or Dimensional Fund Advisors LP.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP receives compensation from John Hancock in connection with licensing rights to the
John Hancock Dimensional indexes. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP does not sponsor, endorse, or sell, and makes no
representation as to the advisability of investing in, John Hancock Multifactor ETFs.

John Hancock Investment Management

A trusted brand

John Hancock Investment Management is a premier asset manager
representing one of America's most trusted brands, with a heritage of
financial stewardship dating back to 1862. Helping our shareholders
pursue their financial goals is at the core of everything we do. It's why
we support the role of professional financial advice and operate with
the highest standards of conduct and integrity.

A better way to invest

We serve investors globally through a unique multimanager approach:
We search the world to find proven portfolio teams with specialized
expertise for every strategy we offer, then we apply robust investment
oversight to ensure they continue to meet our uncompromising
standards and serve the best interests of our shareholders.

Results for investors

Our unique approach to asset management enables us to provide
a diverse set of investments backed by some of the world's best
managers, along with strong risk-adjusted returns across asset classes.

John Hancock Investment Management Distributors LLC n Member FINRA, SIPC
200 Berkeley Street n Boston, MA 02116-5010 n 800-225-5291 n jhinvestments.com

This report is for the information of the shareholders of John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund. It is not authorized for distribution to prospective investors unless preceded or accompanied by a prospectus.

MF1210527 53A 5/20
7/2020

ITEM 2. CODE OF ETHICS.

As of the end of the year, May 31, 2020, the registrant has adopted a code of ethics, as defined in Item 2 of Form N-CSR, that applies to its Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer (respectively, the principal executive officer, the principal financial officer and the principal accounting officer, the “Covered Officers”). A copy of the code of ethics is filed as an exhibit to this Form N-CSR.

ITEM 3. AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT.

Peter S. Burgess is the audit committee financial expert and is “independent”, pursuant to general instructions on Form N-CSR Item 3.

ITEM 4. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.

(a) Audit Fees
The aggregate fees billed for professional services rendered by the principal accountant for the audits of the registrant’s annual financial statements or services that are normally provided by the accountant in connection with statutory and regulatory filings or engagements amounted to the following for the fiscal years ended May 31, 2020 and 2019. These fees were billed to the registrant and were approved by the registrant’s audit committee.

Fund	May 31, 2020		May 31, 2019
John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund	$	48,173	$	44,425

(b) Audit-Related Services
Audit-related fees for assurance and related services by the principal accountant are billed to the registrant or to the registrant’s investment adviser (not including any sub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser), and any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the adviser ("control affiliates") that provides ongoing services to the registrant. The nature of the services provided was affiliated service provider internal controls reviews. Additionally, amounts billed to control affiliates were $116,467 and $113,000 for the fiscal years ended May 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Fund	May 31, 2020		May 31, 2019
John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund	$	591	$	571

(c) Tax Fees
The aggregate fees billed for professional services rendered by the principal accountant for tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning (“tax fees”) amounted to the following for the fiscal years ended May 31, 2020 and 2019. The nature of the services comprising the tax fees was the review of the registrant’s tax returns and tax distribution requirements. These fees were billed to the registrant and were approved by the registrant’s audit committee.

Fund	May 31, 2020		May 31, 2019
John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund	$	3,760	$	3,650

(d) All Other Fees
Other fees billed for professional services rendered by the principal accountant to the registrant or to the control affiliates for the fiscal years ended May 31, 2020 and 2019 amounted to the following:

Fund	May 31, 2020		May 31, 2019
John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund	$	89	$	89

(e)(1) Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures:

The trust’s Audit Committee must pre-approve all audit and non-audit services provided by the independent registered public accounting firm (the “Auditor”) relating to the operations or financial reporting of the funds. Prior to the commencement of any audit or non-audit services to a fund, the Audit Committee reviews the services to determine whether they are appropriate and permissible under applicable law.

The trust’s Audit Committee has adopted policies and procedures to, among other purposes, provide a framework for the Committee’s consideration of audit-related and non-audit services by the Auditor. The policies and procedures require that any audit-related and non-audit service provided by the Auditor and any non-audit service provided by the Auditor to a fund service provider that relates directly to the operations and financial reporting of a fund are subject to approval by the Audit Committee before such service is provided. Audit-related services provided by the Auditor that are expected to exceed $25,000 per year/per fund are subject to specific pre-approval by the Audit Committee. Tax services provided by the Auditor that are expected to exceed $30,000 per year/per fund are subject to specific pre-approval by the Audit Committee.

All audit services, as well as the audit-related and non-audit services that are expected to exceed the amounts stated above, must be approved in advance of provision of the service by formal resolution of the Audit Committee. At the regularly scheduled Audit Committee meetings, the Committee reviews a report summarizing the services, including fees, provided by the Auditor.

(e)(2) Services approved pursuant to paragraph (c)(7)(i)(C) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X:

Audit-Related Fees, Tax Fees and All Other Fees:
There were no amounts that were approved by the Audit Committee pursuant to the de minimis exception under Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.

(f) According to the registrant’s principal accountant for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2020, the percentage of hours spent on the audit of the registrant's financial statements for the most recent fiscal year that were attributed to work performed by persons who were not full-time, permanent employees of principal accountant was less than 50%.

(g) The aggregate non-audit fees billed by the registrant’s principal accountant for non-audit services rendered to the registrant and rendered to the registrant's control affiliates for the fiscal years ended May 31, 2020 and 2019 amounted to the following:

Trust	May 31, 2020		May 31, 2019
John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund	$	1,016,848	$	919,444

(h) The audit committee of the registrant has considered the non-audit services provided by the registrant’s principal accountant to the control affiliates and has determined that the services that were not pre-approved are compatible with maintaining the principal accountant’s independence.

ITEM 5. AUDIT COMMITTEE OF LISTED REGISTRANTS.

The registrant has a separately-designated standing audit committee comprised of independent trustees. The members of the audit committee are as follows:

Peter S. Burgess - Chairman
Charles L. Bardelis
Theron S. Hoffman

ITEM 6. SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS.

(a) Not applicable.
(b) Not applicable.

ITEM 7. DISCLOSURE OF PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

Not applicable.

ITEM 8. PORTFOLIO MANAGERS OF CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

Not applicable.

ITEM 9. PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANY AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS.

Not applicable.

ITEM 10. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS.

The registrant has adopted procedures by which shareholders may recommend nominees to the registrant's Board of Trustees. A copy of the procedures is filed as an exhibit to this Form N-CSR. See attached “John Hancock Funds – Nominating, Governance and Administration Committee Charter”.

ITEM 11. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.

(a) Based upon their evaluation of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures as conducted within 90 days of the filing date of this Form N-CSR, the registrant's principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that those disclosure controls and procedures provide reasonable assurance that the material information required to be disclosed by the registrant on this report is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission's rules and forms.

(b) There were no changes in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by this report that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

ITEM 12. DISCLOSURE OF SECURITIES LENDING ACTIVITIES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.: Not applicable.

ITEM 13. EXHIBITS.

(a)(1) Code of Ethics for Covered Officers is attached.

(a)(2) Separate certifications for the registrant's principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as required by Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Rule 30a-2(a) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, are attached.

(b)(1) Separate certifications for the registrant's principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as required by 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and Rule 30a-2(b) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, are attached. The certifications furnished pursuant to this paragraph are not deemed to be "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or otherwise subject to the liability of that section. Such certifications are not deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent that the Registrant specifically incorporates them by reference.

(c)(1) Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders is attached. See attached “John Hancock Funds – Nominating, Governance and Administration Committee Charter”.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund

By:	/s/ Andrew Arnott
	Andrew Arnott
	President


Date:	July 14, 2020


Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.


By:	/s/ Andrew Arnott
	Andrew Arnott
	President


Date:	July 14, 2020


By:	/s/ Charles A. Rizzo
	Charles A. Rizzo
	Chief Financial Officer


Date:	July 14, 2020

John Hancock Code of Ethics

January 1, 2008

(Revised November 7, 2019)

This is the Code of Ethics for the following:

John Hancock Investment Management, LLC and
John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers, LLC, LLC
(each, a “John Hancock Adviser”)

and

John Hancock Investment Management
Distributors, LLC
John Hancock Distributors, LLC,
each open-end fund, closed-end fund, and exchange traded
fund advised by a John Hancock Adviser
(the “John Hancock Affiliated Funds”),

(together, called “John Hancock”)

Table of Contents
Introduction		4
Standards of Business Conduct		5
Applicability and Scope		5
Access Levels		6
Access Level 1		6
Access Level 2		7
Access Level 3		7
Overview of Rules for All Access Persons		7
Brokerage Account Disclosure		7
Brokerage Account Examples (non-exclusive list)		8
Employee Compensation Instruments (non-exclusive list)		8
College Savings Plans - 529s		8
401(k) and John Hancock Variable Products: John Hancock Affiliated Funds Reporting		9
Managed Accounts		9
Preferred Brokerage Account Requirements		9
Opening/Closing Accounts		10
Statements and Duplicate Confirmations of Trades		10
Personal Trading		10
Personal Trading Restrictions for all Access Persons		11
Reporting and Pre-clearance		11
Level 1 Access Persons: Additional Personal Trading Restrictions and Disclosures		12
Level 2 Access Persons: Additional Personal Trading Restrictions and Disclosures		14
Level 3 Access Persons: Additional Personal Trading Restrictions and Disclosures		16
Pre-clearance Process		17
Reporting and Certification Requirements		17
Reporting		17
Reporting Upon Designation		17
Quarterly Reporting		18
Annual Reporting		18
Ad Hoc Reporting		19

Administration and Enforcement		19
Administration of the Code		19
Subadviser Compliance		19
Adoption and Approval		19
Subadviser Reporting & Recordkeeping Requirements		20
Reporting to the Board		20
Reporting Violations		20
Exemptions & Appeals		21
Exemptions:		21
Appeals		21
Interpretation and Enforcement		21
Education of Employees		23
Recordkeeping		23
Other Important Policies		23
MFC Code of Business Conduct & Ethics (All Covered Employees)		23
John Hancock Conflicts of Interest Policy (All Covered Employees)		24
John Hancock Gift & Entertainment Policy (All Covered Employees)		24
John Hancock Insider Trading Policy (All Covered Employees)		24
John Hancock Pay to Play Rule on Political Contributions (All Covered Associates)		25
John Hancock Whistleblower Policy (All Covered Employees)		25
Policy and Procedures Regarding Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings (All Covered Employees)		26
Additional Policies Outside the Code (All Covered Employees)		26
Appendix		27
Definitions		27
Preferred Brokers List		31
Compliance Contacts		32

Introduction

John Hancock is required by law to adopt a Code of Ethics. The purpose of a Code of Ethics is to ensure that companies and their Covered Persons comply with all applicable laws and to prevent abuses in the investment advisory business that can arise when conflicts of interest exist between the employees of an investment advisor and its clients. By adopting and enforcing a Code of Ethics, we strengthen the trust and confidence entrusted in us by demonstrating that at John Hancock, client interests come first.

The Code of Ethics (the Code) that follows represents a balancing of important interests. On the one hand, as registered investment advisers, the John Hancock Advisers owe a duty of undivided loyalty to their clients and must avoid even the appearance of a conflict that might be perceived as abusing the trust they have placed in John Hancock. On the other hand, the John Hancock Advisers do not want to prevent conscientious professionals from investing for their own accounts where conflicts do not exist or that are immaterial to investment decisions affecting the John Hancock Advisers’ clients.

When conflicting interests cannot be reconciled, the Code makes clear that, first and foremost, Covered Persons owe a fiduciary duty to John Hancock clients. In most cases, this means that the affected employee will be required to forego conflicting personal securities transactions. In some cases, personal investments will be permitted, but only in a manner, which, because of the circumstances and applicable controls, cannot reasonably be perceived as adversely affecting John Hancock client portfolios or taking unfair advantage of the relationship John Hancock employees have to John Hancock clients.

The Code contains specific rules prohibiting defined types of conflicts. Since every potential conflict cannot be anticipated by the Code, it also contains general provisions prohibiting conflict situations. In view of these general provisions, it is critical that any Covered Person who is in doubt about the applicability of the Code in a given situation seek a determination from Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), designee, or the Code of Ethics Administration Group about the propriety of the conduct in advance.

It is critical that the Code be strictly observed. Not only will adherence to the Code ensure that John Hancock renders the best possible service to its clients, it will help to ensure that no individual is liable for violations of law.

It should be emphasized that adherence to this policy is a fundamental condition of employment at John Hancock. Every Covered Person is expected to adhere to the requirements of the Code despite any inconvenience that may be involved. Any Covered Person failing to do so may be subject to disciplinary action, including financial penalties and termination of employment as determined by the CCO, designee, or Ethics Oversight Committee.

Standards of Business Conduct
Each Covered Person within the John Hancock organization is responsible for maintaining the very highest ethical standards when conducting our business.

This means that you must at all times:

●	Place the interests of clients first. You have a fiduciary duty at all times to place the interests of our clients and fund investors first.
●	Conduct all personal trading in full compliance with this Code. All of your personal securities transactions must be conducted consistent with the provisions of the Code that apply to you and in such a manner as to avoid any actual or potential conflict of interest or other abuse of your position of trust and responsibility.
●	Avoid taking inappropriate advantage of your position at John Hancock. You should not take inappropriate advantage of your position or engage in any fraudulent or manipulative practice (such as front-running or manipulative market timing) with respect to our clients’ accounts or fund investors.
●	Maintain confidentiality of our clients and John Hancock. You must treat as confidential any information concerning the identity of security holdings and financial circumstances of clients or fund investors.
●	Comply with applicable Federal Securities Laws. You must comply with all applicable federal Securities Laws.
●	Report any violation of the Code. You must promptly report any violation of the Code that comes to your attention to the CCO (or designee) of your company.

It is essential that you understand and comply with the general principles, noted above, in letter and in spirit as no set of rules can anticipate every possible problem or conflict situation. Failure to comply with the general principles and the provisions of the Code may result in disciplinary action, including termination of employment.

Applicability and Scope
Individuals subject to this policy will be notified by the CCO, designee, or the Code of Ethics Administration Group. Generally, if you meet the requirements listed below, you are deemed an Access Person¹and this Code applies to you²:

●	a director, officer or other Supervised Person of a John Hancock Adviser;
●	an interested director, officer or Access Person of John Hancock Investment Management Distributors, LLC, John Hancock Distributors, LLC, or a John Hancock open-end or closed-end fund registered under the 1940 Act and are advised by a John Hancock Adviser;³
●	an employee of Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) or its subsidiaries who participates in making recommendations for, or receives information about, portfolio trades or holdings of the John Hancock Affiliated Funds.⁴

____________________

¹See the Definitions section and contact a member of the Office of the CCO with any questions.
²Access Persons of John Hancock GA Mortgage Trust that are personnel of John Hancock Investment Management, LLC are covered by this Code.
³Disinterested Trustees of John Hancock open-end and closed-end funds registered under the 1940 Act and advised by a John Hancock Adviser are subject to a separate Code of Ethics adopted by the Board of Trustees.

Access Levels
The requirements of this policy will differ depending on your Access Level category. There are three categories for persons covered by the Code, taking into account position, duties and access to information regarding fund portfolio trades.⁵You will receive notification as to your particular category, based on the Code of Ethics Administration Group’s understanding of your current role in coordination with the Office of the CCO. If you have a level of investment access beyond your assigned category, or if you are promoted or change duties and as a result should more appropriately be included in a different category, it is your responsibility to notify the CCO, designee, or the Code of Ethics Administration Group.

Please note: If a specific Code provision (examples: personal investing restriction or limitations, pre-clearance obligation, or reporting obligation, etc.) applies to the Access Person, it also applies to all Securities and Brokerage Accounts over which the Access Person has Beneficial Ownership.

Access Level 1

A person who, in connection with his/her regular functions or duties, makes or participates in making recommendations regarding the purchase or sale of securities by the Fund or account.

Examples (may include but are not limited to):

●	Portfolio Managers
●	Analysts
●	Traders

____________________

⁴The preceding excludes John Hancock Asset Management (U.S.) and John Hancock Asset Management (N.A.) each of whom have adopted their own Code of Ethics in accordance with Rule 204A-1 under the Advisers Act.
⁵The Code of Ethics Administration Group, CCO (or designee) may modify the requirements of this Code for those John Hancock Associates whose covered status is expected not to exceed 90 days (for instance contractors, co-ops and interns) or in instances where a person is subject to another Code of Ethics or fiduciary duty and where the modification is not otherwise specifically prohibited by law. In reliance on an SEC no-action letter, the Code of Ethics Administration Group or CCO (or designee) may include in the definition of “John Hancock Associate” any person of a John Hancock Affiliate who is engaged, directly or indirectly in John Hancock’s investment advisory activities.

Access Level 2

A person who, in connection with his/her regular functions or duties, has regular access to nonpublic information regarding any clients' purchase or sale of securities, nonpublic information regarding the portfolio holdings of any John Hancock Affiliated Fund(s), is involved in making securities recommendations to clients, or has regular access to such recommendations that are nonpublic.

Examples (may include but are not limited to):

●	Office of the CCO
●	Fund Administration
●	Investment Management Services
●	Technology Resources Personnel (as designated)
●	Legal Staff
●	Marketing (as designated)

Access Level 3

A person who, in connection with his/her regular functions or duties, has periodic access to nonpublic information regarding any clients' purchase or sale of securities or nonpublic information regarding the portfolio holdings of any John Hancock Affiliated Funds.

Examples (may include but are not limited to):

●	Marketing (as designated)
●	Product Development
●	E-Commerce
●	Corporate Publishing
●	Technology Resources Personnel (as designated)

Overview of Rules for All Access Persons
This policy contains rules regarding your obligations to comply with federal Securities Laws and John Hancock’s standards of conduct. Access Persons are responsible for complying with the personal trading restrictions and obligations of their access designation level including: Brokerage Account disclosure, personal trading restrictions, pre-clearance requirements, disclosure requirements, and various reporting and certification requirements.

Brokerage Account Disclosure
You must use the Personal Trading Control Center (PTCC), the automated compliance system, to disclose all Brokerage Accounts that have the capability to hold Reportable Securities including all Brokerage Accounts:

●	of your own; regardless of what is currently held in the account,
●	of your spouse, Significant Other, minor children or family members sharing the same household (Household Family Member),
●	over which you have discretion or give advice or information, and/or
●	in which your Household Family Member have Beneficial Ownership, or the opportunity to directly or indirectly profit or share in any profit derived from a Reportable Securities transaction.

Brokerage Account Examples (non-exclusive list)
You need to report:

●	Brokerage Accounts
●	John Hancock 401(k) accounts
●	MFC Global Share Ownership Plan (GSOP)
●	Solium accounts (some if they hold reportable securities including options on MFC securities)
●	Self-directed IRA accounts
●	Custodial accounts
●	Mutual fund accounts*
●	College investment plans 529s*
●	401(k)/403(b) accounts*
●	Dividend reinvestment program or dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP)
●	Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP/RESP/TFSA)
●	Stock Purchase accounts

*if they have the capability to hold John Hancock Affiliated Funds

Employee Compensation Instruments (non-exclusive list)
You need to report:

●	John Hancock 401(k)
●	MFC Global Share Ownership Plan (GSOP)
●	Options acquired from MFC (only MFC Solium account options that are granted)
●	Public company employer as part of employee compensation
●	Sole discretion accounts
●	Accounts holding John Hancock Affiliated Funds
●	Certain Manulife Pension Plans (RPS, RRSP)

You are not responsible for reporting:

●	MFC Restricted Share Units (RSU)
●	Deferred Share Units (DSU)
●	Performance Share Units (PSU)
●	US John Hancock Pension Plans
●	Employer phantom stock/phantom option interest (granted as compensation to employee, only employer can redeem interest and interest is non-transferrable)

To prevent any potential violations of the Code, you are strongly encouraged to request clarification for accounts that are in question from the Code of Ethics Administration Group INVDIVCodeofEthics@manulife.com.

College Savings Plans - 529s
You must report John Hancock affiliated 529 plans including both the Freedom 529 plan and any other 529 plans that can hold John Hancock Affiliated Funds. You are not required to report transactions or holdings in 529 Plans for which the Adviser or a control affiliate does not manage, distribute, market or underwrite the 529 Plan or the investments and strategies underlying the 529 Plan. If you have any questions about this requirement, please contact the Code of Ethics Administration Group or a member of the Office of the CCO.

401(k) and John Hancock Variable Products: John Hancock Affiliated Funds Reporting
You must report your holdings and trades in a John Hancock Affiliated Funds. This includes voluntary trades in your John Hancock affiliated accounts such as your 401(k) and any external Brokerage Account.

To comply with this requirement, if you purchase a John Hancock variable product you must provide your contract or policy number to the Code of Ethics Administration Group and if you have a John Hancock 401(k), you must you must enter the Brokerage Account on PTCC.

Managed Accounts
Managed Accounts are considered fully managed if neither Access Person nor Household Family Member has no direct influence or control. Prior to the execution of Reportable Securities transactions in the Managed Account, you must obtain approval from the CCO (or designee). Once the Brokerage Account is approved as a Managed Account, in writing from the CCO (or designee) of the Adviser/Trust, the transactions do not need to be pre-cleared. Exemption requests which pose a conflict of interest for the CCO (or designee) will be escalated to the Ethics Oversight Committee for review and consideration.

You may request approval by disclosing the Brokerage Account in the automated compliance system, marking it as a Managed Account and by providing the appropriate evidence as described below. You are required to provide evidence that you or your Household Family Member has no direct or indirect influence or control including not being able to:

1)	Suggest that the trustee or third-party discretionary manager make any particular purchases or sales of Reportable Securities;
2)	Direct the trustee or third-party discretionary manager to make any particular purchases or sales of Reportable Securities; and
3)	Consult with the trustee or third-party discretionary manager as to the particular allocation of investments to be made in your account.

You may also be asked to periodically attest to the status of the Managed Account(s) and provide electronic feeds or duplicate statements.

Preferred Brokerage Account Requirements
You must maintain your Brokerage Accounts at one of the preferred brokers approved by John Hancock. Upon designation as an Access Person, you have 45 calendar days to (i) qualify any non-compliant Brokerage Account as an exempt account or (ii) transfer all assets to a preferred broker and close the non-compliant account. Please note that you are not required to move 401(k) accounts. Exceptions may be granted with the approval from the CCO, its designee, or the Code of Ethics Administration Group. Requests for exceptions to this policy must be submitted in writing to the Code of Ethics Administration Group. A list of the Preferred Brokers can be found in the Appendix.

Opening/Closing Accounts
You are required to report each transaction in any Reportable Security to the Code of Ethics Administration Group. To comply with this requirement, you:

●	Are required to notify the Code of Ethics Administration team within 10 days of opening or closing a Brokerage Account. In the case of a new Brokerage Account in which you have a beneficial interest, you must notify the Code of Ethics Administration Group before any trades are placed.
●	Are required by this Code and by the Insider Trading Policy to inform your broker-dealer that you are employed by a financial institution. Your broker-dealer is subject to certain rules designed to prevent favoritism toward your Brokerage Accounts. You may not accept negotiated commission rates that you believe may be more favorable than the broker grants to accounts with similar characteristics.
●	Must notify the broker-dealer if you are registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or are employed by John Hancock Investment Management Distributors, LLC or John Hancock Distributors, LLC.

Statements and Duplicate Confirmations of Trades
The Code of Ethics Administration Group may rely on information submitted by your broker as part of your reporting requirements under the Code. Upon notification of your Brokerage Account, the Code of Ethics Administration Group will notify the broker-dealer to have duplicate confirmations of any trade, as well as statements or other information concerning the Brokerage Account, sent to:

John Hancock Financial Services
Attention: General Funds Compliance
197 Clarendon Street, C-03-13
Boston, MA 02116

Personal Trading
Personal Trading is a privilege and must always come second to the fiduciary duty you owe to our clients. Below is a list of personal trading restrictions for all Access Persons.

All Access Persons must:

●	Disclose holdings in Reportable Securities (including John Hancock Affiliated Funds and John Hancock Variable Products)
●	Disclose Brokerage Accounts
●	Pre-clear applicable Reportable Securities transactions

Personal Trading Restrictions for all Access Persons
All Access Persons are prohibited from:

●	Profiting from the purchase and sale of a John Hancock Affiliated Fund within 30 calendar days.
●	Engaging in speculative transactions involving MFC securities including: options, hedging or short sales involving securities issues by Manulife.
●	Transacting in securities that appear on the confidential John Hancock Restricted list (pre-clearance requests will be denied).
●	Transacting in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), Private Placements, and Limited Offerings without obtaining proper pre-clearance approval.⁶
●	Transacting in securities while in possession of material nonpublic information including but not limited to: fund events, due diligence visits etc.

An Access Person who either directs 45 or more trades in a quarter or redeems shares of a John Hancock Affiliated Fund within 30 days of purchase, should expect additional scrutiny of his or her trades and he or she may be subject to limitations on the number of trades allowed during a given period.

Reporting and Pre-clearance
As an Access Person, you are required to report to the Code of Ethics Administration Group each transaction in any Reportable Security. You must ensure that all transactions (unless it is an Involuntary Issuer Transaction) and holdings in Reportable Securities are properly reflected in the requisite initial, quarterly and annual reporting certifications. To facilitate the reporting process, please ensure that you have properly disclosed your correct Brokerage Account information to the Code of Ethics Administration Group in the automated compliance system, including the disclosure of participation in the John Hancock 401(k) and Manulife GSOP.

The transaction and holding reporting requirement does not include John Hancock money market funds or any dividend reinvestment, payroll deduction, systematic investment/withdrawal and/or other program trades. Please note that different requirements apply to shares of John Hancock Affiliated Funds, including a 30-day holding period requirement.

As an Access Person, in addition to your reporting obligations, you have pre-clearance obligations for certain securities, depending on your Access Level group. Please see the appropriate access level below, for more detailed information.

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⁶Please note, Level 1 Access Persons and Registered Representatives are prohibited from purchasing IPOs.

Level 1 Access Persons: Additional Personal Trading Restrictions and Disclosures
Please note, there are additional restrictions that apply to all Access Persons listed in the section entitled, “Personal Trading Restrictions for All Access Persons”.

Level 1 Access Persons

●	Pre-clear MFC Securities: You must pre-clear all transactions in MFC securities including stock, company issued options, securities such as debt, and sell transactions in the MFC Global Share Ownership Plan.
●	Pre-clear all of the following securities: You must pre-clear and receive approval prior to transactions in the following securities:

•	Stocks; including sell transactions of MFC Shares held in your Global Share Ownership Plan
•	Bonds;
•	Government securities that are not direct obligations of the U.S. government, such as Fannie Mae, or municipal securities, in each case that mature in more than one year;
•	John Hancock Affiliated Funds;⁷
•	Closed-end funds (including John Hancock affiliated closed-end funds)
•	Options on securities, on indexes, and on currencies;
•	Swaps on securities, on indexes, and on currencies;
•	Limited partnerships;
•	Exchange traded funds and notes;
•	Domestic unit investment trusts;
•	Non-US unit investment trusts and Non-US mutual funds;
•	Private investment funds and hedge funds; and
•	Futures, investment contracts or any other instrument that is considered a “security” under the Securities Act of 1933;
•	Private Placements, limited offerings⁸.

●	Ban on IPOs: You may not acquire securities in an IPO. You may not purchase any newly-issued Reportable Security until it is listed on a public exchange.
●	Seven Day Blackout: You are prohibited from buying or selling a Reportable Security within 7 calendar days before or after that Reportable Security is traded for a fund that the Person manages or for a John Hancock Affiliated Fund unless no conflict of interest exists in relation to that Reportable Security as determined by the Code of Ethics Administration Group.
●	Gifting Reportable Securities: If you gift or donate shares of a Reportable Security it is considered a sale and you must receive pre-clearance approval.
●	Inheriting Reportable Securities: If you inherit shares of a Reportable Security you must notify the Code of Ethics Administration Group within 10 days.

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⁷John Hancock Affiliated open ended mutual funds do not require pre-clearance, only reporting. However, there are certain holding period requirements. A list of John Hancock Affiliated Funds can be found on PTCC.

⁸Level 1 Access Persons are banned from participation in IPOs.

●	30 Day Hold John Hancock Affiliated Funds: You cannot profit from the purchase and sale of a John Hancock Affiliated Funds within 30 calendar days.
●	60 Day Hold: You may not profit from the purchase and sale (or sale and purchase) of the same (or equivalent) Reportable Security (see note on John Hancock Affiliated Funds) within 60 calendar days, also known as a “Ban on Short Term Profits”.

○	Exclusion: pre-clearance requests in a Reportable Security with a market capitalization of $5 billion or more would, in most cases, not be subject to the 60 day hold and would be approved if they are appropriately pre-cleared.

●	Ownership Ban: Securities of Sub-advisers: you are prohibited from owning securities of any sub-adviser of a John Hancock Affiliated Fund.⁹
●	Must promptly disclose:

○	Ownership of Securities Under Consideration for John Hancock Affiliated Fund: Any direct or indirect beneficial interest in a Reportable Security that is under consideration for purchase or sale in a John Hancock Affiliated Fund.
○	Private Placement Conflicts: You must disclose holdings of any Reportable Securities purchased in a private placement when you participate in a decision to purchase or sell that same issuer’s securities for a John Hancock Affiliated Fund.

●	Restriction on Securities Under Active Consideration: You are prohibited from buying or selling a Reportable Security if the Reportable Security is being actively traded by a John Hancock Affiliated Fund.

○	Exceptions:

■	De Minimis Trading: pre-clearance requests for 500 shares or less of a particular Reportable Security within a market value of $25K or less, aggregated daily, would, in most cases, not be subject to the 7- day blackout period restrictions and the restriction on actively traded securities.
■	Market Cap Securities: pre-clearance requests in a Reportable Security with a market capitalization of $5B or more would not be subject to the blackout period restrictions and the restriction on actively traded securities.

●	Pre-clearance of Exchange Traded Funds/Exchange Traded Notes (ETF/ETN) and Options on Reportable Securities: you are required to pre-clear ETFs, ETNs and Options on Reportable Securities.

○	Exceptions to the pre-clearance requirement for ETF/ETN or options on Reportable Securities (provided it is not a John Hancock Affiliated Fund):

○	has an average market capitalization of $5 billion or more;
○	is based on a non-covered security;
○	or is based on a Broad-Based Index.

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⁹MFC securities are excluded from Level 1 & Level 2 sub-adviser ownership prohibition. The list of securities of sub-advisers can be found on the automated compliance system or upon request from the CCO.

●	Prohibition on Investment Clubs, Good Until Canceled Orders, or Limit Orders: You may not participate in:

○	investment clubs,
○	“good until cancelled orders”, or
○	“limit orders” unless the limit orders are day orders that automatically expire at the end of the trading day and cancel any orders that have not been executed.

Investment Professionals Only
Level 1 Access Persons who are “Investment Professionals” (Analysts and Portfolio Managers) must disclose the following:

○	Ownership of 5% or Greater: 5% or greater interest in a company, John Hancock Affiliated Funds and its affiliates may not make any investment in that company;
○	Ownership of 1% or greater 1% or greater interest in a company, you cannot participate in any decision by John Hancock Funds and its affiliates to buy or sell that company’s securities;
○	ANY other interest in a company, you cannot recommend or participate in a decision by John Hancock Affiliated Funds, and its affiliates to buy or sell that company’s securities unless your personal interest is fully disclosed at all stages of the investment decision.

In such instances, you must initially disclose that beneficial interest orally to the primary portfolio manager (or other appropriate analyst) of the Affiliated Fund(s) or account or the appropriate Chief Investment Officer. Following the oral disclosure, you must send a written acknowledgement to the primary portfolio manager with a copy to the Code of Ethics Administration Group.

Level 2 Access Persons: Additional Personal Trading Restrictions and Disclosures
Please note, there are additional restrictions that apply to all Access Persons listed in the section entitled, “Personal Trading Restrictions for All Access Persons”.

Level 2 Access Persons:

●	Pre-clear MFC Securities: You must pre-clear all transactions in MFC securities including stock, company issued options, sell transactions in the MFC Global Share Ownership Plan, and any other securities such as debt.
●	Pre-clear the following securities: You must pre-clear and receive approval prior to transactions in the following securities:

•	Stocks; including sell transactions of MFC Shares held in your Global Share Ownership Plan
•	Bonds;
•	Government securities that are not direct obligations of the U.S. government, such as Fannie Mae, or municipal securities, in each case that mature in more than one year;

•	John Hancock Affiliated Funds;¹⁰
•	Closed-end funds (including John Hancock affiliated closed-end funds)
•	Options on securities, on indexes, and on currencies;
•	Swaps on securities, on indexes, and on currencies;
•	Limited partnerships;
•	Exchange traded funds and notes;
•	Domestic unit investment trusts;
•	Non-US unit investment trusts and Non-US mutual funds;
•	Private investment funds and hedge funds; and
•	Futures, investment contracts or any other instrument that is considered a “security” under the Securities Act of 1933;
•	IPOs¹¹, Private Placements, limited offerings.

●	Three Day Blackout Period: You are prohibited from knowingly buying or selling a Reportable Security within three calendar days before and after that Reportable Security is traded for a John Hancock Affiliated Fund unless no conflict of interest exists in relation to that Reportable Security as determined by the Code of Ethics Administration Group.
●	Gifting Reportable Securities: If you gift or donate shares of a Reportable Security the transaction is considered a sale and you must receive pre-clearance approval.
●	Inheriting Reportable Securities: If you inherit shares of a Reportable Security you must notify the Code of Ethics Administration Group within 10 days.
●	30 Day Hold John Hancock Affiliated Funds: You cannot profit from the purchase and sale of a John Hancock Affiliated Funds within 30 calendar days.
●	60 Day Hold: You may not profit from the purchase and sale (or sale and purchase) of the same (or equivalent) Reportable Security within 60 calendar days, also known as a “Ban on Short Term Profits”.

○	Exclusion: pre-clearance requests in a Reportable Security with a market capitalization of $5 billion or more would, in most cases, not be subject to the Ban on Short Term Profits, and would be approved if they are appropriately pre-cleared.

●	Ownership Ban: Securities of Sub-advisers: you are prohibited from owning securities of any sub-adviser of a John Hancock Affiliated Fund.¹²
●	Restriction on Securities Under Active Consideration: You are prohibited from buying or selling a Reportable Security if the security is being actively traded by a John Hancock Affiliated Fund.

○	Exceptions:

■	De Minimis Trading: pre-clearance requests for 500 shares or less of a particular Reportable Security within a market value of $25K or less, aggregated daily, would, in most cases, not be subject to the 7- day blackout period restrictions and the restriction on actively traded securities.

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¹⁰John Hancock Affiliated open ended mutual funds do not require pre-clearance, only reporting. However, there are certain holding period requirements.

¹¹Level 1 Access Persons are banned from participation in IPOs.

¹²MFC securities are excluded from Level 1 &Level 2 sub-adviser ownership prohibition. The list of securities of sub-advisers can be found on the automated compliance system or upon request from the CCO.

■	Market Cap Securities: pre-clearance requests in a Reportable Security with a market capitalization of $5B or more would not be subject to the blackout period restrictions and the restriction on actively traded securities.

●	Pre-clearance of Exchange Traded Funds/Exchange Traded Notes (ETF/ETN) and Options on Reportable Securities: you are required to pre-clear ETFs, ETNs and Options on Reportable Securities.

○	Exceptions to the pre-clearance requirement for ETF/ETN or options on Reportable Securities (provided it is not a John Hancock Affiliated Fund):

■	has an average market capitalization of $5 billion or more;
■	is based on a non-covered security;
■	or is based on a Broad-Based Index.

●	Prohibition on Investment Clubs, Good Until Canceled Orders, or Limit Orders: You may not participate in:

○	investment clubs,
○	“good until cancelled orders”, or
○	“limit orders” unless the limit orders are day orders that automatically expire at the end of the trading day and cancel any orders that have not been executed.

Level 3 Access Persons: Additional Personal Trading Restrictions and Disclosures
Please note, there are additional restrictions that apply to all Access Persons listed in the section entitled, “Personal Trading Restrictions for All Access Persons”.

Level 3 Access Persons:

●	Pre-clear transactions in:

○	closed-end funds and exchange traded funds advised by a John Hancock Adviser
○	transactions in IPOs
○	private placements and limited offerings.

●	Gift or Donation of Reportable Securities: You must obtain pre-clearance approval prior to gifting or donating any Reportable Securities transactions that would require pre-clearance.
●	Inheritance of Reportable Securities: If you inherit shares of a Reportable Security you must notify the Code of Ethics Administration Group within 10 days.
●	30 Day Hold John Hancock Affiliated Funds: You cannot profit from the purchase and sale of a John Hancock Affiliated Funds within 30 calendar days.

An Access level 3 Person is not required to pre-clear other trades. However, please keep in mind that an Access level 3 Person is required to report Reportable Securities transactions after every trade (even those that are not required to be pre-cleared) by requiring your broker to submit duplicate confirmation statements or electronic feeds to the Code of Ethics Administration Group. You must also ensure that all transactions in Reportable Securities are properly reported on your quarterly transaction/annual holdings certification.

Pre-clearance Process
You may request a trade pre-clearance through the automated compliance system, PTCC.

Please note that:

●	You may not trade until clearance approval is received.
●	Clearance approval is valid only for the date granted (i.e. the pre-clearance requested date and the trade date should be the same).
●	A separate procedure should be followed for requesting pre-clearance of an IPO, a private placement, or a limited offering in PTCC.

Certain transactions in securities that would normally require pre-clearance are exempt from the pre-clearance requirement in the following situations: (1) shares are being purchased as part of an Automatic Investment Plan; (2) shares are being purchased as part of a dividend reinvestment plan; or (3) transactions are being made in a Managed/discretionary account, an account over which you have designated a third party as having sole discretion to trade (you must have approval from the CCO (or designee) to establish a discretionary account).

Reporting and Certification Requirements

Reporting
All Access Persons, regardless of their level, must complete and submit reports and certifications to compliance using PTCC, the automated compliance system, in an accurate and timely manner as described below.

Reporting Upon Designation
Within 10 calendar days after designation as an Access Person, you must complete and submit to compliance using PTCC:

●	Initial Holdings Report: A report of all Brokerage Accounts (please see the definition section) that hold or have the ability to hold any Reportable Securities and all Reportable Securities holdings current as of the date you became an Access Person.
●	Initial Certification of Compliance: Certify to your understanding of the Code of Ethics.
●	Initial Training: Certify that you have attended a training on the Code of Ethics Policy.

Quarterly Reporting
Within 30 calendar days after the end of each calendar quarter, you must complete and submit to compliance using PTCC:

●	Quarterly Certification: a report of all Brokerage Accounts and all transactions in Reportable Securities (including transactions in John Hancock Affiliated Funds, including sell transactions in your Global Share Ownership Plan (GSOP) and voluntary transactions, such as fund exchanges, in your John Hancock 401(k)).
●	Managed Account Certification: A certification of related to your Managed Accounts (only if applicable).

Additional transaction notes:

●	All transactions in John Hancock Affiliated Funds and Variable Products must be reported.
●	Only sell transactions of MFC stock in your Global Share Ownership Plan (GSOP) need to be reported.
●	Only voluntary transactions, such as fund exchanges, need to be reported for transactions in your John Hancock 401(k) Savings account.

For each Brokerage Account you must certify that the following information is captured accurately:

●	Account number
●	Brokerage Firm

For each transaction required to be reported you must certify the following information was captured accurately:

●	the date of the transaction, the title, and as applicable the exchange ticker symbol or CUSIP number, interest rate and maturity date, number of shares, and principal amount of each Reportable Security involved;
●	the nature of the transaction (i.e. purchase, sale or any other type of acquisition or disposition);
●	the price at which the transaction was effected;
●	the name of the broker, dealer or bank with or through which the transaction was effected.

Annual Reporting
At a date designated by the Code of Ethics Administration Group, at least annually (or additionally when the Code has been materially changed), you must complete and submit to compliance:

●	Annual Holdings Report: disclosing all of your Brokerage Accounts that hold or can hold any Reportable Securities and all holdings in Reportable Securities, current as of a date not more than 45 days before the report is submitted.

○	John Hancock Affiliated Funds & Variable Products holdings must be reported, regardless of where they are held.
○	Global Share Ownership holdings of Manulife Financial Corporation, Inc. (MFC) stock must be reported.

●	Annual (or additionally when the Code has been materially changed) Certification of Code of Ethics: acknowledging that you have received, read, and complied with the requirements of the Code of Ethics.

Ad Hoc Reporting
Throughout the year you must complete and submit to compliance:

●	Brokerage Account Changes: You are required to promptly notify (within 10 days) Compliance of any applicable account changes.
●	Changes to the Code of Ethics: You are required to complete an additional certification of compliance stating that you read, received and understood material changes to the Code of Ethics.

Administration and Enforcement

Administration of the Code

Sub-adviser Compliance
A sub-adviser to a John Hancock Affiliated Fund has a number of Code of Ethics responsibilities:

●	The sub-adviser must have adopted their own code of ethics in accordance with Rule 204A-1(b) under the Advisers Act which has been approved by the Board of Trustees;
●	On a quarterly basis, each sub-adviser certifies compliance with their Code of Ethics or reports material violations if such have occurred; and
●	Each sub-advisor must report quarterly to the CCO (or designee), any material changes to its Code of Ethics.

Adoption and Approval
The Board of a John Hancock Affiliated Fund, including a majority of the Fund’s Independent Board Members, must approve the Code of Ethics of the Fund’s adviser, sub-adviser or principal underwriter (if an affiliate of the underwriter serves as a Board member or officer of the Fund or the adviser) before initially retaining its services.

Each material change to a Code of Ethics of a sub-adviser to a fund must be approved by the Board of the John Hancock Affiliated Fund, including a majority of the Fund’s Independent Board Members, no later than six months after adoption of the material change.

The Board may only approve the Code if they determine that the Code:

●	Contains provisions reasonably necessary to prevent the subadviser’s Access Persons (as defined in Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act and Rule 204A-1 under the Advisers Act) from engaging in any conduct prohibited by Rule 17j-1 and 204A-1;
●	Requires the sub-adviser’s Access Persons to make reports to at least the extent required in Rule 17j-1(d) and Rule 204A-1(b);
●	Requires the sub-adviser to institute appropriate procedures for review of these reports by management or compliance personnel (as contemplated by Rule 17j-1(d)(3) and Rule 204 A-1(a)(3));
●	Provides for notification of the sub-adviser’s Access Persons in accordance with Rule 17j-1(d)(4) and Rule 204A-1(a)(5);
●	Requires the sub-adviser’s Access Persons who are Investment Personnel to obtain the pre- clearances required by Rule 17j-1(e); and
●	Requires the sub-adviser’s Access Persons to obtain the pre-clearances required by Rule 204A- 1(c).

The CCO of the John Hancock Affiliated Funds oversees each of the fund’s sub-adviser to ensure compliance with each of the provisions included in this section.

Sub-adviser Reporting & Recordkeeping Requirements
Each sub-adviser must complete an annual Code of Ethics questionnaire and certification as to their compliance under Rule 17j-1 and summary of any violation to the relevant John Hancock Adviser, whom present summaries to the Board of Trustees annually during their 2nd quarter meeting (which is typically held in June).

Reporting to the Board
No less frequently than annually, the Office of the CCO will furnish to the Board of Trustees a written report that:

●	describes issues that arose during the previous year under the Code of Ethics or the related procedures, including, but not limited to, information about material Code or procedure violations, as well as any sanctions imposed in response to the material violations, and
●	certifies that each entity, including the sub-advisers have adopted procedures reasonably necessary to prevent its Access Persons from violating its Code of Ethics,
●	Any material changes to the Code are presented to the Trustees within six months for their approval.

The CCO of the John Hancock Affiliated Funds oversees each of the fund’s sub-adviser to ensure compliance with each of the provisions included in this section.

Reporting Violations
If you know of any violation of the Code, you have a responsibility to promptly report it to the CCO of your company. You should also report any deviations from the controls and procedures that safeguard John Hancock and the assets of our clients.

Since we cannot anticipate every situation that will arise, it is important that we have a way to approach questions and concerns. Always ask first, act later. If you are unsure of what to do in any situation, seek guidance before you act.

Speak to your manager, a member of the Human Resources Department or Legal Department or your divisional compliance officer if you have:

●	a doubt about a particular situation;
●	a question or concern about a business practice; or
●	a question about potential conflicts of interest

You may report suspected or potential illegal or unethical behavior without fear of retaliation. John Hancock does not permit retaliation of any kind for good faith reports of illegal or unethical behavior. Concerns about potential or suspected illegal or unethical behavior should be referred to a member of the Human Resources or Legal Department. John Hancock relies on the Manulife Code of Business Conduct which advises that unethical, unprofessional, illegal, fraudulent or other questionable behavior may also be reported by calling a confidential toll-free Ethics Hotline at 1-866-294-9534 or at www.ManulifeEthics.com.

Exemptions & Appeals
Exemptions: to the Code may be granted by the CCO (or designee) where supported by applicable facts and circumstances. If you believe that you have a situation that warrants an exemption to any of the rules and restrictions of this Code you need to submit a written request to the CCO (or designee). All requests will be reviewed on a case by case basis. The CCO (or designee) will provide a written response detailing its decision once the review has been completed.

Exemption requests which pose a conflict of interest for the CCO will be escalated to the Ethics Oversight Committee for review and consideration.

Appeals: If you believe that your request has been incorrectly denied or that an action is not warranted, you may appeal the decision. To make an appeal, you need to give the CCO (or designee) of the Adviser/Trust a written explanation of your reasons for appeal within 30 days of the date that you were informed of the decision. Be sure to include any extenuating circumstances or other factors not previously considered. During the review process, you may, at your own expense, engage an attorney to represent you. The Code of Ethics Administration Group may arrange for Ethics Oversight Committee or other parties to be part of the review process.

Interpretation and Enforcement
The Code cannot anticipate every situation in which personal interests may be in conflict with the interests of our clients and fund investors. You should be responsive to the spirit and intent of the Code as well as its specific provisions.

When any doubt exists regarding any Code provision or whether a conflict of interest with clients or fund investors might exist, you should discuss the situation in advance with the CCO (or designee) of your company. The Code is designed to detect and prevent fraud against clients and fund investors, and to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

The CCO has general administrative responsibility for the Code as it applies to the covered employees; an appropriate member of the Code of Ethics Administration Group will administer procedures to review personal trading activity. The Code of Ethics Administration Group also regularly reviews the forms and reports it receives. If these reviews uncover information that is incomplete, questionable, or potentially in violation of the rules in this document, the Code of Ethics Administration Group will investigate the matter and may contact you.

The Board of the John Hancock Affiliated Funds approve material amendments to the Code and authorize sanctions imposed on Access Persons of the Funds. Accordingly, the Code of Ethics Administration Group will refer violations to the CCO of the Trust/Adviser (or designee) for further review and action, including determination if the matter should be presented to the Ethics Oversight Committee and/or the Board of Trustees for recommended action.

The following factors will be considered when determining a fine or other disciplinary action:

●	the person's position and function (senior personnel may be held to a higher standard);
●	the amount of the trade;
●	whether the John Hancock Affiliated Funds hold the security and were trading the same day;
●	whether the violation was by a family member;
●	whether the person has had a prior violation and which policy was involved; and
●	whether the employee self-reported the violation.

John Hancock takes all rule violations seriously and, at least once a year, provides the Board of the John Hancock Affiliated Funds with a summary of all material violations and sanctions, significant conflicts of interest and other related issues for their review. Sanctions for violations could include (but are not limited to) fines, disgorgement, limitations on personal trading activity, suspension or termination of the Covered Person's position with John Hancock and/or a report to the appropriate regulatory authority.

You should be aware that other Securities Laws and regulations not addressed by the Code may also apply to you, depending on your role at John Hancock.

The CCO of the Adviser/Trust (or designee) and the Ethics Oversight Committee retain the discretion to interpret the Code’s provisions and to decide how they apply to any given situation.

Education of Employees
This Code constitutes the Code of Ethics required by Rule 17j-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and by Rule 204A-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The Code of Ethics Administration Group will provide a copy of the Code (and any amendments) to each person subject to the Code. The Code of Ethics Administration Group in coordination with the CCO or designee will also administer initial and annual training to employees on the principles and procedures of the Code and other related policies.

Recordkeeping
The Code of Ethics Administration Group will maintain a:

●	Copy of the current Code for John Hancock and a copy of each Code of Ethics in effect at any time within the past five years.
●	Record of any violation of the Code, and of any action taken as a result of the violation, for six years.
●	Copy of each report made by an Access Person under the Code, for six years (the first two years in a readily accessible place).
●	Record of all persons, currently or within the past five years, who are or were, required to make reports under the Code. This record will also indicate who was responsible for reviewing these reports.
●	Record of any decision, and the reasons supporting the decision, to approve the acquisition by an Access Level I Persons of IPOs or private placement securities, for six years.
●	Record of any decision, and the reasons supporting the decision, to approve the acquisition by an Access Person of the John Hancock Advisers IPOs or private placement securities, for six years.

Other Important Policies
The John Hancock Affiliated Funds have additional policies or may rely on certain MFC policies. Summary excerpts of such policies are listed below please review each full policy for additional details.

MFC Code of Business Conduct & Ethics (All Covered Employees)
The MFC Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the MFC Code) provides standards for ethical behavior when representing the Company and when dealing with employees, field representatives, customers, investors, external suppliers, competitors, government authorities and the public.

The MFC Code applies to directors, officers and employees of MFC, its subsidiaries and controlled affiliates. Sales representatives and third-party business associates are also expected to abide by all applicable provisions of the MFC Code and adhere to the principles and values set out in the MFC Code when representing Manulife to the public or performing services for, or on behalf of, Manulife.

Other important issues in the MFC Code include:

●	MFC values;
●	Ethics in workplace;
●	Ethics in business relationships;
●	Conflicts of Interest;
●	Handling information;
●	Receiving or giving of gifts, entertainment or favors;
●	Misuse or misrepresentation of your corporate position;
●	Disclosure of confidential or proprietary information;
●	Disclosure of outside business activities;
●	Antitrust activities; and
●	Political campaign contributions and expenditures relating to public officials.

John Hancock Conflicts of Interest Policy (All Covered Employees)
Conflicts of Interest are both inherent to the investment advisory business and also exist as a result of our unique organizational structure. The Conflicts of Interest Policy governs organizational/Adviser conflicts, rather than personal conflicts (such as outside business activities or gifts and entertainment). Our fiduciary obligation as an adviser to the Funds requires us to effectively disclose and/or manage these conflicts, which we do today through various documents and controls, and ultimately to act in the best interest of our clients and the Fund shareholders.

John Hancock Gift & Entertainment Policy (All Covered Employees)
You are subject to the Gift and Entertainment Policy for the John Hancock Advisers which is designed to prevent the appearance of an impropriety, potential conflict of interest or improper payment.

The Gift & Entertainment Policy covers many issues relating to giving and accepting of gifts and entertainment when dealing with business partners, such as:

●	Gift & Business Entertainment Limits
●	Restrictions on Gifts & Entertainment
●	Reporting of Gifts & Entertainment

John Hancock Insider Trading Policy (All Covered Employees)
The antifraud provisions of the federal Securities Laws generally prohibit persons with material nonpublic information from trading on or communicating the information to others. Sanctions for violations can include civil injunctions, permanent bars from the securities industry, civil penalties up to three times the profits made or losses avoided, criminal fines and jail sentences. While Access Level I Persons are most likely to come in contact with material nonpublic information, the rules (and sanctions) in this area apply to all persons covered under this code and extend to activities both related and unrelated to your job duties.

The John Hancock Insider Trading Policy (the Insider Trading Policy) covers a number of important issues, such as:

●	Possession, misuse and access to material nonpublic information

John Hancock Pay to Play Rule on Political Contributions (All Covered Associates)
The Pay to Play rule restricts Investment Advisers and certain employees who fall within the definition of Covered Associates from making contributions to elected officials (including incumbents, candidates, or successful candidates for an elective office of a government entity) who may be able to influence the selection of the investment adviser to manage the assets of government entities (any state or political subdivision of a state). The rule has three primary elements:

●	A two-year prohibition on an adviser’s providing compensated investment advisory services to a government entity after a contribution has been made by the adviser or one of its covered associates;
●	A prohibition on the use of third-party solicitors who are not themselves regulated persons subject to pay-to-play restrictions on political contributions; and
●	A prohibition on bundling and other efforts by advisers to solicit political contributions to certain officials of a government entity to which the adviser is seeking to provide services.

Sanctions for violating the rule include a prohibition from receiving compensation for providing advisory services to a fund in which such government entity’s participant-directed plan or program invests for two years thereafter, otherwise known as a “time-out” period.

John Hancock Whistleblower Policy (All Covered Employees)
The Committees of the mutual funds’ Board of Trustees investigate improprieties or suspected improprieties in the operations of the Funds and has established procedures for the confidential, anonymous submission by employees of John Hancock Investment Management, LLC and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers, LLC. (collectively the “Advisers”) or any other provider of services to the Funds or Advisers of complaints regarding accounting, internal accounting controls, auditing matters or violations of the Securities Laws. The objective of this policy is to provide a mechanism by which complaints and concerns regarding accounting, internal accounting controls, auditing matters or violations of Securities Laws may be raised and addressed without the fear or threat of retaliation. The funds desire and expect that the employees and officers of the Advisers, or any other service provider to the funds will report any complaints or concerns they may have regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters.

Persons may submit complaints or concerns to the attention of funds’ CCO (or designee) by sending a letter or other writing to the funds’ principal executive offices, by telephone call to or an email to the Ethics Hotline, Ethics Hotline can be reached at 1-866-294-9534, or through the Ethicspoint website at www.manulifeethics.com. The Ethics Hotline and Ethicspoint website are operated by an independent third party, which maintains the anonymity of all complaints.

Complaints and concerns may be made anonymously to the funds’ CCO (or designee) or the respective Committee’s Chairperson. Furthermore, nothing in this policy prohibits reporting possible violations of applicable law or regulation to any governmental agency or entity, including but not limited to the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Congress, and any agency Inspector General, or making other disclosures that are protected under the whistleblower provisions of applicable law or regulation.

Policy and Procedures Regarding Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings (All Covered Employees)
It is our policy not to disclose nonpublic information regarding Fund portfolio holdings except in the limited circumstances noted in this Policy. You can only provide nonpublic information regarding portfolio holdings to any person, including affiliated persons, on a “need to know” basis (i.e., the person receiving the information must have a legitimate business purpose for obtaining the information prior to it being publicly available and you must have a legitimate business purpose for disclosing the information in this manner). We consider nonpublic information regarding Fund portfolio holdings to be confidential and the intent of the policy and procedures is to guard against selective disclosure of such information in a manner that would not be in the best interest of Fund shareholders.

Additional Policies Outside the Code (All Covered Employees)

●	Policy Regarding Dissemination of Mutual Fund Portfolio Information
●	Manulife Financial Corporation Anti-Fraud Policy
●	John Hancock Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Anti-Terrorist Financing (ATF) Program
●	Conflict of Interest Rules for Directors and Officers
●	John Hancock Non-Cash Compensation Policy

Appendix

Definitions

Access Person:
You are an “Access Person” if you are a “Supervised Person” who has access to nonpublic information regarding any client’s purchase or sale of securities, or nonpublic information regarding the portfolio holdings of any John Hancock Affiliated Fund, or who is involved in making securities recommendations to clients, or who has access to such recommendations that are nonpublic.

Automatic Investment Plan:
Means a program in which regular periodic purchases (or withdrawals) are made automatically in (or from) investment accounts in accordance with a predetermined schedule and allocation. An Automatic Investment Plan includes a dividend reinvestment plan.

Beneficial Ownership:
Means the opportunity, directly or indirectly, to profit or share in any profit (for loss) derived from a Reportable Securities transaction. This includes Reportable Securities held by an Access Person’s Household Family Member and Covered Securities held through certain family trusts, family custodial accounts, entities controlled by the Access Person, portfolios from which the Supervised Person may receive a performance fee, and other circumstances in which the Access Person may profit, directly or indirectly through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship, or otherwise, from transactions in the respective Reportable Securities, as defined further in Rule 16a-1 (a) (2) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Broad-Based Index:
For the purposed of this Code a Broad-Based Index will include the following:

●	the S&P 100, S&P Midcap 400, S&P 500, FTSE 100, and Nikkei 225;
●	Direct obligations of the U. S. Government (e.g., treasury securities)
●	Indirect obligations of the U.S. Government with a maturity of less than 1 year (GNMA)
●	Commodities;
●	Foreign currency

Brokerage Account:
Any of your accounts:

●	Which have the capability to hold Reportable Securities;
●	Accounts of your spouse, Significant Other, minor children or family members sharing your household (together, “Household Members”);

●	Accounts in which you or your Household Members have a Beneficial Ownership;
●	Accounts over which you have discretion, give advice or information or have Power of Attorney (POA).

Covered Person:
Includes all “Access Persons” as defined under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17j-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), and “Supervised Persons” as defined under SEC Rule 204A-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”).

Household Family Member:
An Access Person’s spouse, Significant Other, minor children, or other family member who also shares the same household as the Access Person.

Investment Professionals:
Means a Supervised Person who are either Portfolio Managers, Analysts, and Traders.

Involuntary Issuer Transaction:
Transaction where the account owner has not determined the timing as to when the purchase or sale transaction will occur or the amount of shares purchased or sold, i.e. making changes to existing positions or asset allocations within the John Hancock retirement plans, buying or selling shares of a Reportable Security, etc.

Involuntary Issuer Transactions include:

●	transactions which result from a corporate action applicable to all similar security holders (such as splits, tender offers, mergers, stock dividends, etc.); or
●	automatic dividend reinvestment and stock purchase plan acquisitions.

Please note: any transaction that overrides the pre-set schedule or allocations must be included in a quarterly transaction report.

John Hancock Affiliated Fund:
For the purposes of this Code, a John Hancock Affiliated Fund shall include both:

●	a “John Hancock Mutual Fund” (i.e., a 1940 Act mutual fund that is advised or subadvised by a John Hancock Adviser or by another Manulife entity); or
●	“John Hancock Variable Product” (i.e., contracts funded by insurance company separate accounts that use one or more portfolios of John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust).
●	Any other financial product or security advised or sub-advised by a John Hancock Adviser or John Hancock Insurance or another Manulife entity.

The definition for John Hancock Affiliated Fund does not include John Hancock money market funds. A list of John Hancock Affiliated Funds can be found on PTCC.

John Hancock Variable Products:
Contracts funded by insurance company separate accounts that use one or more portfolios of John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust.

Managed Account:
Any account over which neither you nor a Household Family Member has direct or indirect influence or control and cannot a) suggest purchases or sales of investments to the trustee or third-party discretionary manager; b) direct purchases or sales of investments; or c) consult with the trustee or third-party discretionary manager as to the particular allocation of investments to be made in the account.

Private Placements:
Securities exempt from SEC registration under section 4(2), section 4(6) and/or rules 504–506 under the Securities Act.

Reportable Securities:
Means any note, stock, treasury stock, security future, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, fractional undivided interest in oil, gas, or other mineral rights, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security (including a certificate of deposit) or on any group or index of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a “security”, or any certificate of interest or participation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, guaranty of, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase any of the foregoing, except it should not include:

(i) Direct obligations of the Government of the United States;

(ii) Bankers' acceptances, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper and high quality short-term debt instruments, including repurchase agreements;

(iii) Shares issued by money market funds;

(iv) Shares issued by open-end funds other than reportable funds; and

(v) Shares issued by unit investment trusts that are invested exclusively in one or more open-end funds, none of which are reportable funds.

Please note: Reportable Securities includes both John Hancock Affiliated Funds and John Hancock Variable Products.

Securities Laws:
Means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, any rules adopted by the SEC under any of these statutes, the Bank Secrecy Act as it applies to funds and investment advisers, and any rules adopted there under by the SEC or the Department of the Treasury.

Significant Others:
Two people who (1) share the same primary residence; (2) share living expenses; and (3) are in a committed relationship and intend to remain in the relationship indefinitely.

Supervised Person:
Is defined by the Advisers Act to mean a partner, officer, director (or other person occupying a similar status or performing similar functions) or employee, as well as any other person who provides advice on behalf of the adviser and is subject to the adviser’s supervision and control. However, in reliance on the Prudential no-action letter, John Hancock does not treat as a “Supervised Employee” any of its “non-advisory personnel”, as defined below.

In reliance on the Prudential no-action letter, John Hancock treats as an “Advisory Person” any “Supervised Employee” who is involved, directly, or indirectly, in John Hancock Financial Services investment advisory activities, as well as any “Supervised Employee” who is an Access Person. John Hancock treats as “non-advisory personnel”, and does not treat as a Supervised Person, those individuals who have no involvement, directly or indirectly, in John Hancock investment advisory activities, and who are not Access Persons.

Preferred Brokers List
Preferred Brokers List While employed by John Hancock, you must maintain your Brokerage Accounts at one of the preferred brokers approved by John Hancock. The following are the preferred brokers:

Ameriprise		Sanders Morris Harris
Bank of Oklahoma		Scottrade
Bank of Texas		Stifel
Barclays Wealth Management		TD Ameritrade
Brave Warrior Advisors		T. Rowe Price
Charles Schwab		Thompson Davis & Co.
Chase Investment Services		UBS
Citigroup		US Trust
Constellation Wealth Management		Vanguard
Credit Suisse		Robert W. Baird & Co.
DB Alex Brown
Edward Jones
E*Trade
Fidelity
First Republic
Goldman Sachs Wealth Management
HSBC Private Bank
Interactive Brokers
JB Were
JP Morgan Private Bank
JP Morgan Securities
Lincoln Financial
Merrill Lynch & Bank of America
Morgan Stanley Private Wealth
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
Northern Trust
Northern Trust Institutional
Oppenheimer & Co.
OptionsXpress
Pershing Advisor Solutions
Piper Jaffray
Raymond James
Revolution Capital

Compliance Contacts

Entity	Chief Compliance Officer
John Hancock Investment Management, LLC	Frank Knox – 617-663-2430
John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers, LLC	Frank Knox
Each open-end and closed-end fund advised by a John Hancock Adviser	Frank Knox
John Hancock Investment Management Distributors, LLC	Michael Mahoney - 617-663-3021
John Hancock Distributors, LLC	Michael Mahoney

Code of Ethics Contacts	E-mail
Code of Ethics Administration Group	INVDIVCodeofEthics@manulife. com

John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust
John Hancock Funds
John Hancock Funds Ii
john Hancock Exchange-Traded Fund Trust

Sarbanes-Oxley Code of Ethics
for
Principal Executive, Principal Financial Officer & Treasurer

I. Covered Officers/Purpose of the Code
This code of ethics (this “Code”) for John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust, John Hancock Funds¹, and John Hancock Funds II, John Hancock Exchange-Traded Fund Trust and, each a registered management investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940 Act”), which may issue shares in separate and distinct series (each investment company and series thereunder to be hereinafter referred to as a “Fund”), applies to each Fund’s Principal Executive Officer (“President”), Principal Financial Officer (“Chief Financial Officer”) and Treasurer (“Treasurer”) (the “Covered Officers” as set forth in Exhibit A) for the purpose of promoting:

➢	honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships;
➢	full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in reports and documents that the Fund files with, or submits to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and in other public communications made by the Fund;
➢	compliance with applicable laws and governmental rules and regulations;
➢	the prompt internal reporting of violations of the Code to an appropriate person or persons identified in the Code; and
➢	accountability for adherence to the Code.

____________________

¹ John Hancock Funds includes the following trusts: John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund; John Hancock Bond Trust; John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund; John Hancock Capital Series; John Hancock Funds III; John Hancock Income Securities Trust; John Hancock Investment Trust; John Hancock Investment Trust II; John Hancock Investors Trust; John Hancock Municipal Securities Trust; John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund ; John Hancock Preferred Income Fund; John Hancock Preferred Income Fund II; John Hancock Preferred Income Fund III; John Hancock Sovereign Bond Fund; John Hancock Strategic Series; John Hancock Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund; John Hancock Tax-Advantaged Global Shareholder Yield Fund; John Hancock Hedged Equity and Income Fund; and John Hancock Collateral Trust.

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Each of the Covered Officers should adhere to a high standard of business ethics and should be sensitive to situations that may give rise to actual as well as apparent conflicts of interest.

II. Covered Officers Should Handle Ethically Actual and Apparent Conflicts of Interest Overview
A “conflict of interest” occurs when a Covered Officer’s private interest interferes with the interests of, or his service to, the Fund. For example, a conflict of interest would arise if a Covered Officer, or a member of his family, receives improper personal benefits as a result of his position with the Fund. Certain conflicts of interest arise out of the relationships between the Covered Officers and the Fund and already are subject to conflict of interest provisions in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”) and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Advisers Act”). For example, Covered Officers may not individually engage in certain transactions (such as the purchase or sale of securities or other property) with the Fund because of their status as “affiliated persons” of the Fund. Each of the Covered Officers is an officer or employee of the investment adviser or a service provider (“Service Provider”) to the Fund. The Fund’s, the investment adviser’s and the Service Provider’s compliance programs and procedures are designed to prevent, or identify and correct, violations of these provisions. This Code does not, and is not intended to, repeat or replace these programs and procedures, and such conflicts fall outside of the parameters of this Code.

Although typically not presenting an opportunity for improper personal benefit, conflicts arise from, or as a result of, the contractual relationship between the Fund and the investment adviser and the Service Provider of which the Covered Officers are also officers or employees. As a result, this Code recognizes that the Covered Officers will, in the normal course of their duties (whether formally for the Fund, for the investment adviser or for the Service Provider), be involved in establishing policies and implementing decisions which will have different effects on the investment adviser, the Service Provider and the Fund. The participation of the Covered Officers in such activities is inherent in the contractual relationship between the Fund and the investment adviser and the Service Provider and is consistent with the performance by the Covered Officers of their duties as officers of the Fund. Thus, if such participation is performed in conformity with the provisions of the Investment Company Act and the Investment Advisers Act, it will be deemed to have been handled ethically. In addition, it is recognized by the Fund’s Board of Trustees/Directors (the “Board”) that the Covered Officers may also be officers or employees of one or more other investment companies covered by other Codes.

Other conflicts of interest are covered by the Code, even if such conflicts of interest are not subject to provisions in the Investment Company Act and the Investment Advisers Act. The following list provides examples of conflicts of interest under the Code, but the Covered Officers should keep in mind that these examples are not exhaustive. The overarching principle is that the personal interest of a Covered Officer should not be placed improperly before the interest of the Fund.

* * *

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Each Covered Officer must:

➢	not use his/her personal influence or personal relationships improperly to influence investment decisions or financial reporting by the Fund whereby the Covered Officer would benefit personally to the detriment of the Fund;
➢	not cause the Fund to take action, or fail to take action, for the individual personal benefit of the Covered Officer rather than for the benefit of the Fund; and
➢	not use material non-public knowledge of portfolio transactions made or contemplated for the Fund to trade personally or cause others to trade personally in contemplation of the market effect of such transactions.

Additionally, conflicts of interest may arise in other situations, the propriety of which may be discussed, if material, with the Fund’s Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”). Examples of these include:

➢	serve as a director/trustee on the board of any public or private company;
➢	the receipt of any non-nominal gifts;
➢	the receipt of any entertainment from any company with which the Fund has current or prospective business dealings unless such entertainment is business-related, reasonable in cost, appropriate as to time and place, and not so frequent as to raise any question of impropriety (or other formulation as the Fund already uses in another code of conduct);
➢	any ownership interest in, or any consulting or employment relationship with, any of the Fund’s service providers, other than its investment adviser, any sub-adviser, principal underwriter, administrator or any affiliated person thereof; and
➢	a direct or indirect financial interest in commissions, transaction charges or spreads paid by the Fund for effecting portfolio transactions or for selling or redeeming shares other than an interest arising from the Covered Officer’s employment, such as compensation or equity ownership.

III. Disclosure & Compliance

➢	Each Covered Officer should familiarize himself or herself with the disclosure requirements generally applicable to the Fund;
➢	Each Covered Officer should not knowingly misrepresent, or cause others to misrepresent, facts about the Fund to others, whether within or outside the Fund, including to the Fund’s directors and auditors, and to governmental regulators and self-regulatory organizations;

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➢

Each Covered Officer should, to the extent appropriate within his/her area of responsibility, consult with other officers and employees of the Fund and the Fund’s adviser or any sub-adviser with the goal of promoting full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in the reports and documents the Fund files with, or submits to, the SEC and in other public communications made by the Fund; and

➢

It is the responsibility of each Covered Officer to promote compliance with the standards and restrictions imposed by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

IV. Reporting & Accountability
Each Covered Officer must:

➢	upon adoption of the Code (or thereafter as applicable, upon becoming an Covered Officer), affirm in writing to the Fund’s CCO that he/she has received, read, and understands the Code;
➢	annually thereafter affirm to the Fund’s CCO that he/she has complied with the requirements of the Code;
➢	not retaliate against any employee or Covered Officer or their affiliated persons for reports of potential violations that are made in good faith;
➢	notify the Fund’s CCO promptly if he/she knows of any violation of this Code (Note: failure to do so is itself a violation of this Code); and
➢	report at least annually any change in his/her affiliations from the prior year.

The Fund’s CCO is responsible for applying this Code to specific situations in which questions are presented under it and has the authority to interpret this Code in any particular situation. However, any approvals or waivers sought by the Principal Executive Officer will be considered by the Fund’s Board or the Compliance Committee thereof (the “Committee”).

The Fund will follow these procedures in investigating and enforcing this Code:

➢	the Fund’s CCO will take all appropriate action to investigate any potential violations reported to him/her;
➢	if, after such investigation, the CCO believes that no violation has occurred, the CCO is not required to take any further action;
➢	any matter that the CCO believes is a violation will be reported to the Board or, if applicable, Compliance Committee;
➢	if the Board or, if applicable, Compliance Committee concurs that a violation has occurred, the Board, either upon its determination of a violation or upon recommendation of the Compliance Committee, if applicable, will consider appropriate action, which may include review of, and appropriate modifications to, applicable policies and procedures; notification to appropriate personnel of the Service Provider or the investment adviser or its board; or a recommendation to dismiss the Registrant’s Executive Officer;

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➢	the Board, or if applicable the Compliance Committee, will be responsible for granting waivers, as appropriate; and
➢	any changes to or waivers of this Code will, to the extent required, be disclosed as provided by SEC rules.

V. Other Policies & Procedures
This Code shall be the sole code of ethics adopted by the Fund for purposes of Section 406 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and forms applicable to registered investment companies thereunder. Insofar as other policies or procedures of the Fund, the Fund’s adviser, any sub-adviser, principal underwriter or other service providers govern or purport to govern the behavior or activities of the Covered Officers who are subject to this Code, they are superseded by this Code to the extent that they overlap or conflict with the provisions of this Code. The Fund’s and its investment adviser’s codes of ethics under Rule 204A-1 under the Investment Advisers Act and Rule 17j-1 under the Investment Company Act, respectively, are separate requirements applying to the Covered Officers and others and are not part of this Code.

VI. Amendments
Any amendments to this Code, other than amendments to Exhibit A, must be approved or ratified by a majority vote of the Fund’s Board, including a majority of independent directors.

VII. Confidentiality
All reports and records prepared or maintained pursuant to this Code will be considered confidential and shall be maintained and protected accordingly. Except as otherwise required by law or this Code, such matters shall not be disclosed to anyone other than the Fund’s Board and its counsel, the investment adviser and the relevant Service Providers.

VIII. Internal Use
The Code is intended solely for the internal use by the Fund and does not constitute an admission, by or on behalf of the Fund, as to any fact, circumstance, or legal conclusion.

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Exhibit A
Persons Covered by this Code of Ethics
(As of December 31, 2019)

John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust

➢	Principal Executive Officer and President – Andrew Arnott
➢	Principal Financial Officer and Chief Financial Officer – Charles Rizzo
➢	Treasurer – Salvatore Schiavone

John Hancock Funds

➢	Principal Executive Officer and President – Andrew Arnott
➢	Principal Financial Officer and Chief Financial Officer – Charles Rizzo
➢	Treasurer – Salvatore Schiavone

John Hancock Funds II

➢	Principal Executive Officer and President – Andrew Arnott
➢	Principal Financial Officer and Chief Financial Officer – Charles Rizzo
➢	Treasurer – Salvatore Schiavone

John Hancock Exchange-Traded Trust

➢	Principal Executive Officer and President – Andrew Arnott
➢	Principal Financial Officer and Chief Financial Officer – Charles Rizzo
➢	Treasurer – Salvatore Schiavone

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CERTIFICATION

I, Andrew Arnott, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this report on Form N-CSR of the John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund (the “registrant”);

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations, changes in net assets, and cash flows (if the financial statements are required to include a statement of cash flows) of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) for the registrant and have:

(a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

(b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

(c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of a date within 90 days prior to the filing date of this report based on such evaluation; and

(d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by this report that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5. The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

(a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial information; and

(b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

Date: July 14, 2020	/s/ Andrew Arnott
	Andrew Arnott
	President

CERTIFICATION

I, Charles A. Rizzo, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this report on Form N-CSR of the John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund (the “registrant”);

(b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

Date: July 14, 2020	/s/ Charles A. Rizzo
	Charles A. Rizzo
	Chief Financial Officer

Certification Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of
the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

In connection with the attached Report of John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund (the “registrant”) on Form N-CSR to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Report"), each of the undersigned officers of the registrant does hereby certify that, to the best of such officer's knowledge:

1. The Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and

2. The information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in the Report.

	/s/ Andrew Arnott
	Andrew Arnott
	President

Dated: July 14, 2020

	/s/ Charles A. Rizzo
	Charles A. Rizzo
	Chief Financial Officer

Dated: July 14, 2020

A signed original of this written statement, required by Section 906, has been provided to the registrant and will be retained by the registrant and furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.

JOHN HANCOCK FUNDS¹NOMINATING AND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE CHARTER

Overall Role and Responsibility

The Nominating and Governance Committee (the “Committee”) of each of the Trusts shall (1) make determinations and recommendations to the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) regarding issues related to (a) the composition of the Board and (b) corporate governance matters applicable to the Trustees who are not “interested persons” as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), of any of the Trusts, or of any Fund’s investment adviser, subadviser or principal underwriter and who are “independent” as defined in the rules of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (the “Independent Trustees”) and (2) discharge such additional duties, responsibilities and functions as are delegated to it from time to time.

Membership

The Nominating and Governance Committee (the “Committee”) shall be composed of all of the Independent Trustees of the Board. One member of the Committee shall be appointed by the Board as Chair of the Committee. The chair shall be responsible for leadership of the Committee, including scheduling meetings or reviewing and approving the schedule for them, preparing agendas or reviewing and approving them before meetings, presiding over meetings of the Committee and making reports to the full Board, as appropriate.

Structure, Operations and Governance

Meetings and Actions by Written Consent. The Committee shall meet as often as required or as the Committee deems appropriate, with or without management present. Meetings may be called and notice given by the Committee chair or a majority of the members of the Committee. Members may attend meetings in person or by telephone. The Committee may act by written consent to the extent permitted by law and the Funds’ governing documents. The Committee shall report to the Board on any significant action it takes not later than the next following Board meeting.

Required Vote and Quorum. The affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the Committee participating in any meeting of the Committee at which a quorum is present is necessary for the adoption of any resolution. At least a majority of the Committee members present at the meeting in person or by telephone shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

____________________

¹“John Hancock Funds” includes each trust and series as may be amended from time to time (each individually, a “Trust,” and collectively, the “Trusts,” and each series thereof, a “Portfolio” or “Fund,” and collectively, the “Portfolios” or “Funds”).

Delegation to Subcommittees. The Committee may delegate any portion of its authority to a subcommittee of one or more members.

Appropriate Resources and Authority. The Committee shall have the resources and authority appropriate to discharge its responsibilities, including the authority to retain special counsel and other advisers, experts or consultants, at the Funds’ expense, as it determines necessary or appropriate to carry out its duties and responsibilities. In addition, the Committee shall have direct access to such officers of and service providers to the Funds as it deems desirable.

Review of Charter. The Committee Charter shall be approved by at least a majority of the Independent Trustees of the Trust. The Committee shall review and assess the adequacy of this Charter periodically and, where necessary or as it deems desirable, will recommend changes to the Board for its approval. The Board may amend this Charter at any time in response to recommendations from the Committee or on its own motion.

Executive Sessions. The Committee may meet privately and may invite non-members to attend such meetings. The Committee may meet with representatives of the Investment Management Services department of the Funds’ advisers, internal legal counsel of the Funds’ advisers, members of the John Hancock Funds Risk & Investment Operations Committee (the “RIO Committee”) and with representatives of the Funds’ service providers, including the subadvisers, to discuss matters that relate to the areas for which the Committee has responsibility.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

The Committee shall have the following duties and powers, to be exercised at such times and in such manner as the Committee shall determine:

	1.	Except where a Trust is legally required to nominate individuals recommended by another, to identify individuals qualified to serve as Independent Trustees of the Trusts, and to consider and recommend to the full Board nominations of individuals to serve as Trustees.

	2.	To consider, as it deems necessary or appropriate, the criteria for persons to fill existing or newly created Trustee vacancies. The Committee shall use the criteria and principles set forth in Annex A to guide its Trustee selection process.

	3.	To consider and recommend changes to the Board regarding the size, structure, and composition of the Board.

	4.	To evaluate, from time to time, and determine changes to the retirement policies for the Independent Trustees, as appropriate.

	5.	To periodically review the Board’s committee structure and, in collaboration with the Chairs of the various Committees, the charters of the Board’s committees, and recommend to the Board of Trustees changes to the committee structure and charters as it deems appropriate.

	6.	To retain and terminate any firm(s) to be used to identify or evaluate or assist in identifying or evaluating potential Independent Board nominees, subject to the Board’s sole authority to approve the firm’s fees and other retention terms.

	7.	To consider and determine the amount of compensation to be paid by the Trusts to the Independent Trustees, including the compensation of the Chair of the Board or any Vice-Chair of the Board and of Committee Chairs, and to address compensation-related matters. The Chair of the Board has been granted the authority to approve special compensation to Independent Trustees in recognition of any significant amount of additional time and service to the Trusts provided by them, subject to ratification of any such special compensation by the Committee at the next regular meeting of the Committee.

	8.	To coordinate and administer an annual self-evaluation of the Board, which will include, at a minimum, a review of its effectiveness in overseeing the number of Funds in the Fund complex and the effectiveness of its committee structure.

	9.	To review the Board Governance Procedures and recommend to the Board of Trustees changes to the Procedures as the Committee deems appropriate.

	10.	To report its activities to the full Board and to make such recommendations with respect to the matters described above and other matters as the Committee may deem necessary or appropriate.

Additional Responsibilities

The Committee will also perform other tasks assigned to it from time to time by the Chair of the Board or by the Board, and will report findings and recommendations to the Board, as appropriate.

Last revised:

ANNEX A

The Committee may take into account a wide variety of factors in considering Trustee candidates, including (but not limited to) the criteria set forth below. The Committee may determine that a candidate who does not satisfy these criteria in one or more respects should nevertheless be considered as a nominee if the Committee finds that the criteria satisfied by the candidate and the candidate’s other qualifications demonstrate the appropriate level of fitness to serve.

General Criteria

1.	Nominees should have a reputation for integrity, honesty and adherence to high ethical standards, and such other personal characteristics as a capacity for leadership and the ability to work well with others.

2.	Nominees should have business, professional, academic, financial, accounting or other experience and qualifications which demonstrate that they will make a valuable contribution as Trustees.

3.	Nominees should have a commitment to understand the Funds, and the responsibilities of a trustee/director of an investment company and to regularly attend and participate in meetings of the Board and its committees.

4.	Nominees should have the ability to understand the sometimes conflicting interests of the various constituencies of the Funds, including shareholders and the investment adviser, and to act in the interests of all shareholders.

5.	Nominees should not have, nor appear to have, a conflict of interest that would impair their ability to represent the interests of all the shareholders and to fulfill the responsibilities of a trustee.

6.	Nominees should have experience on corporate or other institutional bodies having oversight responsibilities.

It is the intent of the Committee that at least one Independent Trustee be an “audit committee financial expert” as that term is defined in Item 3 of Form N-CSR.

Application of Criteria to Current Trustees

The re-nomination of current Trustees should not be viewed as automatic, but should be based on continuing qualification under the criteria set forth above based on, among other things, the current Trustee’s contribution to the Board and any committee on which he or she serves.

Review of Nominations

1.	The Committee believes that it is in the best interests of each Trust and its shareholders to obtain highly-qualified candidates to serve as members of the Board.

2.	In nominating candidates who would be Independent Trustees, the Committee believes that no particular qualities or skills nor any specific minimum qualifications or disqualifications are controlling or paramount. The Committee shall take into consideration any such factors as it deems appropriate; however, the appropriate mix of skills, expertise and attributes needed to maintain an effective board are sought in the applicant pool as part of every search the Board undertakes for new trustees, including but not limited to the diversity of thought, as well as of gender, race, ethnic background and geographic origin. These factors may also include (but are not limited to) the person’s character, integrity, judgment, skill and experience with investment companies and other organizations of comparable purpose, complexity and size and subject to similar legal restrictions and oversight; the interplay of the candidate’s experience with the experience of other Board members; and the extent to which the candidate would be a desirable addition to the Board and any Committees thereof. Other factors that the Committee may take into consideration include a person’s availability and commitment to attend meetings and perform his or her responsibilities; whether or not the person has or had any relationships that might impair or appear to impair his or her independence, such as any business, financial or family relationships with Fund management, the investment adviser and/or any subadviser of the Funds, as applicable, Fund service providers, or their affiliates or with Fund shareholders. The Committee will strive to achieve a group that reflects a diversity of experiences in respect of industries, professions and other experiences, and that is diversified as to thought, gender, race, ethnic background and geographic origin.

3.	While the Committee is solely responsible for the selection and recommendation to the Board of Independent Trustee candidates, the Committee may consider nominees recommended by any source, including shareholders, management, legal counsel and Board members, as it deems appropriate. The Committee may retain a professional search firm or a consultant to assist the Committee in a search for a qualified candidate. Any recommendations from shareholders shall be directed to the Secretary of the relevant Trust at such address as is set forth in the Trust’s disclosure documents. Recommendations from management may be submitted to the Committee Chair. All recommendations shall include all information relating to such person that is required to be disclosed in solicitations of proxies for the election of Board members and as specified in the relevant Trust’s By-Laws, and must be accompanied by a written consent of the proposed candidate to stand for election if nominated for the Board and to serve if elected by shareholders.

4.	Any shareholder nomination must be submitted in compliance with all of the pertinent provisions of Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in order to be considered by the Committee. In evaluating a nominee recommended by a shareholder, the Committee, in addition to the criteria discussed above, may consider the objectives of the shareholder in submitting that nomination and whether such objectives are consistent with the interests of all shareholders. If the Board determines to include a shareholder’s candidate among the slate of its designated nominees, the candidate’s name will be placed on the Trust’s proxy card. If the Board determines not to include such candidate among its designated nominees, and the shareholder has satisfied the requirements of Rule 14a-8, the shareholder’s candidate will be treated as a nominee of the shareholder who originally nominated the candidate. In that case, the candidate will not be named on the proxy card distributed with the Trust’s proxy statement.

5.	As long as a current Independent Trustee continues, in the opinion of the Committee, to satisfy the criteria listed above, the Committee generally would favor the re-nomination of a current Trustee rather than a new candidate. Consequently, while the Committee will consider nominees recommended by shareholders to serve as trustees, the Committee may only act upon such recommendations if there is a vacancy on the Board, or the Committee determines that the selection of a new or additional Trustee is in the best interests of the relevant Trust. In the event that a vacancy arises or a change in Board membership is determined to be advisable, the Committee will, in addition to any shareholder recommendations, consider candidates identified by other means as discussed in this Annex A.

6.	With respect to candidates for Independent Trustee, a biography of each candidate shall be acquired and shall be reviewed by counsel to the Independent Trustees and counsel to the Trust to determine the candidate’s eligibility to serve as an Independent Trustee.

7.	The Committee may from time to time establish specific requirements and/or additional factors to be considered for Independent Trustee candidates as it deems necessary or appropriate.

8.	After its consideration of relevant factors, the Committee shall present its recommendation(s) to the full Board for its consideration.


Average annual total returns (%) with maximum sales charge				Cumulative total returns (%) with maximum sales charge			SEC 30-day yield (%) subsidized	SEC 30-day yield (%) unsubsidized¹	Tax- equivalent subsidized yield (%)²
	1-year	5-year	10-year		5-year	10-year	as of 5-31-20	as of 5-31-20	as of 5-31-20
Class A	-2.86	2.32	3.92		12.15	46.95	1.98	1.98	3.86
Class B	-4.40	2.02	3.71		10.53	44.01	1.34	1.23	2.61
Class C	-0.51	2.38	3.56		12.49	41.88	1.33	1.23	2.59
Class I^3,4	1.37	3.25	4.40		17.34	53.82	2.20	2.19	4.29
Class R6^3,4	1.40	3.23	4.39		17.25	53.69	2.24	2.24	4.36
Index 1^†	4.59	3.82	4.59		20.60	56.63	—	—
Index 2^†	3.98	3.74	4.14		20.17	49.97	—	—


	Start date	With maximum sales charge ($)	Without sales charge ($)	Index 1 ($)	Index 2 ($)
Class B⁵	5-31-10	14,401	14,401	15,663	14,997
Class C⁵	5-31-10	14,188	14,188	15,663	14,997
Class I^3,4	5-31-10	15,382	15,382	15,663	14,997
Class R6^3,4	5-31-10	15,369	15,369	15,663	14,997


Name, year of birth Position(s) held with Trust Principal occupation(s) and other directorships during past 5 years	Trustee of the Trust since¹	Number of John Hancock funds overseen by Trustee
Hassell H. McClellan, Born: 1945	2012	195
Trustee and Chairperson of the Board Director/Trustee, Virtus Funds (since 2008); Director, The Barnes Group (since 2010); Associate Professor, The Wallace E. Carroll School of Management, Boston College (retired 2013). Trustee (since 2005) and Chairperson of the Board (since 2017) of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex.


Charles L. Bardelis,² Born: 1941	2012	195
Trustee Director, Island Commuter Corp. (marine transport). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 1988).


James R. Boyle, Born: 1959	2015	195
Trustee Chief Executive Officer, Foresters Financial (since 2018); Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Zillion Group, Inc. (formerly HealthFleet, Inc.) (healthcare) (2014-2018); Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Life Insurance Division of Genworth Financial, Inc. (insurance) (January 2014-July 2014); Senior Executive Vice President, Manulife Financial, President and Chief Executive Officer, John Hancock (1999-2012); Chairman and Director, John Hancock Investment Management LLC, John Hancock Investment Management Distributors LLC, and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (2005-2010). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (2005-2014 and since 2015).


Peter S. Burgess,² Born: 1942	2012	195
Trustee Consultant (financial, accounting, and auditing matters) (since 1999); Certified Public Accountant; Partner, Arthur Andersen (independent public accounting firm) (prior to 1999); Director, Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (since 2004); Director, Symetra Financial Corporation (2010-2016); Director, PMA Capital Corporation (2004-2010). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2005).


William H. Cunningham, Born: 1944	1989	195
Trustee Professor, University of Texas, Austin, Texas (since 1971); former Chancellor, University of Texas System and former President of the University of Texas, Austin, Texas; Chairman (since 2009) and Director (since 2006), Lincoln National Corporation (insurance); Director, Southwest Airlines (since 2000); former Director, LIN Television (2009-2014). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 1986).


Grace K. Fey, Born: 1946	2012	195
Trustee Chief Executive Officer, Grace Fey Advisors (since 2007); Director and Executive Vice President, Frontier Capital Management Company (1988-2007); Director, Fiduciary Trust (since 2009). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2008).


James M. Oates,²Born: 1946	2012	195
Trustee Managing Director, Wydown Group (financial consulting firm) (since 1994); Chairman and Director, Emerson Investment Management, Inc. (2000-2015); Independent Chairman, Hudson Castle Group, Inc. (formerly IBEX Capital Markets, Inc.) (financial services company) (1997-2011); Director, Stifel Financial (since 1996); Director, Investor Financial Services Corporation (1995-2007); Director, Connecticut River Bancorp (1998-2014); Director/Trustee, Virtus Funds (since 1988). Trustee (since 2004) and Chairperson of the Board (2005-2016) of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex.


Steven R. Pruchansky, Born: 1944	1994	195
Trustee and Vice Chairperson of the Board Managing Director, Pru Realty (since 2017); Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Greenscapes of Southwest Florida, Inc. (2014-2020); Director and President, Greenscapes of Southwest Florida, Inc. (until 2000); Member, Board of Advisors, First American Bank (until 2010); Managing Director, Jon James, LLC (real estate) (since 2000); Partner, Right Funding, LLC (2014-2017); Director, First Signature Bank & Trust Company (until 1991); Director, Mast Realty Trust (until 1994); President, Maxwell Building Corp. (until 1991). Trustee (since 1992), Chairperson of the Board (2011-2012), and Vice Chairperson of the Board (since 2012) of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex.


Gregory A. Russo, Born: 1949	2009	195
Trustee Director and Audit Committee Chairman (2012-2020), and Member, Audit Committee and Finance Committee (2011-2020), NCH Healthcare System, Inc. (holding company for multi-entity healthcare system); Director and Member (2012-2018) and Finance Committee Chairman (2014-2018), The Moorings, Inc. (nonprofit continuing care community); Vice Chairman, Risk & Regulatory Matters, KPMG LLP (KPMG) (2002-2006); Vice Chairman, Industrial Markets, KPMG (1998-2002); Chairman and Treasurer, Westchester County, New York, Chamber of Commerce (1986-1992); Director, Treasurer, and Chairman of Audit and Finance Committees, Putnam Hospital Center (1989-1995); Director and Chairman of Fundraising Campaign, United Way of Westchester and Putnam Counties, New York (1990-1995). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2008).


Marianne Harrison, Born: 1963	2018	195
Non-Independent Trustee President and CEO, John Hancock (since 2017); President and CEO, Manulife Canadian Division (2013-2017); Member, Board of Directors, CAE Inc. (since 2019); Member, Board of Directors, MA Competitive Partnership Board (since 2018); Member, Board of Directors, American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) (since 2018); Member, Board of Directors, Communitech, an industry-led innovation center that fosters technology companies in Canada (2017-2019); Member, Board of Directors, Manulife Assurance Canada (2015-2017); Board Member, St. Mary's General Hospital Foundation (2014-2017); Member, Board of Directors, Manulife Bank of Canada (2013-2017); Member, Standing Committee of the Canadian Life & Health Assurance Association (2013-2017); Member, Board of Directors, John Hancock USA, John Hancock Life & Health, John Hancock New York (2012-2013). Trustee of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2018).


Name, year of birth Position(s) held with Trust Principal occupation(s) during past 5 years	Officer of the Trust since
Francis V. Knox, Jr.,Born: 1947	2005
Chief Compliance Officer Vice President, John Hancock Financial Services (since 2005); Chief Compliance Officer, various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex, John Hancock Investment Management LLC, and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (since 2005).


Charles A. Rizzo, Born: 1957	2007
Chief Financial Officer Vice President, John Hancock Financial Services (since 2008); Senior Vice President, John Hancock Investment Management LLC and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (since 2008); Chief Financial Officer of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2007).


Salvatore Schiavone, Born: 1965	2010
Treasurer Assistant Vice President, John Hancock Financial Services (since 2007); Vice President, John Hancock Investment Management LLC and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (since 2007); Treasurer of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2007, including prior positions).


Name, year of birth Position(s) held with Trust Principal occupation(s) during past 5 years	Officer of the Trust since
Christopher (Kit) Sechler,Born: 1973	2018
Chief Legal Officer and Secretary Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel, John Hancock Investments (since 2015); Assistant Vice President and Senior Counsel (2009-2015), John Hancock Investment Management; Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of various trusts within the John Hancock Fund Complex (since 2018); Assistant Secretary of John Hancock Investment Management LLC and John Hancock Variable Trust Advisers LLC (since 2009).