---
type: "Bill"
title: "CalWORKs: housing assistance."
description: "Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program under which, through a combination of federal, state, and county funds, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. As part of the CalWORKs program, a homeless family that has used all available liquid resources in excess of $100 is eligible for homeless assistance benefits to pay the costs of temporary shelter if the family is eligible for aid under the CalWORKs program."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 236"
citation: "California AB 236 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CalWORKs: housing assistance."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Maienschein"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 28
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2017-01-30"
last_action: "2017-10-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3ee4bac8-5281-4839-ad73-2901c1a8c778"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB236"
source_hash: "1076eb6a05fec74dd20240156f0effc1823a1c1d5fe7e39a8ea7f93fd4680e91"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 236 (20172018) — CalWORKs: housing assistance.

Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program under which, through a combination of federal, state, and county funds, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. As part of the CalWORKs program, a homeless family that has used all available liquid resources in excess of $100 is eligible for homeless assistance benefits to pay the costs of temporary shelter if the family is eligible for aid under the CalWORKs program.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/30/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB236&version=20170AB23699INT)
2. **05/26/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB236&version=20170AB23698AMD)
3. **06/20/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB236&version=20170AB23697AMD)
4. **09/01/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB236&version=20170AB23696AMD)
5. **09/08/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB236&version=20170AB23695AMD)
6. **10/07/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB236&version=20170AB23693CHP)
7. **AB236** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB236)
8. **09/15/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB236&version=20170AB23694ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 236 Maienschein Special Consent Calendar 1st Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent Calendar # AB236 — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 236 MAIENSCHEIN Assembly Third Reading — **77–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Maienschein — primary (person)
- Acosta — coauthor (person)
- Chávez — coauthor (person)
- Gloria — coauthor (person)
- Grayson — coauthor (person)
- Hertzberg — coauthor (person)
- Mathis — coauthor (person)
- McCarty — coauthor (person)
- Santiago — author (person)
- Steinorth — coauthor (person)
- Vidak — coauthor (person)
- Voepel — coauthor (person)
- Waldron — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-30** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-01-31** From printer. May be heard in committee March 2.
- **2017-02-06** Referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-03-14** Coauthors revised.
- **2017-04-26** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-26** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 26). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-05-26** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-05-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1924.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-14** Referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-20** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-07-10** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-01** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-09-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-08** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-12** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2017-09-14** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2910.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-14** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2017-09-14** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2017-09-14** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3421.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-25** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2017-10-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 545, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3ee4bac8-5281-4839-ad73-2901c1a8c778`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).