--- type: "Bill" title: "School districts: governing boards: pupil members: preferential voting." description: "(1) Existing law requires the governing board of a school district maintaining one or more high schools to appoint to its membership one or more nonvoting pupil members if pupils submit a petition to the governing board to make those appointments, as provided. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to allow for preferential voting, as defined, for the pupil member or members of the governing board upon receipt of a petition for that purpose." jurisdiction: "us/states/ca" legislature: "California Legislature" session: "20172018" identifier: "AB 261" citation: "California AB 261 (20172018)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["School districts: governing boards: pupil members: preferential voting."] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Thurmond"] version_count: 6 action_count: 24 vote_count: 5 first_action: "2017-01-31" last_action: "2017-09-23" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2277a161-b431-43d3-8a34-ac9b290ae5e9" source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB261" source_hash: "149cf45f421da73c2f8f0439a8b58ae41d18b411d4ead343caeb582651565c8f" 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 261 (20172018) — School districts: governing boards: pupil members: preferential voting. (1) Existing law requires the governing board of a school district maintaining one or more high schools to appoint to its membership one or more nonvoting pupil members if pupils submit a petition to the governing board to make those appointments, as provided. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to allow for preferential voting, as defined, for the pupil member or members of the governing board upon receipt of a petition for that purpose. ## Version chain The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment. 1. **01/31/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB261&version=20170AB26199INT) 2. **03/23/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB261&version=20170AB26198AMD) 3. **07/17/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB261&version=20170AB26197AMD) 4. **09/23/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB261&version=20170AB26195CHP) 5. **AB261** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB261) 6. **09/07/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB261&version=20170AB26196ENR) ## Votes - AB 261 THURMOND Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **76–0** (pass) · lower - Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper - AB 261 THURMOND Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower - Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower - 3rd Reading AB261 Thurmond By Leyva — **39–0** (pass) · upper ## Sponsors - Thurmond — primary (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2017-01-31** Read first time. To print. `reading-1` - **2017-02-01** From printer. May be heard in committee March 3. - **2017-03-23** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee` - **2017-03-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1` - **2017-03-27** Re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee` - **2017-04-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 5). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee` - **2017-04-26** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage` - **2017-04-27** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1` - **2017-05-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1388.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1` - **2017-05-04** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1` - **2017-05-18** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee` - **2017-06-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee` - **2017-06-26** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage` - **2017-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1` - **2017-06-29** From Consent Calendar. - **2017-06-29** Ordered to third reading. - **2017-07-17** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1` - **2017-07-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1` - **2017-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2307.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1` - **2017-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 2 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77. - **2017-09-05** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 2917.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage` - **2017-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m. - **2017-09-23** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature` - **2017-09-23** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 257, Statutes of 2017. ## Source OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2277a161-b431-43d3-8a34-ac9b290ae5e9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).