---
type: "Bill"
title: "Family law: support orders."
description: "(1) Existing law authorizes the court, in a proceeding for dissolution of marriage or for legal separation of the parties, to order a party to submit to an examination by a vocational training counselor to assess the party's ability to obtain certain employment, as specified. Existing law requires a vocational training counselor performing these examinations to possess specific educational and professional experiences, including, among other qualifications, a master's degree in the behavioral sciences."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 2780"
citation: "California AB 2780 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Family law: support orders."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bloom"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2018-02-16"
last_action: "2018-08-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/23b03b60-3302-491d-bacc-5c770106e0da"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2780"
source_hash: "922a878007e7e59a7ca7b5bf961bf04be5fb2dc7467c0286ea299c0a34c9af03"
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 2780 (20172018) — Family law: support orders.

(1) Existing law authorizes the court, in a proceeding for dissolution of marriage or for legal separation of the parties, to order a party to submit to an examination by a vocational training counselor to assess the party's ability to obtain certain employment, as specified. Existing law requires a vocational training counselor performing these examinations to possess specific educational and professional experiences, including, among other qualifications, a master's degree in the behavioral sciences.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2780&version=20170AB278099INT)
2. **04/25/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2780&version=20170AB278098AMD)
3. **06/11/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2780&version=20170AB278097AMD)
4. **08/20/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2780&version=20170AB278095CHP)
5. **AB2780** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2780)
6. **08/07/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2780&version=20170AB278096ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar AB2780 — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 2780 BLOOM Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 2780 BLOOM Consent Calendar Second Day — **72–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bloom — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2018-03-08** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-25** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-04-26** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-01** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (May 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-05-02** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-07** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 5042.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-05-07** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-05-17** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-31** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2018-06-11** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-06-20** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 19). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-06-21** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-07-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 5037.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-07-03** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 5 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2018-08-06** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 6139.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-08-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m.
- **2018-08-20** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-08-20** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 178, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/23b03b60-3302-491d-bacc-5c770106e0da`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).