---
type: "Bill"
title: "Long-term care: family councils."
description: "Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and intermediate care facilities (ICFs) . Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) . A violation of those licensing provisions is generally a crime. Existing law prohibits those facilities from prohibiting the formation of a family council, which is a meeting of family members, friends, or representatives of 2 or more residents to confer in private without facility staff. Existing law prohibits those facilities from willfully interfering with the formation, maintenance, or promotion of a family council, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 979"
citation: "California AB 979 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Long-term care", "family councils"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Alvarez"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 25
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2023-02-15"
last_action: "2023-10-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/52d40020-05b2-4fe5-88b0-8b3872a094e1"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB979"
source_hash: "427993a8f64791317c060f3fe10544f25d81e6f2b95f61788608a77ed26d0a8d"
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 979 (20232024) — Long-term care: family councils.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and intermediate care facilities (ICFs) . Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) . A violation of those licensing provisions is generally a crime. Existing law prohibits those facilities from prohibiting the formation of a family council, which is a meeting of family members, friends, or representatives of 2 or more residents to confer in private without facility staff. Existing law prohibits those facilities from willfully interfering with the formation, maintenance, or promotion of a family council, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB979&version=20230AB97999INT)
2. **04/20/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB979&version=20230AB97998AMD)
3. **08/14/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB979&version=20230AB97997AMD)
4. **10/13/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB979&version=20230AB97995CHP)
5. **AB979** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB979)
6. **08/29/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB979&version=20230AB97996ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar 2nd — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 979 Alvarez Assembly Third Reading — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 979 Alvarez Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Human Services] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **12–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Alvarez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2023-02-16** From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.
- **2023-03-02** Referred to Com. on AGING & L.T.C. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-20** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on AGING & L.T.C. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-04-24** Re-referred to Com. on AGING & L.T.C. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-17** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-18** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 1580.)
- **2023-05-18** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 18). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 1886.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-31** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2023-06-07** Referred to Coms. on HEALTH and HUMAN S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HUMAN S. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-07-05** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-08-02** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2023-08-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-08-21** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2023-08-22** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-08-24** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2180.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-08-24** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 26 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2023-08-28** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 2823.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2023-10-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-10-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 821, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/52d40020-05b2-4fe5-88b0-8b3872a094e1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).