---
type: "Bill"
title: "CalWORKs and CalFresh: work requirements."
description: "(1) Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals. Existing law generally requires a recipient of CalWORKs benefits who is 16 years of age or older to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility for aid. Existing law exempts certain persons from the welfare-to-work activities, including a child attending an elementary, secondary, vocational, or technical school on a full-time basis. Existing law, however, prohibits a person who is 16 or 17 years of age, or a custodial parent who is under 20 years of age, who loses this exemption from requalifying for the exemption by attending school as a required activity."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 2300"
citation: "California AB 2300 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CalWORKs and CalFresh: work requirements."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kalra"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 32
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2022-02-16"
last_action: "2022-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/62ea1609-eba3-43d8-b5bc-a43658e63cff"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300"
source_hash: "0ed7c4e3ff59ae9ead1555373ce01e453525075ad5dd49807e5b01f02018560e"
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 2300 (20212022) — CalWORKs and CalFresh: work requirements.

(1) Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals. Existing law generally requires a recipient of CalWORKs benefits who is 16 years of age or older to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility for aid. Existing law exempts certain persons from the welfare-to-work activities, including a child attending an elementary, secondary, vocational, or technical school on a full-time basis. Existing law, however, prohibits a person who is 16 or 17 years of age, or a custodial parent who is under 20 years of age, who loses this exemption from requalifying for the exemption by attending school as a required activity.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300&version=20210AB230099INT)
2. **03/29/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300&version=20210AB230098AMD)
3. **04/28/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300&version=20210AB230097AMD)
4. **05/19/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300&version=20210AB230096AMD)
5. **08/11/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300&version=20210AB230095AMD)
6. **08/18/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300&version=20210AB230094AMD)
7. **09/27/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300&version=20210AB230092CHP)
8. **AB2300** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300)
9. **08/29/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2300&version=20210AB230093ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB2300 Kalra By Skinner — **31–6** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 2300 Kalra Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **60–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **13–1** (pass) · lower
- AB 2300 Kalra Assembly Third Reading — **59–6** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Kalra — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2022-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2022-03-03** Referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-03-30** Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-05** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2022-04-27** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 26). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2022-04-28** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-02** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2022-05-18** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-05-19** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 4736.)
- **2022-05-19** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 13. Noes 1.) (May 19). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2022-05-19** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 59. Noes 6. Page 4980.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-26** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2022-06-08** Referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-13** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2022-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-02** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 11). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2022-08-11** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-18** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 6. Page 5140.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-25** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 27 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2022-08-25** Assembly Rule 77(a) suspended.
- **2022-08-25** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 60. Noes 0.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-09-06** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2022-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 588, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/62ea1609-eba3-43d8-b5bc-a43658e63cff`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).