---
type: "Bill"
title: "Change of gender and sex identifier."
description: "Existing law authorizes a person to file a petition with the superior court seeking a judgment recognizing their change of gender to female, male, or nonbinary, including a person who is under 18 years of age. Existing law authorizes a person to file a single petition to simultaneously change the petitioner's name and recognize the change to the petitioner's gender and sex identifier, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 223"
citation: "California AB 223 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Change of gender and sex identifier"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ward"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-10"
last_action: "2023-09-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dee1df78-e48e-460a-b291-decfbb6f06ee"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB223"
source_hash: "ced40013816d41594a9b2f46f2ff758972dcc66532595589ff3be2030d4165f1"
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 223 (20232024) — Change of gender and sex identifier.

Existing law authorizes a person to file a petition with the superior court seeking a judgment recognizing their change of gender to female, male, or nonbinary, including a person who is under 18 years of age. Existing law authorizes a person to file a single petition to simultaneously change the petitioner's name and recognize the change to the petitioner's gender and sex identifier, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/10/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB223&version=20230AB22399INT)
2. **06/05/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB223&version=20230AB22398AMD)
3. **08/23/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB223&version=20230AB22397AMD)
4. **09/23/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB223&version=20230AB22395CHP)
5. **AB223** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB223)
6. **09/11/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB223&version=20230AB22396ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass — **8–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **10–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB223 Ward et al. By Padilla — **32–6** (pass) · upper
- AB 223 Ward Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **64–8** (pass) · lower
- AB 223 Ward Assembly Third Reading — **63–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ward — primary (person)
- Atkins — principal coauthor (person)
- Cervantes — coauthor (person)
- Eggman — coauthor (person)
- Laird — coauthor (person)
- Lee — coauthor (person)
- Low — coauthor (person)
- Padilla — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-10** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2023-01-11** From printer. May be heard in committee February 10.
- **2023-01-26** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-14** Coauthors revised.
- **2023-03-14** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 1.) (March 14). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-03-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 63. Noes 0. Page 889.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-03-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-03** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-05** 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-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-06-14** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 8. Noes 2.) (June 13). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-08-23** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 32. Noes 6. Page 2402.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-06** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 8 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2023-09-07** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 3011.)
- **2023-09-07** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 64. Noes 8. Page 3037.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2023-09-23** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-09-23** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 221, 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/dee1df78-e48e-460a-b291-decfbb6f06ee`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).