---
type: "Bill"
title: "CalWORKs: pregnancy or parenting."
description: "Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which, through a combination of federal, state, and county funds, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Under the CalWORKs program, as a condition of eligibility for aid, recipients are required to participate in certain welfare-to-work activities, except for specified individuals, including, among others, individuals under 16 years of age and recipients who are pregnant."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 521"
citation: "California SB 521 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CalWORKs", "pregnancy or parenting"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Smallwood-Cuevas"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 31
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2023-02-14"
last_action: "2023-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c2e5b754-c78a-4441-9d82-d5d4b75eac98"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB521"
source_hash: "628b3759bdd06a46331fc37ef35b66d4110c8f8ba8ef68288c4e82107ec1cd2a"
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 SB 521 (20232024) — CalWORKs: pregnancy or parenting.

Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which, through a combination of federal, state, and county funds, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Under the CalWORKs program, as a condition of eligibility for aid, recipients are required to participate in certain welfare-to-work activities, except for specified individuals, including, among others, individuals under 16 years of age and recipients who are pregnant.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB521&version=20230SB52199INT)
2. **03/20/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB521&version=20230SB52198AMD)
3. **09/08/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB521&version=20230SB52197AMD)
4. **10/08/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB521&version=20230SB52195CHP)
5. **SB521** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB521)
6. **09/14/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB521&version=20230SB52196ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent SB521 Smallwood-Cuevas et — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 521 Smallwood-Cuevas Senate Third Reading By Jackson — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB521 Smallwood-Cuevas et Concurrence — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Smallwood-Cuevas — primary (person)
- Arambula — coauthor (person)
- Jackson — coauthor (person)
- McKinnor — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-14** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-15** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 17.
- **2023-02-22** Referred to Coms. on HUMAN S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-28** Set for hearing March 20.
- **2023-03-15** March 20 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2023-03-16** Set for hearing April 17.
- **2023-03-20** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-14** Set for hearing April 25 in JUD. pending receipt.
- **2023-04-18** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 4. Noes 0. Page 748.) (April 17). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0. Page 893.) (April 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-01** Set for hearing May 8.
- **2023-05-08** May 8 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2023-05-12** Set for hearing May 18.
- **2023-05-18** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1174.) (May 18). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-23** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2023-05-25** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1301.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-25** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2023-06-08** Referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-07-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-08-16** August 16 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2023-09-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (September 1). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-08** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-08** Ordered to third reading.
- **2023-09-11** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 3162.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-11** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2023-09-12** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2677.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2023-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 615, 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/c2e5b754-c78a-4441-9d82-d5d4b75eac98`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).