republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-1856.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Foster care services: cultural competency."
description: "Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate community care facilities, including foster family agencies and other facilities that provide foster care services for children. A violation of community care facility provisions is a misdemeanor. Existing law requires the department to develop, and an administrator of a group home facility to complete, a certification program that includes training in various areas, including the rights of foster children. Existing law requires a foster family agency to provide, and a licensed foster parent to complete, preplacement training and additional annual training in various areas, including the rights of foster children. Existing law also requires a community college district with a foster care education program to make orientation and training available to a relative or nonrelative extended family member caregiver, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 1856"
citation: "California AB 1856 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Foster care services: cultural competency."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ammiano"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 25
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2012-02-22"
last_action: "2012-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b2338c1c-5a3a-46fb-b662-d5a9b8da12f5"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1856"
source_hash: "21f788e7b9177a66231d1cc3553e3c1105cfe71519b56408e2c35c7297a47bc5"
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 1856 (20112012) — Foster care services: cultural competency.

Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate community care facilities, including foster family agencies and other facilities that provide foster care services for children. A violation of community care facility provisions is a misdemeanor. Existing law requires the department to develop, and an administrator of a group home facility to complete, a certification program that includes training in various areas, including the rights of foster children. Existing law requires a foster family agency to provide, and a licensed foster parent to complete, preplacement training and additional annual training in various areas, including the rights of foster children. Existing law also requires a community college district with a foster care education program to make orientation and training available to a relative or nonrelative extended family member caregiver, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/22/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1856&version=20110AB185699INT)
2. **08/20/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1856&version=20110AB185698AMD)
3. **09/27/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1856&version=20110AB185696CHP)
4. **AB1856** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1856)
5. **09/06/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1856&version=20110AB185697ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1856 AMMIANO Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **54–26** (pass) · lower
- AB 1856 AMMIANO Assembly Third Reading — **49–25** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1856 Ammiano By Leno — **23–13** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **4–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **4–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ammiano — primary (person)
- Blumenfield — coauthor (person)
- Chesbro — coauthor (person)
- Leno — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-22** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-02-23** From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.
- **2012-03-08** Referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (April 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (April 25). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 49. Noes 25. Page 4665.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-03** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-17** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-17** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2012-05-17** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-24** Re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-26** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-07-03** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 2.) (July 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-06** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2012-08-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-20** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 23. Noes 13. Page 4748.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-24** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-27** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6357.)
- **2012-08-28** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 54. Noes 26. Page 6412.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5:10 p.m.
- **2012-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 639, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b2338c1c-5a3a-46fb-b662-d5a9b8da12f5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).