republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-1956.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Juvenile offenders: tattoo removal."
description: "The Youth Authority Act provides for the detention and confinement of youthful offenders by the Division of Juvenile Facilities of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law establishes a pilot program requiring the Division of Juvenile Facilities to purchase 2 medical laser devices for the removal of tattoos, as specified, from eligible participants who are at-risk youth, ex-offenders, and current or former gang members, as specified. Existing law further establishes the California Voluntary Tattoo Removal Program, which serves individuals between 14 and 24 years of age, inclusive, who are in the custody of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or county probation departments, who are on parole or probation, or who are in a community-based organization serving at-risk youth, through a competitive grant process, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 1956"
citation: "California AB 1956 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Juvenile offenders: tattoo removal."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Portantino"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 24
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2012-02-23"
last_action: "2012-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a5375d53-2114-45d3-9ff5-65dfc8a3a9f2"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1956"
source_hash: "29859c1aef6540a03275f69d7b07ebd14af487785d449a0660091bc90e1a9792"
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 1956 (20112012) — Juvenile offenders: tattoo removal.

The Youth Authority Act provides for the detention and confinement of youthful offenders by the Division of Juvenile Facilities of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law establishes a pilot program requiring the Division of Juvenile Facilities to purchase 2 medical laser devices for the removal of tattoos, as specified, from eligible participants who are at-risk youth, ex-offenders, and current or former gang members, as specified. Existing law further establishes the California Voluntary Tattoo Removal Program, which serves individuals between 14 and 24 years of age, inclusive, who are in the custody of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or county probation departments, who are on parole or probation, or who are in a community-based organization serving at-risk youth, through a competitive grant process, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/23/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1956&version=20110AB195699INT)
2. **03/22/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1956&version=20110AB195698AMD)
3. **05/02/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1956&version=20110AB195697AMD)
4. **06/26/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1956&version=20110AB195696AMD)
5. **08/08/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1956&version=20110AB195695AMD)
6. **09/29/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1956&version=20110AB195693CHP)
7. **AB1956** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1956)
8. **08/31/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1956&version=20110AB195694ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1956 PORTANTINO Consent Calendar Second Day — **73–0** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent #16 — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1956 PORTANTINO Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, to Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Portantino — primary (person)
- Alejo — coauthor (person)
- Blumenfield — coauthor (person)
- Donnelly — coauthor (person)
- Halderman — author (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-23** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-02-24** From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
- **2012-03-08** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-22** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-03-26** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (March 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-01** From committee: Do pass as amended. To consent calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 18). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-02** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-05-03** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-10** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 4784.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-10** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-24** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-25** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 19). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-06-26** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-08-07** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 6). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-08** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-15** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2012-08-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 4784.). `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.)
- **2012-08-27** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 6369.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-06** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5:45 p.m.
- **2012-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 746, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a5375d53-2114-45d3-9ff5-65dfc8a3a9f2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).