republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20132014/ab-256.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Pupils: grounds for suspension and expulsion: bullying."
description: "Existing law prohibits the suspension, or recommendation for expulsion, of a pupil from school unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school determines that the pupil has committed any of various specified acts, including, but not limited to, engaging in acts of bullying by means of an electronic act. Existing law further defines \"electronic act\" as the transmission, by means of an electronic device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, or pager, as specified. Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended or expelled for any of those acts unless the act is related to a school activity or school attendance occurring within a school under the jurisdiction of the superintendent of the school district or principal or occurring within any other school district."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "AB 256"
citation: "California AB 256 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Pupils: grounds for suspension and expulsion: bullying."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Garcia"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 18
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2013-02-07"
last_action: "2013-10-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a0253063-e914-4845-aad4-832fa18453a1"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB256"
source_hash: "04ef808253d62e3180d24367fe299f0ac2b7eddb01cc385824b8b39d823f03ef"
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 256 (20132014) — Pupils: grounds for suspension and expulsion: bullying.

Existing law prohibits the suspension, or recommendation for expulsion, of a pupil from school unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school determines that the pupil has committed any of various specified acts, including, but not limited to, engaging in acts of bullying by means of an electronic act. Existing law further defines "electronic act" as the transmission, by means of an electronic device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, or pager, as specified. Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended or expelled for any of those acts unless the act is related to a school activity or school attendance occurring within a school under the jurisdiction of the superintendent of the school district or principal or occurring within any other school district.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/07/13 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB256&version=20130AB25699INT)
2. **04/08/13 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB256&version=20130AB25698AMD)
3. **05/14/13 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB256&version=20130AB25697AMD)
4. **10/10/13 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB256&version=20130AB25695CHP)
5. **AB256** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB256)
6. **09/12/13 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB256&version=20130AB25696ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB256 Garcia By Wyland — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 256 GARCIA Assembly Third Reading — **68–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Garcia — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-07** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2013-02-08** From printer. May be heard in committee March 10.
- **2013-02-21** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-08** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2013-05-13** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (May 8). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2013-05-14** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2013-05-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-05-16** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 68. Noes 1. Page 1474.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-05-16** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2013-05-29** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2013-06-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2013-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-09-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2176.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-09-06** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2013-09-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2013-10-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2013-10-10** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 700, Statutes of 2013.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a0253063-e914-4845-aad4-832fa18453a1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).