republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-163.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Teaching credential: American Indian language-culture credential."
description: "Existing law authorizes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, among other things, to establish professional standards, assessments, and examinations for entry and advancement in the education profession. Existing law requires the commission, upon recommendation by a tribal government of a federally recognized Indian tribe in California, to issue an American Indian languages credential to a candidate who has demonstrated fluency in that tribal language and met other requirements."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 163"
citation: "California AB 163 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Teaching credential: American Indian language-culture credential."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Williams"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2015-01-21"
last_action: "2015-07-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3366965c-d1c8-440e-b368-f7f4b4f38db0"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB163"
source_hash: "6e06dce168acc5b28fdb1be0e6a02a381af04bf9163a7bd9b8b12276e89ccae0"
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 163 (20152016) — Teaching credential: American Indian language-culture credential.

Existing law authorizes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, among other things, to establish professional standards, assessments, and examinations for entry and advancement in the education profession. Existing law requires the commission, upon recommendation by a tribal government of a federally recognized Indian tribe in California, to issue an American Indian languages credential to a candidate who has demonstrated fluency in that tribal language and met other requirements.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/21/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB163&version=20150AB16399INT)
2. **03/16/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB163&version=20150AB16398AMD)
3. **07/13/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB163&version=20150AB16396CHP)
4. **AB163** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB163)
5. **06/29/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB163&version=20150AB16397ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 163 WILLIAMS Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Williams — primary (person)
- Alejo — principal coauthor (person)
- Bigelow — coauthor (person)
- Eduardo Garcia — coauthor (person)
- Linder — coauthor (person)
- Roger Hernández — coauthor (person)
- Wilk — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-01-21** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-01-22** From printer. May be heard in committee February 21.
- **2015-02-02** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-16** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-03-17** Re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (March 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-15** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 15). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-16** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-04-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1108.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-07** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-06-22** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage`
- **2015-06-23** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 1619.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-25** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2015-07-01** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
- **2015-07-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-07-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 64, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3366965c-d1c8-440e-b368-f7f4b4f38db0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).