republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-1808.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Minors: mental health treatment or counseling services."
description: "Existing law authorizes a minor who is 12 years of age or older to consent to outpatient mental health treatment or counseling services, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, if, in the opinion of the attending professional person, the minor is mature enough to participate intelligently in those services. Existing law defines \"professional person,\" for the purposes of those provisions, to include, among others, a marriage and family therapist, a marriage and family therapist intern, a professional clinical counselor, a clinical counselor intern, a clinical psychologist, and a clinical social worker, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1808"
citation: "California AB 1808 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Minors: mental health treatment or counseling services."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wood"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 22
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2016-02-08"
last_action: "2016-09-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f55aaeaa-4db7-49e3-80f3-5cfde1aeaa60"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1808"
source_hash: "d2b223717c5f2477273e52aa4dccf9d9d3ccc575e6ae52e31a9f40d12a1cfa34"
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 1808 (20152016) — Minors: mental health treatment or counseling services.

Existing law authorizes a minor who is 12 years of age or older to consent to outpatient mental health treatment or counseling services, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, if, in the opinion of the attending professional person, the minor is mature enough to participate intelligently in those services. Existing law defines "professional person," for the purposes of those provisions, to include, among others, a marriage and family therapist, a marriage and family therapist intern, a professional clinical counselor, a clinical counselor intern, a clinical psychologist, and a clinical social worker, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/08/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1808&version=20150AB180899INT)
2. **04/04/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1808&version=20150AB180898AMD)
3. **06/02/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1808&version=20150AB180897AMD)
4. **08/16/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1808&version=20150AB180896AMD)
5. **09/12/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1808&version=20150AB180894CHP)
6. **AB1808** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1808)
7. **08/25/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1808&version=20150AB180895ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1808 WOOD Assembly Third Reading — **74–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1808 Wood By Hill — **37–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1808 WOOD Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Wood — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-08** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-02-09** From printer. May be heard in committee March 10.
- **2016-02-25** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-31** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (March 29). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-04-04** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-04-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-04-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 1. Page 4458.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-21** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-05-05** Referred to Coms. on B., P. & E.D., JUD. and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-02** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 6). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-01** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2016-08-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-16** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-18** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 1. Page 5126.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-19** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 21 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-23** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 2. Page 6162.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2016-09-12** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-12** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 292, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f55aaeaa-4db7-49e3-80f3-5cfde1aeaa60`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).