republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-2656.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Pupils: diploma alternatives: fee waiver: foster youth."
description: "Existing law authorizes certain persons, including, among others, any person 16 years of age or older, to have his or her proficiency in basic skills taught in public high schools verified according to criteria established by the State Department of Education. Existing law requires the State Board of Education to award a certificate of proficiency to persons who demonstrate that proficiency. Existing law requires the department to develop standards of competency in basic skills taught in public high schools and to provide for the administration of examinations prepared by, or with the approval of, the department to verify competency. Existing law authorizes the department to charge a fee for each examination application in an amount sufficient to recover the costs of administering the requirements of these provisions but prohibits the fee from exceeding an amount equal to the cost of test renewal and administration per examination application. Existing law prohibits the department from charging the fee to an examinee who qualifies as a homeless child or youth and meets other specified criteria."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 2656"
citation: "California AB 2656 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Pupils: diploma alternatives: fee waiver: foster youth."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["O'Donnell"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 25
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2016-02-19"
last_action: "2016-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/03edc64c-180f-4251-a515-a0c992f2c213"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2656"
source_hash: "e1c3bd08b066d5b844f3c41f0353f3e40819e707bc3aea012728c5dee6b8e269"
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 2656 (20152016) — Pupils: diploma alternatives: fee waiver: foster youth.

Existing law authorizes certain persons, including, among others, any person 16 years of age or older, to have his or her proficiency in basic skills taught in public high schools verified according to criteria established by the State Department of Education. Existing law requires the State Board of Education to award a certificate of proficiency to persons who demonstrate that proficiency. Existing law requires the department to develop standards of competency in basic skills taught in public high schools and to provide for the administration of examinations prepared by, or with the approval of, the department to verify competency. Existing law authorizes the department to charge a fee for each examination application in an amount sufficient to recover the costs of administering the requirements of these provisions but prohibits the fee from exceeding an amount equal to the cost of test renewal and administration per examination application. Existing law prohibits the department from charging the fee to an examinee who qualifies as a homeless child or youth and meets other specified criteria.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/19/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2656&version=20150AB265699INT)
2. **03/18/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2656&version=20150AB265698AMD)
3. **05/27/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2656&version=20150AB265697AMD)
4. **06/09/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2656&version=20150AB265696AMD)
5. **09/27/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2656&version=20150AB265694CHP)
6. **AB2656** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2656)
7. **08/31/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2656&version=20150AB265695ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2656 O'DONNELL Assembly Third Reading — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2656 O'DONNELL Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2656 O'Donnell By McGuire — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- O'Donnell — primary (person)
- Chang — coauthor (person)
- Cristina Garcia — coauthor (person)
- Gallagher — coauthor (person)
- Gipson — coauthor (person)
- Linder — coauthor (person)
- Maienschein — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-19** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2016-02-21** From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.
- **2016-02-22** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2016-03-17** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-18** 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`
- **2016-03-28** Re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-11** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2016-05-27** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (May 27). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-05-27** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-06-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 5182.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-06** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-06-09** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-01** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2016-08-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 11). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-18** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 5113.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-26** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 6447.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
- **2016-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 697, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/03edc64c-180f-4251-a515-a0c992f2c213`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).