republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-365.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Child custody proceedings: testimony by electronic means."
description: "Existing law authorizes the court in a child custody proceeding to permit testimony by telephone, audiovisual means, or other electronic means when a witness or party resides in another state. Existing law also requires a court to permit a party to present testimony and participate in court-ordered child custody mediation by electronic means when the party's military deployment has a material effect on his or her ability to appear in person, to the extent that this technology is reasonably available to the court and protects the due process rights of all parties."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 365"
citation: "California AB 365 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Child custody proceedings: testimony by electronic means."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cristina Garcia"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2015-02-17"
last_action: "2015-07-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/875d9f3b-a06e-45e4-a0d6-fa6fb4671bfd"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB365"
source_hash: "e39d17b54206ec7ff74aa600c1272820b7799f1c514ad8b7bf4b0912b15dc941"
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 365 (20152016) — Child custody proceedings: testimony by electronic means.

Existing law authorizes the court in a child custody proceeding to permit testimony by telephone, audiovisual means, or other electronic means when a witness or party resides in another state. Existing law also requires a court to permit a party to present testimony and participate in court-ordered child custody mediation by electronic means when the party's military deployment has a material effect on his or her ability to appear in person, to the extent that this technology is reasonably available to the court and protects the due process rights of all parties.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB365&version=20150AB36599INT)
2. **03/11/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB365&version=20150AB36598AMD)
3. **07/13/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB365&version=20150AB36596CHP)
4. **AB365** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB365)
5. **06/29/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB365&version=20150AB36597ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 365 GARCIA, C. Assembly Third Reading — **73–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB365 Cristina Garcia By Vidak Motions — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Cristina Garcia — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-18** From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
- **2015-03-02** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-11** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-03-12** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 1.) (March 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 15). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-04-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 1. Page 1101.) `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 JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 9). 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. `committee-passage`
- **2015-06-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1614.). `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 69, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/875d9f3b-a06e-45e4-a0d6-fa6fb4671bfd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).