republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-238.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Foster care: psychotropic medication.	Existing law authorizes only a juvenile court judicial officer to make orders regarding the administration of psychotropic medications for a dependent child or a ward of the court who has been removed from the physical custody of his or her parent, as specified. Existing law requires court authorization for the administration of psychotropic medication to be based on a request from a physician, indicating the reasons for the request, a description of the child's or ward's diagnosis and behavior, the expected results of the medication, and a description of any side effects of the medication. Existing law requires the officer to approve or deny the request for authorization to administer psychotropic medication, or set the matter for hearing, as specified, within 7 court days. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules of court and develop appropriate forms for the implementation of these provisions.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20152016	SB 238	California SB 238 (20152016)	bill	Foster care: psychotropic medication.	enacted	Mitchell	10	35	10	2015-02-17	2015-10-06	openstates	ocd-bill/69753b5e-6bec-4adf-91b1-10345307a0c4	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB238	6cde5193411f107baf00f016cbfdf22e0c198d44f68be40434f3d7fb516fb42e	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California SB 238 (20152016) — Foster care: psychotropic medication.

Existing law authorizes only a juvenile court judicial officer to make orders regarding the administration of psychotropic medications for a dependent child or a ward of the court who has been removed from the physical custody of his or her parent, as specified. Existing law requires court authorization for the administration of psychotropic medication to be based on a request from a physician, indicating the reasons for the request, a description of the child's or ward's diagnosis and behavior, the expected results of the medication, and a description of any side effects of the medication. Existing law requires the officer to approve or deny the request for authorization to administer psychotropic medication, or set the matter for hearing, as specified, within 7 court days. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules of court and develop appropriate forms for the implementation of these provisions.

Version chain

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

1. 02/17/15 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 03/24/15 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
3. 04/07/15 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
4. 06/02/15 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
5. 07/01/15 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
6. 08/28/15 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
7. 09/04/15 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
8. 10/06/15 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
9. SB238 (committee substitute) — source
10. 09/10/15 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Human Services] — 10–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — 5–0 (pass) · upper
• Placed on suspense file — 7–0 (pass) · upper
• SB 238 Mitchell Senate Third Reading By CHIU — 79–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass as amended. — 17–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 7–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 6–0 (pass) · upper
• Unfinished Business SB238 Mitchell Concurrence — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass as amended — 7–0 (pass) · upper
• 3rd Reading — 40–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Mitchell — primary (person)
• Beall — author (person)
• Chiu — coauthor (person)
• Gatto — coauthor (person)
• Gordon — coauthor (person)
• Rodriguez — coauthor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2015-02-17 Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. introduction, reading-1
• 2015-02-18 From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 20.
• 2015-02-26 Referred to Com. on RLS. referral-committee
• 2015-03-24 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1
• 2015-04-07 Re-referred to Coms. on HUMAN S. and JUD. referral-committee
• 2015-04-07 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1
• 2015-04-08 Set for hearing April 14.
• 2015-04-14 April 14 hearing postponed by committee.
• 2015-04-15 Set for hearing April 21.
• 2015-04-22 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 726.) (April 21). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2015-04-23 Set for hearing April 28.
• 2015-04-29 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 818.) (April 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2015-05-01 Set for hearing May 11.
• 2015-05-11 May 11 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
• 2015-05-23 Set for hearing May 28.
• 2015-06-01 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1150.) (May 28). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2015-06-02 Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1
• 2015-06-03 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1294.) Ordered to the Assembly. reading-3, passage, reading-1
• 2015-06-04 In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. reading-1
• 2015-06-15 Referred to Coms. on JUD. and HUM. S. referral-committee
• 2015-06-30 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S. referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2015-07-01 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S. referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1
• 2015-07-15 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 14). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2015-08-19 August 19 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
• 2015-08-28 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (August 27). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2015-08-28 Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1
• 2015-08-31 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1
• 2015-09-04 Read third time and amended. reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1
• 2015-09-04 Ordered to third reading.
• 2015-09-08 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2956.) Ordered to the Senate. reading-3, passage, reading-1
• 2015-09-08 In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
• 2015-09-10 Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2662.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage
• 2015-09-11 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 10:45 p.m.
• 2015-10-06 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2015-10-06 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 534, Statutes of 2015.

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/69753b5e-6bec-4adf-91b1-10345307a0c4. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).