republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-478.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act: mandated reporters: pilot program."
description: "The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to make a report to a specified agency whenever the mandated reporter, in his or her professional capacity or within the scope of his or her employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. Existing law further requires the mandated reporter to make an initial report by telephone to the agency immediately or as soon as is practicably possible, and to prepare and send, fax, or electronically transmit a written followup report within 36 hours of receiving the information concerning the incident."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 478"
citation: "California SB 478 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act: mandated reporters: pilot program."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Huff"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 26
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2015-02-26"
last_action: "2015-10-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/69734a45-4a87-4893-9af9-932d640caba3"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB478"
source_hash: "d6e637bbbe3d814c2dae9a844076d7173b0a787adba00787928984c8d6dc20d9"
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 SB 478 (20152016) — Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act: mandated reporters: pilot program.

The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to make a report to a specified agency whenever the mandated reporter, in his or her professional capacity or within the scope of his or her employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. Existing law further requires the mandated reporter to make an initial report by telephone to the agency immediately or as soon as is practicably possible, and to prepare and send, fax, or electronically transmit a written followup report within 36 hours of receiving the information concerning the incident.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/26/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB478&version=20150SB47899INT)
2. **06/01/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB478&version=20150SB47898AMD)
3. **07/09/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB478&version=20150SB47897AMD)
4. **08/18/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB478&version=20150SB47896AMD)
5. **08/27/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB478&version=20150SB47895AMD)
6. **10/04/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB478&version=20150SB47893CHP)
7. **SB478** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB478)
8. **09/04/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB478&version=20150SB47894ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB478 Huff Concurrence — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 478 Huff Consent Calendar Second Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Huff — primary (person)
- Chang — coauthor (person)
- Cristina Garcia — coauthor (person)
- Dababneh — coauthor (person)
- Hertzberg — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-26** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2015-02-27** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 29.
- **2015-03-12** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-24** Set for hearing April 14.
- **2015-04-15** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 595.) (April 14). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-17** Set for hearing April 27.
- **2015-04-27** April 27 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2015-05-23** Set for hearing May 28.
- **2015-05-28** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1154.) (May 28). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-06-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1255.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-02** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-18** Referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-07-09** 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`
- **2015-08-17** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 14). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-08-17** (Received at desk July 17 pursuant to JR 61(a)(10))
- **2015-08-18** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-26** From committee: Do pass as amended. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (August 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-08-27** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-31** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2813.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2015-09-03** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2443.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2015-10-04** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-04** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 490, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/69734a45-4a87-4893-9af9-932d640caba3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).