republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-725.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Pupil testing: high school exit examination: exemption."
description: "Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop a high school exit examination in English language arts and mathematics in accordance with state academic content standards. Existing law requires, commencing with the 2003–04 school year and each school year thereafter, each pupil completing grade 12 to successfully pass the high school exit examination as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from high school."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 725"
citation: "California SB 725 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Pupil testing: high school exit examination: exemption."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hancock"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 32
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2015-02-27"
last_action: "2015-08-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e15f9d33-1b1c-412a-ae55-2637103fdb12"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725"
source_hash: "882de003b3c0654f9af4b0ea7da309d5dcdb74976ec6f5ed07b1b21aa90a901e"
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 725 (20152016) — Pupil testing: high school exit examination: exemption.

Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop a high school exit examination in English language arts and mathematics in accordance with state academic content standards. Existing law requires, commencing with the 2003–04 school year and each school year thereafter, each pupil completing grade 12 to successfully pass the high school exit examination as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from high school.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/27/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725&version=20150SB72599INT)
2. **04/28/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725&version=20150SB72598AMD)
3. **06/02/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725&version=20150SB72597AMD)
4. **07/07/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725&version=20150SB72596AMD)
5. **08/18/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725&version=20150SB72595AMD)
6. **08/20/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725&version=20150SB72594AMD)
7. **08/26/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725&version=20150SB72592CHP)
8. **SB725** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725)
9. **08/24/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB725&version=20150SB72593ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 725 Hancock Third Reading Urgency By O'DONNELL — **77–1** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB725 Hancock Urgency Clause Concurrence — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hancock — primary (person)
- Chiu — principal coauthor (person)
- De León — principal coauthor (person)
- Hertzberg — coauthor (person)
- Leno — principal coauthor (person)
- Liu — principal coauthor (person)
- Quirk — coauthor (person)
- Thurmond — principal coauthor (person)
- Ting — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-27** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2015-03-02** From printer. May be acted upon on or after April 1.
- **2015-03-02** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2015-03-19** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-10** Set for hearing April 22.
- **2015-04-27** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 723.) (April 22). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-04-28** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-08** Set for hearing May 18.
- **2015-05-18** May 18 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 1159.) (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 1306.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-04** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-18** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2015-07-01** July 1 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2015-07-07** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-16** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-18** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-19** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (August 19). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-20** Read third time and amended. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-20** Ordered to third reading.
- **2015-08-20** Assembly Rule 63 suspended.
- **2015-08-20** Assembly Rule 69 suspended.
- **2015-08-20** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2521.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-20** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2015-08-24** Urgency clause adopted.
- **2015-08-24** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2143.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-08-24** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-08-26** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-08-26** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 225, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e15f9d33-1b1c-412a-ae55-2637103fdb12`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).