republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/sb-438.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	Juveniles: legal guardianship: successor guardian.	Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, including when the child suffered or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer serious physical harm, or a parent fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law establishes the grounds for removal of a dependent child from the custody of his or her parents or guardian, and establishes procedures to determine the temporary and permanent placement of a dependent child. Whenever a court orders a hearing to terminate parental rights to, or to establish legal guardianship of, a dependent child to be held, existing law requires the court to direct the agency supervising the child and the county adoption agency, or the State Department of Social Services when it is acting as an adoption agency, to prepare an assessment and requires this assessment to include, among other things, a preliminary assessment of the eligibility and commitment of any identified prospective adoptive parent or legal guardian, as specified. Existing law authorizes the court under specified circumstances to hold a hearing to determine whether parental rights should be permanently terminated, and requires the court, after reviewing the assessment described above, to make findings and orders in a specified order of preference regarding the permanent placement of the child, including appointment of a relative or nonrelative legal guardian. If the court finds that legal guardianship is the appropriate permanent plan, existing law requires the court to appoint the legal guardian and issue letters of guardianship. Existing law requires the court, prior to the appointment of a guardian for the child, to read and consider the assessment described above.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20172018	SB 438	California SB 438 (20172018)	bill	Juveniles: legal guardianship: successor guardian.	enacted	Roth	6	36	9	2017-02-15	2017-09-26	openstates	ocd-bill/849e3fe4-c74f-43a2-953c-6ff121cdb8e5	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB438	f485f34cc47839432e8ff7928f2c055c859f942f6f8e590b02e0c727ba6bbd37	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California SB 438 (20172018) — Juveniles: legal guardianship: successor guardian.

Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, including when the child suffered or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer serious physical harm, or a parent fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law establishes the grounds for removal of a dependent child from the custody of his or her parents or guardian, and establishes procedures to determine the temporary and permanent placement of a dependent child. Whenever a court orders a hearing to terminate parental rights to, or to establish legal guardianship of, a dependent child to be held, existing law requires the court to direct the agency supervising the child and the county adoption agency, or the State Department of Social Services when it is acting as an adoption agency, to prepare an assessment and requires this assessment to include, among other things, a preliminary assessment of the eligibility and commitment of any identified prospective adoptive parent or legal guardian, as specified. Existing law authorizes the court under specified circumstances to hold a hearing to determine whether parental rights should be permanently terminated, and requires the court, after reviewing the assessment described above, to make findings and orders in a specified order of preference regarding the permanent placement of the child, including appointment of a relative or nonrelative legal guardian. If the court finds that legal guardianship is the appropriate permanent plan, existing law requires the court to appoint the legal guardian and issue letters of guardianship. Existing law requires the court, prior to the appointment of a guardian for the child, to read and consider the assessment described above.

Version chain

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

1. 02/15/17 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 04/20/17 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
3. 08/28/17 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
4. 09/26/17 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
5. SB438 (committee substitute) — source
6. 09/08/17 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• SB 438 Roth Senate Third Reading By CERVANTES — 76–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 11–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 4–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 6–0 (pass) · lower
• Special Consent Calendar # SB438 — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — 14–0 (pass) · lower
• Consent Calendar 2nd SB438 — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• SB 438 Roth Consent Calendar Second Day — 74–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 7–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Roth — primary (person)
• Cervantes — coauthor (person)
• Waldron — principal coauthor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-02-15 Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. introduction, reading-1
• 2017-02-16 From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 18.
• 2017-02-23 Referred to Coms. on HUMAN S. and JUD. referral-committee
• 2017-03-01 Set for hearing April 4.
• 2017-04-05 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 4. Noes 0. Page 625.) (April 4). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee
• 2017-04-07 Set for hearing April 18.
• 2017-04-19 From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 746.) (April 18). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2017-04-20 Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1
• 2017-05-01 Set for hearing May 8.
• 2017-05-03 May 8 hearing postponed by committee.
• 2017-05-04 Set for hearing May 15.
• 2017-05-08 From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. committee-passage, reading-2
• 2017-05-09 Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. reading-2, reading-1
• 2017-05-15 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1073.) Ordered to the Assembly. reading-3, passage, reading-1
• 2017-05-16 In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. reading-1
• 2017-06-01 Referred to Coms. on HUM. S. and JUD. referral-committee
• 2017-06-14 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 13). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee
• 2017-06-20 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee
• 2017-06-28 From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (June 28). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2017-06-29 Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. reading-2, reading-1
• 2017-07-06 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 2474.) Ordered to the Senate. reading-3, passage, reading-1
• 2017-07-06 In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
• 2017-07-20 Withdrawn from engrossing and enrolling.
• 2017-07-20 Ordered to the Assembly.
• 2017-07-20 In Assembly. Held at Desk.
• 2017-08-21 Action rescinded whereby the bill was read a third time, passed, and ordered to the Senate.
• 2017-08-21 Ordered to third reading.
• 2017-08-28 Read third time and amended. amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1
• 2017-08-28 Ordered to third reading.
• 2017-09-05 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 2965.) Ordered to the Senate. reading-3, passage, reading-1
• 2017-09-05 In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
• 2017-09-06 Ordered to special consent calendar.
• 2017-09-07 Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2583.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage
• 2017-09-12 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
• 2017-09-26 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2017-09-26 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 307, Statutes of 2017.

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/849e3fe4-c74f-43a2-953c-6ff121cdb8e5. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).