Existing law governs the determination of child custody and visitation in contested proceedings. Existing law requires the court, for purposes of deciding custody, to determine the best interests of the child based on certain factors, including the nature and amount of contact with both parents, and consistent with specified findings, including that the court's primary concern must be to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the child. Existing law further provides that custody should be granted in a specified order of preference, according to the best interests of the child. Existing law prohibits the court, in granting custody to either parent, from preferring a parent as custodian because of the parent's sex.
Existing law governs the determination of child custody and visitation in contested proceedings. Existing law requires the court, for purposes of deciding custody, to determine the best interests of the child based on certain factors, including the nature and amount of contact with both parents, and consistent with specified findings, including that the court's primary concern must be to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the child. Existing law further provides that custody should be granted in a specified order of preference, according to the best interests of the child. Existing law prohibits the court, in granting custody to either parent, from preferring a parent as custodian because of the parent's sex.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
2019-02-21 Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. introduction, reading-1
2019-02-22 From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 24.
2019-03-07 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
2019-03-20 Set for hearing April 2.
2019-03-25 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee
2019-04-03 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 553.) (April 2). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
2019-04-04 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
2019-04-08 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 30. Noes 0. Page 592.) Ordered to the Assembly. passage, reading-3, reading-1
2019-04-08 In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. reading-1
2019-05-02 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
2019-06-04 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 4). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
2019-06-05 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
2019-08-19 Read third time and amended. amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1
2019-08-19 Ordered to third reading.
2019-08-26 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 62. Noes 0. Page 2845.) Ordered to the Senate. passage, reading-3, reading-1
2019-08-26 In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
2019-09-03 Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 32. Noes 0. Page 2436.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2019-09-06 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
2019-10-07 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
2019-10-07 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 551, Statutes of 2019.
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/580ba921-18da-452c-9d70-6a9e70e258e5. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).