republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/sb-495.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Child custody."
description: "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."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 495"
citation: "California SB 495 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Child custody."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Durazo"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2019-02-21"
last_action: "2019-10-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/580ba921-18da-452c-9d70-6a9e70e258e5"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB495"
source_hash: "89108b31deac0511468b3ae00eb6a7a0b45a565d006cb9f4d73a4ef218f75eb2"
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 495 (20192020) — Child custody.

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.

1. **02/21/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB495&version=20190SB49599INT)
2. **03/25/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB495&version=20190SB49598AMD)
3. **08/19/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB495&version=20190SB49597AMD)
4. **10/07/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB495&version=20190SB49595CHP)
5. **SB495** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB495)
6. **09/04/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB495&version=20190SB49596ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB495 Durazo et al. Concurrence — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 495 Durazo Senate Third Reading By Mark Stone — **62–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB495 Durazo et al. — **30–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Durazo — primary (person)
- Atkins — coauthor (person)
- Eggman — coauthor (person)
- Galgiani — coauthor (person)
- Gloria — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/580ba921-18da-452c-9d70-6a9e70e258e5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).