republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-746.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Adoption: stepparent adoption."
description: "Existing law establishes procedures for stepparent adoptions involving a spouse or partner who gave birth to the child during the marriage or domestic partnership. Among other things, existing law exempts those adoptions from the requirements of a home investigation and a hearing, as well as specified costs, unless the court orders otherwise."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 746"
citation: "California AB 746 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Adoption: stepparent adoption."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cervantes"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2021-02-16"
last_action: "2021-09-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ef69bc76-a65b-41d9-9185-1d254ae1936c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB746"
source_hash: "1771575f712f02b0e9f0c0d9fa472e120012c1c2c6519bdd6001d6505e5aee8e"
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 AB 746 (20212022) — Adoption: stepparent adoption.

Existing law establishes procedures for stepparent adoptions involving a spouse or partner who gave birth to the child during the marriage or domestic partnership. Among other things, existing law exempts those adoptions from the requirements of a home investigation and a hearing, as well as specified costs, unless the court orders otherwise.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB746&version=20210AB74699INT)
2. **03/18/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB746&version=20210AB74698AMD)
3. **05/05/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB746&version=20210AB74697AMD)
4. **06/14/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB746&version=20210AB74696AMD)
5. **09/22/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB746&version=20210AB74694CHP)
6. **AB746** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB746)
7. **09/07/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB746&version=20210AB74695ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. — **9–1** (pass) · lower
- AB 746 Cervantes Assembly Third Reading — **63–5** (pass) · lower
- AB 746 Cervantes Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **66–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB746 Cervantes By Eggman — **33–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Cervantes — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2021-03-18** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-18** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-03-22** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-08** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-05-04** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 9. Noes 1.) (May 4). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2021-05-05** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 63. Noes 5. Page 1429.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-18** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-27** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-30** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 0. Page 1716.) (June 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-01** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 33. Noes 1. Page 2287.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-01** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 3 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2021-09-02** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 57. Noes 14. Page 2703.)
- **2021-09-02** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 66. Noes 2. Page 2733.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2021-09-22** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-22** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 199, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ef69bc76-a65b-41d9-9185-1d254ae1936c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).