republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-841.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Dependant children."
description: "Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge a child to be a dependent 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 illness as a result of the failure or inability of their parent or guardian to adequately supervise or protect the child, or a parent willfully or negligently fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law prohibits a child from being found to be a child so described solely due to the lack of an emergency shelter for the family."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 841"
citation: "California AB 841 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Dependant children."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cunningham"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 19
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-02-17"
last_action: "2021-07-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9a59bec1-ee69-411e-b1fb-acd7fadb354d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB841"
source_hash: "07e93294efcb5ae1bbc45c88d69ee5b1a57dffc0b03f78126f5c35dc06971e0a"
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 841 (20212022) — Dependant children.

Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge a child to be a dependent 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 illness as a result of the failure or inability of their parent or guardian to adequately supervise or protect the child, or a parent willfully or negligently fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law prohibits a child from being found to be a child so described solely due to the lack of an emergency shelter for the family.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB841&version=20210AB84199INT)
2. **03/23/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB841&version=20210AB84198AMD)
3. **06/09/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB841&version=20210AB84197AMD)
4. **07/16/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB841&version=20210AB84195CHP)
5. **AB841** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB841)
6. **06/29/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB841&version=20210AB84196ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar AB841 — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 841 Cunningham Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 841 Cunningham Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **11–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Cunningham — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-18** From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
- **2021-02-25** Referred to Coms. on HUM. S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-03-24** Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 7). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-13** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (April 13). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-14** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-19** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1071.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-04-19** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-12** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-08** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 8). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2021-06-09** Read second time and amended. Ordered to consent calendar. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 1544.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-17** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after June 19 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2021-06-28** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2132.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2021-07-16** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-16** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 98, 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/9a59bec1-ee69-411e-b1fb-acd7fadb354d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).