republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20252026/ab-1261.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	Immigration: immigrant youth: access to legal counsel.	Existing law, subject to available funding, requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with qualified nonprofit legal services organizations to provide legal services to unaccompanied undocumented minors who are transferred to the care and custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and who are present in this state or are residing with a family member or other sponsor. Existing law requires contracts awarded pursuant to the above-described provision to be executed with qualified nonprofit legal services organizations that meet certain requirements, including having experience representing individuals in removal proceedings and asylum applications.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20252026	AB 1261	California AB 1261 (20252026)	bill	Immigration accesstolegalcounsel immigrantyouth	enacted	Bonta	7	30	9	2025-02-21	2025-10-12	openstates	ocd-bill/05aa8c54-429f-471c-a633-9f54ed51745f	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1261	5a137138d021c6e5298c79bb8958039ccfd7c1b5d7dbd66da65a861996c9e5b3	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California AB 1261 (20252026) — Immigration: immigrant youth: access to legal counsel.

Existing law, subject to available funding, requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with qualified nonprofit legal services organizations to provide legal services to unaccompanied undocumented minors who are transferred to the care and custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and who are present in this state or are residing with a family member or other sponsor. Existing law requires contracts awarded pursuant to the above-described provision to be executed with qualified nonprofit legal services organizations that meet certain requirements, including having experience representing individuals in removal proceedings and asylum applications.

Version chain

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

1. 02/21/25 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 03/24/25 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
3. 04/23/25 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
4. 09/05/25 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
5. 10/12/25 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
6. AB1261 (committee substitute) — source
7. 09/12/25 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Human Services] — 12–1 (pass) · upper
• AB 1261 Bonta Assembly Third Reading — 63–8 (pass) · lower
• 3rd Reading AB1261 Bonta et al. By Arreguín — 30–8 (pass) · upper
• Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 4–0 (pass) · upper
• AB 1261 Bonta Concurrence in Senate Amendments — 63–10 (pass) · lower
• Do pass — 5–2 (pass) · upper
• Do pass. — 11–2 (pass) · lower
• Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 9–2 (pass) · lower
• Placed on suspense file — 7–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Bonta — primary (person)
• Aguiar-Curry — coauthor (person)
• Carrillo — coauthor (person)
• Celeste Rodriguez — coauthor (person)
• Garcia — coauthor (person)
• Mark González — coauthor (person)
• Ortega — coauthor (person)
• Solache — coauthor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2025-02-21 Introduced. To print. introduction
• 2025-02-22 From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.
• 2025-02-24 Read first time. reading-1
• 2025-03-24 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
• 2025-03-24 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
• 2025-03-25 Re-referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
• 2025-04-01 In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
• 2025-04-22 From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 2.) (April 22). amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee
• 2025-04-23 Read second time and amended. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2
• 2025-04-24 Re-referred to Com. on APPR. referral-committee
• 2025-05-07 In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. referral-committee
• 2025-05-23 Coauthors revised.
• 2025-05-23 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 2.) (May 23). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-05-27 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
• 2025-06-03 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 63. Noes 8. Page 1991.) passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2025-06-04 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. reading-1
• 2025-06-18 Referred to Coms. on JUD. and HUMAN S. referral-committee
• 2025-07-02 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HUMAN S. (Ayes 12. Noes 1.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
• 2025-07-08 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (July 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
• 2025-08-18 In committee: Referred to suspense file. referral-committee
• 2025-08-29 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 29). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-08-29 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
• 2025-09-05 Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2025-09-08 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
• 2025-09-09 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 8. Page 2738.). passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2025-09-09 In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
• 2025-09-10 Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 63. Noes 10. Page 3203.). amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2025-09-22 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
• 2025-10-12 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2025-10-12 Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 665, Statutes of 2025. became-law

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/05aa8c54-429f-471c-a633-9f54ed51745f. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).