republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-2365.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Family law: child custody."
description: "Existing law requires a family court to determine the best interest of the child for purposes of deciding child custody in proceedings for dissolution of marriage, nullity of marriage, legal separation of the parties, petitions for exclusive custody of a child, and proceedings under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act. In making that determination, existing law requires the court to consider specified factors, including whether either of the child's parents habitually or continually uses alcohol or illegal drugs. The court may require independent corroboration of an allegation that a parent is habitually or continually using controlled substances or illegal drugs."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 2365"
citation: "California AB 2365 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Family law: child custody."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nestande"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2012-02-24"
last_action: "2012-09-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/19d7e56c-a1db-49d7-ba68-f8f2f819b95b"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2365"
source_hash: "ef1d1776279f4ac1ea2562ef7ec4291701673c5238a39f0c29a7650a11b4651d"
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 2365 (20112012) — Family law: child custody.

Existing law requires a family court to determine the best interest of the child for purposes of deciding child custody in proceedings for dissolution of marriage, nullity of marriage, legal separation of the parties, petitions for exclusive custody of a child, and proceedings under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act. In making that determination, existing law requires the court to consider specified factors, including whether either of the child's parents habitually or continually uses alcohol or illegal drugs. The court may require independent corroboration of an allegation that a parent is habitually or continually using controlled substances or illegal drugs.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/24/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2365&version=20110AB236599INT)
2. **03/29/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2365&version=20110AB236598AMD)
3. **04/25/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2365&version=20110AB236597AMD)
4. **06/04/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2365&version=20110AB236596AMD)
5. **09/07/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2365&version=20110AB236594CHP)
6. **AB2365** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2365)
7. **08/16/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2365&version=20110AB236595ENR)

## Votes

- AB 2365 NESTANDE Assembly Third Reading — **66–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2365 NESTANDE Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **71–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2365 Nestande By Emmerson — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Nestande — primary (person)
- Buchanan — coauthor (person)
- Jeffries — coauthor (person)
- Olsen — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-24** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2012-02-26** From printer. May be heard in committee March 27.
- **2012-02-27** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2012-03-15** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-10** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (April 10). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-04-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 66. Noes 0. Page 4341.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-04-12** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-04-19** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-25** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-06-04** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-06-07** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-06-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 19). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-06-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 4436.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-09** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 11 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-13** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 71. Noes 1. Page 5893.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2012-09-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 258, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/19d7e56c-a1db-49d7-ba68-f8f2f819b95b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).