republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20132014/ab-848.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Adoption."
description: "Existing law prescribes the procedures for the relinquishment of a child to the State Department of Social Services or a licensed adoption agency for adoption, and requires the relinquishment to be signed and acknowledged before specified persons. Existing law specifies certain time periods during which a birth parent may revoke a relinquishment for adoption, but also provides that a birth parent may elect to sign a waiver of the right to revoke relinquishment in the presence of specified persons. Existing law requires that if the waiver is signed in the presence of an authorized representative of a private licensed adoption agency, the relinquishment becomes final and irrevocable at the close of the next business day."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "AB 848"
citation: "California AB 848 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Adoption."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Patterson"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2013-02-21"
last_action: "2013-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/83de6a8f-a21c-477a-8fb0-c66ced244631"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB848"
source_hash: "80868714726d2ac175bac3bd0a19c78846fd175d8039950b32e96287abc09914"
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 848 (20132014) — Adoption.

Existing law prescribes the procedures for the relinquishment of a child to the State Department of Social Services or a licensed adoption agency for adoption, and requires the relinquishment to be signed and acknowledged before specified persons. Existing law specifies certain time periods during which a birth parent may revoke a relinquishment for adoption, but also provides that a birth parent may elect to sign a waiver of the right to revoke relinquishment in the presence of specified persons. Existing law requires that if the waiver is signed in the presence of an authorized representative of a private licensed adoption agency, the relinquishment becomes final and irrevocable at the close of the next business day.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/21/13 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB848&version=20130AB84899INT)
2. **07/02/13 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB848&version=20130AB84898AMD)
3. **10/11/13 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB848&version=20130AB84896CHP)
4. **AB848** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB848)
5. **09/12/13 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB848&version=20130AB84897ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 848 PATTERSON Consent Calendar Second Day — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB848 Patterson By Cannella — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be placed on the Consent Calendar. — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 848 PATTERSON Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Patterson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2013-02-21** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2013-02-22** From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.
- **2013-03-04** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2013-04-02** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 2). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2013-04-03** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-04-08** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 801.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-04-08** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2013-04-18** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2013-06-04** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 4). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2013-06-05** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-06-10** From consent calendar.
- **2013-06-10** Ordered to third reading.
- **2013-07-02** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2013-07-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-07-03** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. pursuant to Joint Rule 10.5. `referral-committee`
- **2013-08-13** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (August 12). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2013-08-14** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2013-09-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2098.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2013-09-04** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 6 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2013-09-06** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 2912.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2013-09-24** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2013-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2013-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 743, Statutes of 2013.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/83de6a8f-a21c-477a-8fb0-c66ced244631`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).