republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-317.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Foster care."
description: "(1) Existing law requires the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson to be established in the State Department of Social Services with prescribed powers and duties relating to the management of foster children, including the dissemination of information on the rights of children and youth in foster care. Existing law requires the Director of Social Services, in consultation with a committee of interested individuals chosen by the director, to appoint the ombudsperson for a term of 4 years. Under existing law, the office is required to keep information obtained by the office from a complaint confidential."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 317"
citation: "California AB 317 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Foster care."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Patterson"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 32
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-01-26"
last_action: "2021-09-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7c602268-3c4e-4e0a-a91a-7aea427184ac"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB317"
source_hash: "64680414b0edb8d3234285eef072887ccb62d97765ed81e2dc2ab746743b4316"
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 317 (20212022) — Foster care.

(1) Existing law requires the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson to be established in the State Department of Social Services with prescribed powers and duties relating to the management of foster children, including the dissemination of information on the rights of children and youth in foster care. Existing law requires the Director of Social Services, in consultation with a committee of interested individuals chosen by the director, to appoint the ombudsperson for a term of 4 years. Under existing law, the office is required to keep information obtained by the office from a complaint confidential.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/26/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB317&version=20210AB31799INT)
2. **06/29/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB317&version=20210AB31798AMD)
3. **07/07/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB317&version=20210AB31797AMD)
4. **09/03/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB317&version=20210AB31796AMD)
5. **09/24/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB317&version=20210AB31794CHP)
6. **AB317** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB317)
7. **09/13/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB317&version=20210AB31795ENR)

## Votes

- AB 317 Patterson Consent Calendar Second Day — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 317 PATTERSON Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB317 Patterson et al. By Hurtado — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Rules] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Patterson — primary (person)
- Chen — coauthor (person)
- Jones — coauthor (person)
- Mathis — coauthor (person)
- Ochoa Bogh — coauthor (person)
- Seyarto — coauthor (person)
- Voepel — coauthor (person)
- Waldron — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-26** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-01-27** From printer. May be heard in committee February 26.
- **2021-02-12** Referred to Com. on HUM. S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-08** Coauthors revised.
- **2021-04-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-21** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 21). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-22** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1251.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-03** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-12** Referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-02** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2021-06-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on RLS with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 6). Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-07** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-07** 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`
- **2021-07-14** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (July 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-16** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-08-23** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-31** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2021-09-03** From special consent calendar.
- **2021-09-03** Ordered to third reading.
- **2021-09-03** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2567.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-09** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2021-09-09** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Page 3063.)
- **2021-09-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 3065.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-17** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2021-09-24** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-24** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 293, 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/7c602268-3c4e-4e0a-a91a-7aea427184ac`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).