republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20252026/ab-651.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Juveniles: dependency: incarcerated parent."
description: "Existing law requires notice of, and the opportunity for an incarcerated parent to be physically present in, proceedings terminating their parental rights or seeking to adjudicate the child of a prisoner a dependent child of the court. Existing law prohibits these proceedings from being adjudicated without the physical presence of the parent unless the court receives a knowing waiver from the parent of their right to be physically present at the proceedings, or an affidavit signed by a person in charge of the incarcerating institution that the prisoner does not intend to appear at the proceeding. Existing law authorizes, in the court's discretion, an incarcerated parent who has waived the right to be physically present at those proceedings to be given the opportunity to participate in the proceeding by videoconference, if that technology is available. Existing law authorizes, if videoconferencing technology is not available, the use of teleconferencing."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "AB 651"
citation: "California AB 651 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Juveniles", "dependency", "incarceratedparent"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bryan"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 24
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2025-02-13"
last_action: "2025-10-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/43db41c2-54e0-428a-b970-fa115e739fe9"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB651"
source_hash: "ffe1602f0b2edd30a22485d00e4944743bf86096b2f53a4b9ab2e3b6ebd3ab4b"
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 651 (20252026) — Juveniles: dependency: incarcerated parent.

Existing law requires notice of, and the opportunity for an incarcerated parent to be physically present in, proceedings terminating their parental rights or seeking to adjudicate the child of a prisoner a dependent child of the court. Existing law prohibits these proceedings from being adjudicated without the physical presence of the parent unless the court receives a knowing waiver from the parent of their right to be physically present at the proceedings, or an affidavit signed by a person in charge of the incarcerating institution that the prisoner does not intend to appear at the proceeding. Existing law authorizes, in the court's discretion, an incarcerated parent who has waived the right to be physically present at those proceedings to be given the opportunity to participate in the proceeding by videoconference, if that technology is available. Existing law authorizes, if videoconferencing technology is not available, the use of teleconferencing.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/13/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB651&version=20250AB65199INT)
2. **04/09/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB651&version=20250AB65198AMD)
3. **10/03/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB651&version=20250AB65196CHP)
4. **AB651** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB651)
5. **09/08/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB651&version=20250AB65197ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent AB651 Bryan et al. — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 651 Bryan Assembly Third Reading — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **14–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bryan — primary (person)
- Solache — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-13** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2025-02-14** From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
- **2025-03-17** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 8). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-09** 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`
- **2025-04-10** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (April 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-05-07** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2025-05-23** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (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 79. Noes 0. Page 1975.) `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 PUB. S. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2025-07-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-07-09** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (July 8). 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 7. Noes 0.) (August 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-08-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-09-02** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2025-09-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2522.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-04** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2025-09-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2025-10-03** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-03** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 274, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/43db41c2-54e0-428a-b970-fa115e739fe9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).