SB 450 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Adoption.

Summary

Existing law governs the adoption of unmarried minors. Existing law grants a court of this state with jurisdiction of adoption proceedings for minors in specified circumstances, including, among others, when the minor and the prospective adoptive parent are physically present in this state and the minor has been abandoned or it is necessary in an emergency to protect the minor because the minor has been subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse or is otherwise neglected. This bill would expand the court's jurisdiction to include adoption proceedings for California-born minors when (1) proceedings to free the minor from the custody and control of one or both parents are not required to make the minor available for adoption and (2) the proceedings to free the minor from the custody and control of one or both parents to make the minor available for adoption are being brought in this state. The bill would clarify that the above provisions do not limit jurisdiction that is otherwise permitted under the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children. The bill would also require an adoption order issued for unmarried minors to include the names of the adoptive parent or parents and any existing parent or parents who will maintain their parental rights after the finalization of the adoption. Existing law sets forth the procedures for completing an independent adoption, including an investigation and a report by the State Department of Social Services or the delegated county adoption agency on the proposed independent adoption, as specified. For investigations involving petitioners who are residents of a state other than California, existing law requires a review of an updated and current home study report that was conducted and approved by a licensed adoption agency or other authorized resource in the state in which the petitioner resides if the standards and criteria for the home study report in the other state are substantially commensurate with the standards and criteria established in California adoption regulations. This bill would require a petitioner to be responsible for providing any additional documentation or information necessary to complete the investigation described above if the out-of-state home study report is not substantially commensurate with California standards or is otherwise missing required information.

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Jul 2025

Senate Passage

May 2025

Assembly Passage

Sep 2025

Signed into Law

Oct 2025

Introduced Feb 18, 2025 Signed Oct 13, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons

What changed between versions

08/28/25 - Amended Assembly → 09/16/25 - Enrolled · 2 edits · Sep 16, 2025

MINOR

This diff reflects the transition from the Amended Assembly version to the Enrolled (final) version of SB 450. The only substantive text changes are two minor drafting corrections in Section 9210(a)(5): the word 'legal' was removed before 'proceeding' in both subparts, and a redundant 'child minor' was corrected to simply 'minor.' All other changes are formatting updates (removal of line numbers, updated passage dates, and addition of enrolled bill signature blocks).

TECHNICAL

In Section 9210(a)(5)(A), 'A legal proceeding to free the minor' was changed to 'A proceeding to free the minor,' removing the redundant word 'legal.'

In Section 9210(a)(5)(B), 'The legal proceeding to free the minor...to make the child minor available for adoption' was changed to 'The proceeding to free the minor...to make the minor available for adoption,' removing 'legal' and fixing the redundant phrase 'child minor' to just 'minor.'

Floor votes · Senate May 29, 2025 · Assembly Sep 10, 2025

How they voted

28–8

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 40

May 29, 2025

D Democratic30

28 Yea 2

93% Yea

R Republican10

8 Nay 2

80% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Oct 13, 2025

Signed into law

Approved by the Governor.

legislature

Sep 11, 2025

Upper · Passed

Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 30. Noes 10. Page 2893.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

upper

Sep 10, 2025

Introduced

In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

upper

Sep 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 61. Noes 10. Page 3165.) Ordered to the Senate.

lower

Aug 28, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time and amended.

lower

Jul 2, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 2.) (July 2).

lower

Jun 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 2.) (June 17). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Jun 12, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

lower

Jun 5, 2025

Committee

Referred to Com. on JUD.

lower

May 29, 2025

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 28. Noes 8. Page 1340.) Ordered to the Assembly.

upper

May 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1. Page 1200.) (May 23).

upper

Apr 2, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 610.) (April 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Feb 26, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on JUD. and APPR.

upper

Feb 18, 2025

Introduced

Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 5 co-sponsors