SB 608 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Sexual health.

Summary

(1) Existing law, the California Healthy Youth Act, requires school districts, defined to include county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, and charter schools, to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention education, as specified. This bill would authorize the State Department of Education to monitor compliance with the requirements of the California Healthy Youth Act as part of its annual compliance monitoring of state and federal programs. (2) Existing law establishes the Office of School-Based Health Programs for the purpose of assisting local educational agencies regarding the current health-related programs under the purview of the State Department of Education including, among other duties, coordinating school health program activities with public health, social services, environmental, and local educational agencies, and other public and private entities. This bill would prohibit a local educational agency, as defined, from prohibiting school-based health centers, as defined, that serve schools of the local educational agency from making internal and external condoms available and easily accessible to pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, at the school-based health center site and would require a school of a local educational agency to allow condoms to be made available to pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, during the course of, or in connection with, educational or public health programs and initiatives, as provided. To the extent the bill imposes additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Under existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, the State Department of Public Health generally regulates the packaging, labeling, advertising, and sale of food, drugs, devices, and cosmetics, in accordance with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. A violation of those provisions is generally a crime. Existing law sets forth various other provisions relating to the furnishing and health care coverage of certain types of contraception. This bill would, with certain exceptions, prohibit a retail establishment, as defined, from refusing to furnish nonprescription contraception to a person solely on the basis of age by means of any conduct, including, but not limited to, requiring the customer to present identification for purposes of demonstrating their age. Under the bill, a violation of that prohibition would be exempt from the above-described criminal penalty. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Issues: ✓ Education ✓ Healthcare

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Jul 2026

Senate Passage

Jan 2026

Assembly Passage

Aug 2026

Governor

Introduced Feb 20, 2025 Last action Aug 26, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons

What changed between versions

08/28/26 - Enrolled → SB608 · 1 edit

MINOR

This diff reflects a change in document format rather than any substantive policy change. The 'From' version is the formal enrolled bill text with traditional legislative formatting (page numbers, chapter designation, signature blocks), while the 'To' version is a web page rendering of the same bill from the California legislature website. All legislative content - the findings, digest, and Sections 1 through 5 - is identical between the two versions.

TECHNICAL

The document was reformatted from an official enrolled bill layout (with page numbers, chapter heading, governor signature line, and secretary attestation) into a web page display that includes navigation menus, search tools, status timeline, and sidebar links. No policy language was added, removed, or altered.

03/24/25 - Amended Senate → 06/22/26 - Amended Assembly · 6 edits · Jun 22, 2026

MODERATE

The Assembly amended SB 608 to narrow the entities prohibited from restricting condom access in schools by removing the State Department of Education and replacing it with a new defined term 'local educational agency' (school districts, county offices of education, charter schools). The bill now carries a state-mandated local program designation (changed from 'no' to 'yes'), meaning the state must reimburse local agencies for compliance costs. The Assembly also narrowed the exemption in the retail contraception provision so it only defers to federal law restrictions, not state law restrictions.

SCOPE

The entities prohibited from restricting condom availability in schools were changed. The State Department of Education was removed as a covered entity. A new defined term 'local educational agency' (meaning school district, county office of education, or charter school) now serves as the umbrella category for covered entities.

In the retail contraception provision (Section 111824), the exemption for age-based restrictions was narrowed. The Senate version exempted refusals based on age if 'federal or state law' imposed such restrictions. The Assembly version removed the reference to state law, so only subsequent federal law restrictions trigger the exemption.

Findings (7) and (8) were deleted from the legislative findings section. These referenced Vermont as the first state to require school condom availability, CDC statistics showing low rates of school condom programs, and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine's support for school-based condom access.

DEFINITION

A new definition of 'local educational agency' was added to Section 49595(c), meaning a school district, county office of education, or charter school. This consolidates previously separate references into one defined term.

The definition of 'school-based health center' was updated from 'located at or near a public school' to 'located at or near a public school, school of a local educational agency,' slightly broadening the geographic scope of covered centers.

FISCAL

The state-mandated local program designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the Assembly determined the bill imposes costs on local agencies that trigger the state's constitutional obligation to reimburse those costs.

02/20/25 - Introduced → 03/24/25 - Amended Senate · 5 edits · Mar 24, 2025

MODERATE

The Senate amendment to SB 608 expands the school condom access requirement by adding a new obligation for public schools serving grades 7-12 to allow condoms during educational and public health programs (not just at school-based health centers), adds a federal law savings clause to the retail contraception provision, and designates the bill as a state-mandated local program with reimbursement. Senator Wiener was added as coauthor.

REQUIREMENT

New subsection (b) in Education Code Section 49595 requires public schools serving grades 7-12 to allow condoms to be made available during educational or public health programs and initiatives, including those provided by community organizations under the California Healthy Youth Act, pupil peer health programs or clubs, on-campus health fairs, and school-based health center staff. This broadens condom access beyond just school-based health centers.

SCOPE

A new subdivision (c) in Health and Safety Code Section 111824 adds a savings clause: if future federal law imposes age restrictions on a nonprescription contraception, the state prohibition on refusing to sell based on age will not apply to that specific product. This protects the bill from conflict with potential future federal regulation.

FISCAL

New Section 5 provides that if the Commission on State Mandates determines the act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts shall be made pursuant to Government Code Part 7. The digest also changed the state-mandated local program designation from 'no' to 'yes.'

TECHNICAL

Subsection (a) of Education Code Section 49595 was slightly reworded from 'maintaining any combination of classrooms from grades 7 to 12' to 'maintaining any combination of classrooms from that serves pupils in any of grades 7 to 12,' clarifying the grammatical structure.

Senator Wiener was added as a coauthor. Line numbering and page formatting were adjusted throughout.

Floor votes · Senate Jan 27, 2026 · Assembly Aug 25, 2026

How they voted

29–9

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 40

Jan 27, 2026

D Democratic30

29 Yea 1

96% Yea

R Republican10

9 Nay 1

90% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Aug 26, 2026

Upper · Passed

Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 29. Noes 9.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

upper

Aug 25, 2026

Introduced

In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

upper

Aug 25, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate.

lower

Aug 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

lower

Aug 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 3.) (August 13).

lower

Jul 1, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 3.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Jun 22, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH.

lower

Jun 18, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (June 17).

lower

May 4, 2026

Committee

Referred to Coms. on ED. and HEALTH.

lower

Jan 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 29. Noes 9. Page 3298.) Ordered to the Assembly.

upper

Jan 22, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 3269.) (January 22).

upper

May 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

May 23 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

upper

Apr 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0. Page 737.) (April 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Apr 2, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 634.) (April 2). Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH.

upper

Mar 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Mar 5, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on ED. and HEALTH.

upper

Feb 20, 2025

Introduced

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

upper

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors