CA SB 494
introducedCharter schools: establishment prohibition and renewal procedures.
California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · upper
Subscribe in a feed reader. The feed covers recorded actions from the last 30 days; Bill Commons may record an action after it happened at the legislature.
Quick answers
Did CA SB 494 pass?
Not yet. CA SB 494 has been introduced but has not advanced to a vote. Latest recorded action (2025-09-13): Ordered to inactive file on request of Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry.
What is CA SB 494 about?
(1) Existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992, authorizes the establishment, operation, and governance of charter schools. Existing law authorizes a charter school that has an approved charter to receive funding for nonclassroom-based instruction only if a determination for funding is made by the State Board of Education, as specified. The act prohibits, from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2026, inclusive, the approval of a petition for the establishment of a new charter school offering nonclassroom-based instruction, as specified. This bill would extend that prohibition to continue through January 1, 2027. (2) Existing law, until January 1, 2026, sets out performance standards and procedures for the renewal of the charter of an existing charter school, including, among other things, the use of verified data, as provided. Existing law sets out revised standards and procedures that are operative on and after January 1, 2026, that, among other things, no longer requires a chartering authority to use verified data and instead requires a chartering authority to use only the data reported on the California School Dashboard in making a renewal decision, as provided. This bill would extend, until January 1, 2027, the operation of the performance standards and procedures for the renewal of charter schools that would otherwise be inoperative on January 1, 2026, and would delay the operation of the revised standards and procedures until January 1, 2027. To the extent the bill imposes new duties on local educational agencies acting as chartering authorities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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.
Who sponsors CA SB 494?
Cortese is the primary sponsor of CA SB 494.
Description
(1) Existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992, authorizes the establishment, operation, and governance of charter schools. Existing law authorizes a charter school that has an approved charter to receive funding for nonclassroom-based instruction only if a determination for funding is made by the State Board of Education, as specified. The act prohibits, from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2026, inclusive, the approval of a petition for the establishment of a new charter school offering nonclassroom-based instruction, as specified. This bill would extend that prohibition to continue through January 1, 2027. (2) Existing law, until January 1, 2026, sets out performance standards and procedures for the renewal of the charter of an existing charter school, including, among other things, the use of verified data, as provided. Existing law sets out revised standards and procedures that are operative on and after January 1, 2026, that, among other things, no longer requires a chartering authority to use verified data and instead requires a chartering authority to use only the data reported on the California School Dashboard in making a renewal decision, as provided. This bill would extend, until January 1, 2027, the operation of the performance standards and procedures for the renewal of charter schools that would otherwise be inoperative on January 1, 2026, and would delay the operation of the revised standards and procedures until January 1, 2027. To the extent the bill imposes new duties on local educational agencies acting as chartering authorities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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.
- Introduced
- 2025-02-19
- Latest action
- 2025-09-13 — Ordered to inactive file on request of Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry.
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Subjects
Sponsors
- Corteseauthor
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
Newest first
2025-09-13
Ordered to inactive file on request of Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry.
2025-09-09
Joint Rule 61(a)(13) suspended. (Ayes 60. Noes 20. Page 3128.)
2025-09-09
Read third time and amended.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-3
2025-09-09
Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-3
2025-09-08
Assembly Rule 78 suspended.
2025-09-08
Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-3
2025-09-08
From inactive file.
2025-09-02
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2025-09-02
Ordered to inactive file on request of Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry.
2025-08-29
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 3.) (August 29).
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2025-08-20
August 20 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
2025-07-10
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2025-07-09
From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 3.) (July 8).
amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-06-25
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HIGHER ED. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on HIGHER ED.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-06-09
Referred to Coms. on P. E. & R. and HIGHER ED.
referral-committee
2025-06-03
In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.
reading-1
2025-06-02
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 27. Noes 10. Page 1394.) Ordered to the Assembly.
passage,reading-1,reading-3
2025-05-23
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1. Page 1202.) (May 23).
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2025-05-23
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
reading-1,reading-2,reading-3
2025-05-16
Set for hearing May 23.
2025-05-05
May 5 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
2025-04-25
Set for hearing May 5.
2025-04-23
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 865.) (April 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-04-10
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ED.
amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee
2025-04-04
Set for hearing April 23.
2025-03-26
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on ED. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 568.) (March 26). Re-referred to Com. on ED.
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee
2025-03-18
Set for hearing March 26.
2025-02-26
Referred to Coms. on L., P.E. & R. and ED.
referral-committee
2025-02-20
From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 22.
2025-02-19
Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.
introduction,reading-1,referral-committee
Versions
Documents
- application/pdf
- application/pdf
- application/pdf
- application/pdf
- text/html
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
- application/pdf(no extracted text yet)
Votes
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Education]
2025-03-26 · pass · 4-1
Member-level votes (5)
- Laird: yes
- Durazo: yes
- Cortese: yes
- Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
- Strickland: no
Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2025-04-23 · pass · 5-2
Member-level votes (7)
- Cortese: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Laird: yes
- Pérez: yes
- Gonzalez: yes
- Ochoa Bogh: no
- Choi: no
Placed on suspense file
2025-05-05 · pass · 7-0
Member-level votes (7)
- Richardson: yes
- Grayson: yes
- Seyarto: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Dahle: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Wahab: yes
Do pass
2025-05-23 · pass · 5-1
Member-level votes (7)
- Caballero: yes
- Wahab: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Richardson: yes
- Grayson: yes
- Seyarto: no
- Dahle: other
3rd Reading
2025-06-02 · pass · 27-10
Member-level votes (40)
- Menjivar: yes
- Pérez: yes
- Rubio: yes
- Padilla: yes
- Cervantes: yes
- Wahab: yes
- Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
- Wiener: yes
- Grayson: yes
- Cortese: yes
- Ashby: yes
- Gonzalez: yes
- Arreguín: yes
- Archuleta: yes
- Umberg: yes
- Becker: yes
- Laird: yes
- Durazo: yes
- McGuire: yes
- Blakespear: yes
- McNerney: yes
- Limón: yes
- Caballero: yes
- Stern: yes
- Weber Pierson: yes
- Cabaldon: yes
- Richardson: yes
- Ochoa Bogh: no
- Niello: no
- Seyarto: no
- Valladares: no
- Alvarado-Gil: no
- Grove: no
- Dahle: no
- Strickland: no
- Choi: no
- Jones: no
- Hurtado: other
- Allen: other
- Reyes: other
Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Higher Education]
2025-06-25 · pass · 5-0
Member-level votes (7)
- McKinnor: yes
- Nguyen: yes
- Garcia: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Boerner: yes
- Alanis: other
- Lackey: other
Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]
2025-07-08 · pass · 6-3
Member-level votes (10)
- Sharp-Collins: yes
- Celeste Rodriguez: yes
- Jackson: yes
- Boerner: yes
- Fong: yes
- Muratsuchi: yes
- Jeff Gonzalez: no
- Tangipa: no
- DeMaio: no
- Patel: other
Do pass.
2025-08-29 · pass · 11-3
Member-level votes (15)
- Arambula: yes
- Mark González: yes
- Wicks: yes
- Caloza: yes
- Ahrens: yes
- Solache: yes
- Sanchez: no
- Tangipa: no
- Dixon: no
- Ta: other
- Calderon: yes
- Elhawary: yes
- Pellerin: yes
- Fong: yes
- Pacheco: yes
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T01:34:27.960412Z
Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:
Session-wide evidence can include changes to other bills:
Use this data
Every field on this page is available from the free public API — no key or licence required. Fetch this bill as JSON: GET /api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=CA&identifier=SB 494. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.
Known limitations
- Sponsor party and chamber affiliation are not yet captured by this API.
- Committee referrals are not yet captured.
- Some documents have no extracted text yet, so version comparison may be limited.
See the methodology page for data sources and limitations.