SB 1051 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Foster care: childcare.

Summary

Existing law establishes the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children, to be implemented at the discretion of each county, for the purpose of stabilizing foster children with families at the time of placement by providing a time-limited payment or voucher for childcare following the child's placement, or for a child whose parent is in foster care, and by providing the family with a childcare navigator to assist the family in accessing long-term subsidized childcare. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law establishes childcare resource and referral programs to serve a defined geographic area and provide prescribed services, including, making referrals to licensed child daycare facilities and the provision of childcare navigators to support children in foster care, children previously in foster care upon return to their home of origin, and children of parents involved in the child welfare system, including any child who meets the eligibility criteria for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children. This bill would authorize childcare navigators to refer foster children to the county welfare department for eligibility and approval under the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children, and would require participating county welfare departments to determine eligibility of that referred child for the program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 11461.6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by Assembly Bill 2478 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2478 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Jun 2026

Senate Passage

Apr 2026

Assembly Passage

Aug 2026

Governor

Introduced Feb 12, 2026 Last action Aug 27, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

08/30/26 - Enrolled → SB1051 · 1 edit

MINOR

This diff reflects a change in document presentation format rather than any substantive policy change. The Enrolled version of SB 1051 (the formal legislative document with signatures, page numbers, and chapter headings) has been replaced by a web-based rendering of the same bill text from the California Legislature website. All operative provisions remain identical between the two versions.

TECHNICAL

The formal enrolled legislative document formatting (Senate/Assembly passage dates, signature blocks, page numbers, CHAPTER heading, and Governor approval line) was removed and replaced with a web-based bill text presentation including navigation elements, version history metadata, and status information.

02/12/26 - Introduced → 08/21/26 - Amended Assembly · 7 edits · Aug 21, 2026

MODERATE

The Assembly amendment to SB 1051 expands eligibility for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children by adding kinship families and tribally approved homes as qualifying family types, alongside the existing resource families and juvenile court parents. It also adds a coordination provision with AB 2478 so that both bills can amend the same code section without conflict. Additionally, the bill standardizes terminology from 'child care' to 'childcare' throughout Section 10219.

Scope change

The program's scope expanded to cover kinship families and tribally approved homes in addition to resource families and juvenile court parents, broadening which foster placements can access emergency childcare payments or vouchers.

ELIGIBILITY

Kinship families (as described in Section 16519.4) are now explicitly eligible for the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children, in addition to the previously listed resource families and juvenile court parents.

Tribally approved homes (as defined in subdivision (r) of Section 224.1) and families with a child placed in emergency under subdivision (e) of Section 361.4 are now explicitly eligible for the program.

The eligibility language in paragraph (d)(2) changed from 'include both of the following' to 'include all of the following,' reflecting the expanded list of qualifying family types from two categories to four.

SCOPE

Paragraph (d)(3) now references 'kinship families, tribally approved homes, or resource families' when describing situations where a payment or voucher may be provided, broadening the scope beyond just resource families.

TECHNICAL

A new Section 2.5 was added that provides an alternative version of Section 11461.6 incorporating changes from both SB 1051 and AB 2478, operative only if both bills are enacted by January 1, 2027, and SB 1051 is enacted last.

A new Section 3 was added as a coordination mechanism specifying that Section 2.5 becomes operative only if both SB 1051 and AB 2478 are enacted and effective on or before January 1, 2027, each amends Section 11461.6, and SB 1051 is enacted after AB 2478 (in which case Section 2 of SB 1051 would not become operative).

Throughout Section 10219, the two-word term 'child care' was replaced with the one-word term 'childcare' for consistency.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 23, 2026 · Assembly Aug 25, 2026

How they voted

37–0

Passed · 3 other

Total votes 40

Apr 23, 2026

D Democratic30

28 Yea 2

93% Yea

R Republican10

9 Yea 1

90% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Aug 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0.) 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 21, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time and amended.

lower

Jun 24, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (June 24).

lower

Jun 17, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 16). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

May 11, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on HUM. S.

lower

Apr 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 4034.) Ordered to the Assembly.

upper

Apr 20, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar.

upper

Apr 7, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 3740.) (April 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Feb 26, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on HUMAN S.

upper

Feb 12, 2026

Introduced

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

upper

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor