Bill banning child marriage passes Legislature, awaits Newsom's signature

Sofia Williams, The Sacramento Bee on Aug 27, 2026

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The Assembly unanimously passed a bill Wednesday to ban marriage under the age of 18, pushing the legislation to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

If Newsom signs Assembly Bill 1267, California will join 17 U.S. states that impose outright bans on child marriage. Currently, California is one of three states that has no minimum age requirement to get married; a minor may be granted a marriage license if they obtain parental permission and a court order consenting to the union.

The effort to ban child marriage in the state has spanned nine years of lobbying. Similar legislation failed to pass in 2023 after stalling in a committee hearing, and in 2018 after pushback from the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU California Action has registered its opposition to AB 1267.

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, the bill’s author, said she was especially motivated to act as a former county clerk and commissioner of civil marriage in Santa Cruz, where she encountered the issue firsthand. According to Pellerin, she wrote the bill after meeting with individuals who experienced child marriage.

“We are hearing from survivors. We’re hearing about how they were convinced…to do what their parents told them to do, or to tell the judge that this is what they wanted, and they weren’t being forced,” Pellerin said. “We’re supposed to be protecting children and not marrying them off to adults.”

The legislation has consistently garnered bipartisan support in the Legislature, as Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, noted in Wednesday’s Assembly floor hearing. Dixon is a joint author of the legislation.

“We discussed a multitude of issues on this floor and engaged in heated debate often, especially during the end of session,” Dixon said. “However, I’m proud to see that ending child marriage in California is not a partisan issue. And when that comes to protecting children, both sides of the aisle are in lockstep.”

The bill was sponsored by the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and advocacy group Unchained at Last, an organization aiming to end child marriage in the U.S. Fraidy Reiss, Unchained at Last’s founder and executive director, said the bill’s passage in the Legislature was a “monumental victory.”

“I watched the Assembly floor session on my flight home from California and…I was just sobbing and cheering,” Reiss said. “It was a very emotional experience to watch this happen and to see legislators finally standing up for girls.”

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