The bill "requires that a pupil be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs, activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records.

[2] It passed the California State Legislature in July 2013 and was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in August 2013.

[4] The "Privacy for All Students" coalition, a conservative group opposed to the legislation, sought to place a referendum on the ballot to overturn the law.

[3][5] Secretary of State of California Debra Bowen determined that the threshold of votes necessary to force the referendum had not been reached because 5,000 petition signatures from Mono and Tulare counties had not been submitted by a November 10, 2013 deadline.

[5] The conservative legal group Pacific Justice Institute, representing opponents of AB 1266, challenged Bowen's decision in court, and in January 2015, Judge Allen Sumner of the Sacramento County Superior Court ordered Bowen to accept the signatures, ruling that submission of the signatures on November 12 was timely because the previous two days were a Sunday and a holiday.