Contraceptive Equity Act of 2022.

(1) Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law establishes health care coverage requirements for contraceptives, including, but not limited to, requiring a health care service plan, including a Medi-Cal managed care plan, or a health insurance policy issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2017, to cover up to a 12-month supply of federal Food and Drug Administration approved, self-administered hormonal contraceptives when dispensed at one time for an enrollee or insured by a provider or pharmacist, or at a location licensed or authorized to dispense drugs or supplies. This bill, the Contraceptive Equity Act of 2022, would make various changes to expand coverage of contraceptives by a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on and after January 1, 2024, including requiring a health care service plan or health insurer to provide point-of-sale coverage for over-the-counter FDA-approved contraceptive drugs, devices, and products at in-network pharmacies without cost sharing or medical management restrictions. The bill would require health care service plans and insurance policies offered by public or private institutions of higher learning that directly provide health care services only to its students, faculty, staff, administration, and their respective dependents, issued, amended, renewed, or delivered, on or after January 1, 2024, to comply with these contraceptive coverage requirements. The bill would also require coverage for clinical services related to the provision or use of contraception, as specified. The bill would revise provisions applicable when a covered, therapeutic equivalent of a drug, device, or product is deemed medically inadvisable by deferring to the provider, as specified. This bill would also prohibit a health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2024, with certain exceptions, from imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement on vasectomy services and procedures, as specified, under conditions similar to those applicable to other contraceptive coverage. This bill would require a health benefit plan or contract with the Board of Public Relations of the Public Employees' Retirement System to provide coverage for contraceptives and vasectomies consistent with the bill's requirements, commencing January 1, 2024. The bill would prohibit the California State University and the University of California from approving a health benefit plan that does not comply with the contraceptive coverage requirements of the bill on and after January 1, 2024. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , establishes the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, under the direction of the Director of Civil Rights, to enforce civil rights laws with respect to housing and employment and to protect and safeguard the right of all persons to obtain and hold employment without discrimination based on specified characteristics or status, including, but not limited to, race, age, sex, or medical condition. The FEHA makes certain discriminatory employment and housing practices unlawful, and authorizes a person claiming to be aggrieved by an alleged unlawful practice to file a verified complaint with the Civil Rights Department. The FEHA requires the department to make an investigation in connection with a filed complaint alleging facts sufficient to constitute a violation of the FEHA, and requires the department to endeavor to eliminate the unlawful practice by conference, conciliation, mediation, and persuasion. With regard to unlawful employment practices, if conference, conciliation, mediation, or persuasion fails and the department has required all parties to participate in a mandatory dispute resolution, as specified, the FEHA authorizes the director, in their discretion, to bring a civil action in the name of the department on behalf of the person claiming to be aggrieved. This bill would revise the FEHA to include protection for reproductive health decisionmaking, as defined, with respect to the opportunity to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination. Among other provisions, the bill would prohibit specified discriminatory practices, based on reproductive health decisionmaking, by employers, labor organizations, apprenticeships and training programs, and licensing boards. The bill also would make it unlawful for an employer to require, as a condition of employment, continued employment, or a benefit of employment, the disclosure of information relating to an applicant's or employee's reproductive health decisionmaking. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12926 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1766 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1766 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12931 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2960 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2960 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.