Arbitration: health care service plans: Lindalee's Law.

New Section 1 names the act 'Lindalee's Law,' giving it a public naming provision that signals its purpose of protecting consumers from forced arbitration in health care service plans.

New subdivision (e) requires the Attorney General to inform the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care of any compliance action taken under the section, creating an inter-agency notification mechanism.

Senators Umberg and Wahab added as coauthors, indicating bipartisan or multi-member Senate sponsorship.

Corrected a typo in subdivision (a): 'health care service plans plan contracts' changed to 'health care service plan contracts.'

All provisions creating a Department of Managed Health Care panel of qualified arbitrators (former Section 1373.20) were removed, including the requirement to establish the panel by February 1, 2027, the random selection process, arbitrator qualifications, fee structure, and arbitrator authority to assess fines on health care providers.

All Insurance Code provisions (former Section 10123.19) were removed, eliminating the bill's application to health insurers. The bill no longer requires disclosure language in health insurance policies or mandates that insurer-insured arbitrations use DMHC-selected arbitrators.

State-mandated local program designation changed from 'yes' to 'no,' reflecting that the remaining provisions no longer impose obligations on local agencies.

All arbitration procedure requirements (former Section 1373.21) were removed, including: cost allocation rules requiring plans to pay arbitrator fees and defense costs, mandatory court reporter presence, 30-day report submission to the DMHC director, five-year document preservation, public availability of arbitration records, and judicial sealing standards.

The amendment to Health and Safety Code Section 1363.1 was removed, which had required specific disclosure language in health care service plan contracts about binding arbitration, jury trial waivers, and the right to appeal on legal or factual error.

Legislative findings under Article I, Section 3 of the California Constitution regarding public access limitations were removed, along with the no-reimbursement provision under Article XIII B.

New subdivision (c) of Government Code Section 12529.9 clarifies that the Attorney General's existing authority to investigate and prosecute violations of state unfair competition laws or any other state law is not narrowed, abrogated, or altered by this section.

New subdivision (d) of Government Code Section 12529.9 clarifies that the Department of Managed Health Care's existing authority under Chapter 2.2 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code is not narrowed, abrogated, or altered by this section.

New Government Code Section 12529.9 gives the Attorney General oversight over health care service plans to ensure compliance with arbitration disclosure and procedure requirements (Sections 1363.1, 1373.19-1373.21 of the Health and Safety Code), and authorizes the AG to require reports from plans for this purpose.

New Government Code Section 12529.9(b) mandates that any arbitration claim initiated pursuant to a health care service plan must be conducted under Title 9 (starting at Section 1280) and Title 9.1 (starting at Section 1295) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, i.e., the California Arbitration Act.

The state-mandated local program finding was changed from 'yes' to 'no,' indicating the bill no longer imposes costs on local agencies or school districts that would trigger reimbursement under Proposition 13.

Section 1363.1(3) changed 'his or her right to a jury trial' to 'their right to a jury trial' for gender-neutral language.