California FAIR Plan Association: automatic payments.

The description of existing law changed from requiring insurers to notify policyholders at least 10 business calendar days before cancellation for nonpayment to 10 calendar days, effectively shortening the notice period by roughly 2 days.

Removed the specific 10-day grace period for policyholders to pay outstanding installment premiums. The bill now simply provides 'a period' to pay, in accordance with the existing Section 677.4 notice requirement, rather than specifying a fixed number of days.

Consolidated two overlapping provisions about automatic payment pricing into a single structured subsection (b)(1) and (b)(2), clarifying that the base policy amount must remain the same but a reasonable convenience fee for automatic payments is permitted.

Removed the requirement that the amount charged to a policyholder must remain the same whether they use automatic payments or another method (former subsection (b)(1)).

Removed the authorization for the FAIR Plan Association or its vendor to charge a reasonable fee for the convenience and increased cost of using the automatic payment system (former subsection (b)(2)).

The previous version prohibited any difference in the amount charged for automatic payments versus other methods. The new version allows the association or its vendor to charge a reasonable fee for the convenience and increased cost of using the automatic payment system, while still requiring the base policy amount to remain the same regardless of payment method.

The 10-day grace period for paying outstanding installment premiums was changed from a standalone 'grace period' to a '10-day period' explicitly tied to the existing Section 677.4 notice requirement, aligning it with the statutory framework for cancellation notices.

The summary section clarified that the existing law requires '10 business calendar days' notice before cancellation for nonpayment, adding the word 'calendar' for precision.

Replaced enrolled-version legislative process markings (passage dates, clerk signatures, Governor receipt line) with the official chaptered format including 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL' header and Chapter 475 designation.

Added the Governor's approval date: October 9, 2025, and filing date with the Secretary of State: October 9, 2025.

The amendment to Health and Safety Code Section 1317 was dropped from the bill. This section would have removed 'citizenship' and 'preexisting medical condition' from the list of characteristics that cannot be considered when providing emergency services and care. Their removal from the bill means those protections remain in place.

The bill's scope expanded from solely amending Health and Safety Code sections (1317, 1317.3, 1317.4, 1317.6) to also adding a new section to the Insurance Code (10095.8), broadening the bill to cover insurance consumer protections in addition to emergency medical care.

New Insurance Code Section 10095.8 requires the California FAIR Plan Association to create an automatic payment system and accept automatic payments for premiums from policyholders.

The automatic payment amount charged to a policyholder must not differ from the amount charged if the policyholder paid through another method.

A FAIR Plan policy cannot be canceled or nonrenewed solely because the policyholder is not enrolled in automatic payments or because they failed to confirm a one-time payment on the association's website.

A 15-day grace period is provided for policyholders who fail to timely pay their FAIR Plan premium.

Removed the exception 'unless the policyholder failed to make the payment within the grace period provided in subdivision (d)' from the prohibition on canceling or nonrenewing a FAIR Plan policy solely because the policyholder is not enrolled in automatic payments. The protection is now unconditional.

Hospital civil penalty under Section 1317.6(a) increased from $25,000 to $1,000,000 per violation

Physician civil penalty under Section 1317.6(c) increased from $5,000 to $1,000,000 per violation

Daily fine for failure to adopt required policies under Section 1317.3(e) increased from $1,000 to $1,000,000 per day

Civil penalty for retaliation against reporting personnel under Section 1317.4(f) increased from $10,000 to $1,000,000 per violation

Deleted the $30,000 cumulative maximum limit that capped combined state and federal fines for the same violation under Section 1317.6(f)

Removed the requirement that the state department consider and credit federal fines (under EMTALA Section 1395dd) when determining state penalty amounts

Removed the requirement that the medical board credit federal fines against physician civil penalties to avoid duplication

Section 1317(b) no longer lists citizenship or preexisting medical condition as protected characteristics in the general emergency care provision, though they remain listed in Section 1317.3 hospital policy requirements

Deleted outdated provision in Section 1317.3(f) requiring hospitals to submit policies by December 31, 1988

Updated terminology from Memorandum of Transfer to Transfer Summary in Section 1317.4(a), and changed his or her to their for gender-neutral language throughout

Section 10095.9 was deleted entirely. It had prohibited the FAIR Plan Association from canceling or nonrenewing a policy solely because a policyholder failed to confirm a payment when making a one-time payment on the association's internet website, and provided a 15-day grace period in that situation.

The grace period for paying an outstanding installment premium under Section 10095.8(d) was reduced from 15 days to 10 days.

All amendments to Health and Safety Code Sections 1317.3, 1317.4, and 1317.6 were deleted. These provisions would have increased hospital emergency services penalties from $1,000 per day to $1,000,000 per day for failure to adopt required policies, from $10,000 to $1,000,000 for retaliation against reporting personnel, and from $25,000 to $1,000,000 for hospital violations. They also would have removed the cumulative penalty cap of $30,000.

The bill title was changed to remove references to amending Health and Safety Code sections relating to health care, now only referencing adding sections to the Insurance Code.

New Section 10095.9 was added to the Insurance Code, specifically addressing the scenario where a policyholder fails to confirm a one-time payment on the FAIR Plan website. It prohibits cancellation or nonrenewal solely for that failure, unless the policyholder also failed to make the payment within the 15-day grace period.

Section 10095.8(c) was narrowed: it still prohibits cancellation solely because a policyholder is not enrolled in automatic payments, but the website confirmation failure scenario was moved to the new Section 10095.9 with an added exception allowing cancellation if payment is not made within the grace period.

A deadline of April 1, 2026 was added for the California FAIR Plan Association to create and accept automatic payments. Previously the bill had no specific implementation date.

The grace period in Section 10095.8(d) for paying an outstanding installment premium was shortened from 15 days to 10 days. Note that Section 10095.9(b) still retains a 15-day grace period for website payment confirmation failures.

Section 10095.8(c) no longer protects against cancellation for failing to confirm a one-time payment on the association's website. That protection is now solely in Section 10095.9, making the two sections more distinct: 10095.8 covers automatic payment enrollment and installment premiums, while 10095.9 covers website payment confirmation failures.

Section 10095.8(d) now specifically references 'outstanding installment premium' rather than just 'premium,' narrowing the scope of the grace period to installment payments only.

Four coauthors were added: Assembly Members Addis, Gipson, Hadwick, and Harabedian.