Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is in part governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law sets forth various procedures, including the submission of an application package, for provider enrollment, continuing enrollment, or enrollment at a new location or a change in location under the Medi-Cal program. Existing law requires an applicant or provider who is a natural person and is licensed or certificated under provisions relating to healing arts, the Osteopathic Initiative Act, or the Chiropractic Initiative Act, or is a professional corporation, to comply with the above-described procedures and to be enrolled in the Medi-Cal program as either an individual provider or as a rendering provider in a provider group for each application package that is submitted and approved. This bill would also apply the above-described provision to a nonprofit public benefit corporation that has been granted tax-exempt status and through which licensed providers enumerated in the Medicaid state plan provide nonspecialty mental health services, as specified.
This measure would call on the state's Representatives in Congress to continue to support investments in the federal Local Food for Schools and Child Care program and would call on the President of the United States to work with Congress to support family farmers who produce fresh, locally sourced food for school meals.
This California House Resolution declares September 2026 as Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Awareness Month to highlight the challenges faced by families with newborns requiring extended hospital care. The bill notes that approximately 17,500 to 22,500 infants in the state experience NICU stays longer than two weeks each year, which can strain parental bonding and financial stability. It encourages individuals, businesses, and organizations to support parents in securing adequate time for bonding and home care after discharge. The resolution also directs copies of the text to be sent to the Governor and the Director of Employment Development for distribution.
California House Resolution 130 recognizes March 21, 2026, as the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The resolution cites historical context and current challenges in education, employment, criminal justice, and healthcare to highlight the impact of racial bias. It formally declares racism a public health crisis and commits the Assembly to actively participating in efforts to dismantle it.
Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires each state to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health benefit plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange, also known as Covered California, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans offered by participating carriers as required under PPACA. This bill would require a nonprofit health care service plan participating in the Exchange to annually disclose its material investment holdings to the Exchange on or before July 1 of each year, unless otherwise specified by regulation, beginning on July 1, 2027. The bill would require the Exchange to prominently display, and make accessible to the public, those disclosures on its internet website. If a plan fails to comply with the disclosure requirements, the bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care to assess an administrative penalty against the plan, as specified. The bill would require the Exchange to prominently post the plan's noncompliance status on its internet website until compliance is achieved.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services through fee-for-service or managed care delivery systems. The Medi-Cal program is in part governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law provides for the licensure of hospice agencies by the State Department of Public Health to provide hospice services to an individual who is experiencing the last phase of life due to a terminal illness, as defined. Under existing law, hospice services are covered under the Medi-Cal program, subject to utilization controls and the availability of federal financial participation, as specified. The State Department of Health Care Services administratively requires, effective March 2, 2026, a hospice provider to use a certain online attestation form to notify the department when a Medi-Cal fee-for-service member has elected to receive hospice services, as specified. This bill would codify and recast those departmental procedures relating to the online form. The bill would require the hospice provider to submit the online form within 5 calendar days after the member's election to receive hospice services, and to submit the form in conjunction with counseling, receipt of informed consent, and completion of a separate election notice form, as specified. The bill would make these provisions applicable only to the Medi-Cal fee-for-service delivery system. In the case of Medi-Cal managed care, the bill would require a hospice provider to instead follow its assigned Medi-Cal managed care plan's submission requirements, as specified.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, including general acute care hospitals, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law authorizes a general acute care hospital to be approved to offer special services, including, among others, cardiac surgery. Existing regulation requires, when a general acute care hospital is providing cardiovascular operative service, that a minimum of 3 surgeons constitute a surgical team if the procedure requires extracorporeal bypass. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2030, to update that regulation to reflect current professional standards of care relating to extracorporeal bypass surgery.
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 also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law authorizes health care service plans and health insurers that cover prescription drugs to utilize reasonable medical management practices, including prior authorization and step therapy, consistent with applicable law. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan contract or a health insurance policy that is issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, from imposing step therapy as a prerequisite to authorizing coverage of any prescription drug used for the treatment of a serious mental illness or substance use disorder, as those terms are defined, except as specified. The bill would specify that the prohibition on step therapy does not apply when the United States Food and Drug Administration-labeled indications and usage of a drug indicate that some prior medication must be taken. Because a willful violation of this provision by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California to license and regulate the practice of medicine. Former law, repealed as of January 1, 2025, established the Licensed Physicians and Dentists from Mexico Pilot Program, which allowed up to 30 licensed physicians and up to 30 licensed dentists from Mexico to practice medicine or dentistry in California for a period not to exceed 3 years, in accordance with certain requirements. Existing law, operative January 1, 2025, instead, establishes within the act the Licensed Physicians from Mexico Program, which authorizes the board to issue a limited number of nonrenewable 3-year physician's and surgeon's licenses to licensed physicians from Mexico who meet specified criteria. This bill would require the board to issue a full and unrestricted physician's and surgeon's license to a person who has completed 2 3-year terms of the Licensed Physicians from Mexico Program or the former Licensed Physicians and Dentists from Mexico Pilot Program in good standing upon satisfaction of specified requirements, including having an offer of continued employment from a health care facility or practice in California. This bill would establish the California Physician Expansion Act, which would require the board to issue a provisional license to an applicant who holds a full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in another country who meets specified requirements, including that the applicant has not committed any acts or crimes constituting grounds for denial of a certificate, as specified. In this regard, the bill would require the board to submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information required by the department of all applicants for a provisional license to determine whether the applicant has a criminal conviction record, as specified, and would require the department to provide a state- and federal-level response pursuant to specified provisions for the board to determine whether the applicant is subject to denial of licensure, as specified. The bill would make the provisional license valid for 3 years and would authorize the board to grant a one-time renewal for an additional period of up to 3 years, as specified. The bill would require a provisional licensee to, among other things, be employed by, and practice medicine only within, a sponsoring entity, as specified. The bill would authorize the board to revoke a provisional license or take any other disciplinary action deemed appropriate by the board, as specified. The bill would deem a provisional licensee applicant who meets specified requirements, including having completed at least 36 months of practice under the provisional license without any disciplinary actions, to meet the professional instruction, preliminary education, and postgraduate training requirements for a certificate under the Medical Practice Act. The bill would require the board to establish application, initial licensure, renewal, and conversion fees for the provisional license, as specified. The bill would make findings and declarations relating to its provisions.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is in part governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing federal law, enacted on July 4, 2025, sets forth various changes to Medicaid eligibility with regard to community engagement reporting, redeterminations, cost sharing, and retroactive coverage, among other factors, for certain Medicaid populations, including beneficiaries between 19 and 64 years of age, inclusive, with income up to 138% of the federal poverty level, commonly known as Medicaid expansion adults. The above-described federal law requires the state, beginning on October 1, 2028, to impose deductions, cost sharing, or similar charges determined appropriate by the state, in an amount greater than $0, with respect to certain care, items, or services furnished to Medicaid expansion adults, with income exceeding 100% and up to 138% of the federal poverty level, as determined by the state. The federal law excludes certain services from these provisions and prohibits the charge from exceeding $35. This bill would, no sooner than October 1, 2028, set a copayment of $0.01 for nonemergency services for the above-described population, as specified. The bill would authorize the provider to collect, retain, or waive the copayment amount. The bill would not apply the copayment requirements to emergency services, family planning services, or any services under certain categories. The bill would prohibit a service provider from denying care or services to an individual solely because of nonpayment of copayment. The bill would create an exemption from a copayment requirement for any visit, service, device, or item for which the Medi-Cal program's payment is $10 or less. The bill would prohibit the total aggregate amount of deductions, cost sharing, or similar charges imposed for all individuals in a family from exceeding 5% of the family income. Existing law requires the department to develop a single, accessible, standardized paper, electronic, and telephone application for insurance affordability programs, including Medi-Cal, for use by all entities authorized to make an eligibility determination for those programs. Existing law authorizes all insurance affordability programs to accept self-attestation for age, date of birth, family size, household income, state residence, pregnancy, work or community engagement activities or exemptions, and any other applicable criteria needed to determine eligibility, to the extent permitted by state and federal law. This bill would instead require those programs to accept self-attestation, to the extent permitted by state and federal law. Existing law requires department, the California Health and Human Services Agency, and the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) board to establish a process for receiving and acting on stakeholder suggestions and concerns regarding the Exchange, as specified. Existing law requires this process to include regular updates on the work to analyze, prioritize, and implement corrections to confirmed defects and proposed enhancements to the eligibility systems and to monitor screening and evaluation for Medi-Cal eligibility. The bill would instead require the establishment of a process for receiving and acting on stakeholder suggestions and concerns regarding the functionality, accuracy, and legally appropriate determination of specified electronic eligibility systems and public internet websites that support Medi-Cal and the Exchange. The bill would also instead require the process to include regular updates on the work to analyze, prioritize, and implement corrections to confirmed defects and proposed enhancements to the eligibility systems and to monitor screening and evaluation for insurance affordability program eligibility. To the extent these provisions expand duties for counties relating to Medi-Cal and insurance affordability program eligibility, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
