The California State Legislature kicked off the first year of its 2025-2026 biennial Legislative Session on December 2, 2024. This year, the legislature got off to a sprinting start as it raced to meet the February 21, 2025 deadline to introduce new bills. Compared to last year, this year’s legislature proposed a wider swath of bills aimed at healthcare-related concerns, including enhanced merger review, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, and expanding access to both provider and coverage options for consumers. In this month’s California Legislative Beat, we […]

On January 10, 2025, Governor Newsom released his proposed California state budget for the 2025-26 term. Following last year’s $46 billion budget shortfall, the Governor’s new budget looked quite different this year. Specifically, the budget had no deficits, reporting a projected surplus of $363 million due to the state’s prediction that it will collect almost $17 billion more in revenue than was originally planned. In fact, this year is slated to go down as California’s second-largest state spending plan ever, at a value of almost $322 billion. Overview of the […]

The California legislation concluded the 2024 legislative session when it adjourned on August 21, 2024. Overall, the legislature introduced a variety of health care bills spanning a list of hot-topic issues from Medi-Cal eligibility to health care worker minimum wage increases. Below we recap noteworthy bills from the 2024 legislative session impacting California’s health care market that were not enacted (to learn what bills were enacted please see Recapping the 2024 California Legislative Session: Artificial Intelligence, Debt, and More). The bills covered are arranged by issue relating to Pharmaceuticals, Health […]

On August 31, the California Legislature ended the second year of the 2023-2024 legislative session. Lawmakers worked arduously until midnight of the last day of the session to decide on the future of more than 1300 bills but ultimately ran out of time to get through them all. Through their efforts, they passed approximately 990 of these measures which were presented to Governor Newsom for signing this fall. Keeping in line with recent years, the Governor vetoed 183 of the bills (a roughly 18% veto rate). Nevertheless, California successfully passed […]

On September 28, 2024, Governor Newsom approved Assembly Bill 2063. The provisions of the bill were originally enacted as AB 1124 in 2020, amends section 1343.3 of the Health and Safety Code regarding risk-bearing arrangement pilot programs. These programs, according to the bill’s author, Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, are a solution to increasing health care costs through shared financial risks.  Background The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) regulates the licensure process in the state under the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Act of 1975 (KKA). Entities required to obtain a […]

On September 28, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill (AB) 3129. The landmark bill would have added restrictions around how private equity groups (PEGs) and hedge funds could participate in the ownership and management of California healthcare facilities. Introduced by Assemblymember Jim Wood and Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta this past February, supporters of the bill had been optimistic about the bill’s potential impact on healthcare consumers and on the broader healthcare market. In this month’s California Legislative Beat, we examine how this bill could have changed healthcare transactions […]

Assembly Bill 2200, better known as the Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, which seeks to establish a universal single-payer healthcare system called CalCare has once again failed. Assemblymember Ash Kalra’s newest attempt at a single-payer bill is the most current in a long line of attempts to secure universal healthcare for Californians. In 2022, we wrote about Assembly Bill 1400, a single-payer universal healthcare bill that would see coverage expand to every resident within the state of California. 2022 was not the first time, nor the last, that state […]

The finalized 2024-2025 budget bill was announced on June 22, 2024 with General Fund spending over $200 billion and nearly $47 billion in solutions to cover the shortfall that was created in part by the projected 2022 budget surplus and the tax filing deadline delay. While the finalized budget addresses many of these shortfalls, several trailer bills will be enacted to close the gaps and ensure continuation of state health and human service programs. Below is a closer look at the trailer bill language affecting health and human services and […]

Despite substantial proposed budget cuts to cover the $45 billion deficit, the California legislature released a $297 billion joint budget proposal responding to Governor Newsom’s May Revision. The final bill lays out a $46.9 billion dollar solution for the 2024-2025 fiscal year made up of program reductions, delays, & deferrals; revenue; fund shifts; and reserve utilization. In opposition to the Governor’s May Revise, the shortfall will be covered by alternative means including a temporary tax increase on businesses allowing for a $5 billion revenue increase, and a $1 billion cut […]

On May 10, California Governor Gavin Newsom released the “May Revise” to his initial January proposal for California’s 2024-2025 budget. The revised budgetary proposal lays out $288 billion in total spending [1], a reduction of $3.5 billion from his initial January proposal [2]. The decreased budget proposal reflects the increase in the state deficit, originally projected to be $38 billion, now forecasted to exceed $45 billion, [1]. This is a $17.6 billion difference from the Governor’s estimated shortfall of $27.6 billion [3]. Throughout 2021, California’s revenue experienced a surplus following […]