State Policy
State Legislation
Below is a list of key state bills that CAPH is actively tracking during the 2025 legislative session. Bills are organized by CAPH’s position.
Oppose
AB 339 (Ortega) — Local Public Employee Organizations: Notice Requirements
Would require public hospitals and health systems to give unions at least 60 days‘ written notice before issuing requests for proposals (RFPs), renewing contracts, or revising job classifications. CAPH opposes the bill due to concerns about operational delays and workforce flexibility. CAPH’s opposition letter can be found here.
AB 1337 (Ward) – Information Practices Act of 1977
Expands privacy and data sharing policies, under the Information Practices Act, to all local entities including public health care systems. The expanded policies would be duplicative and do not align with HIPPA or CMIA. AB 1337 further subjects’ health care providers to data sharing restrictions that may interfere with timely patient care, and risks straining already limited financial resources to train staff on new requirements and administrative processes. This bill failed passage in committee and will no longer advance through the 2025-26 legislative session. CAPH was opposed through a coalition and the letter can be found here.
SB 596 (Menjivar) — Health facilities: administrative penalties
Would amend existing law to specifically define an on-call list for enforcement of the nurse-to-patient ratio requirements, including documentation that hospitals have used and exhausted their on-call list before qualifying for an exemption from staffing violation penalties. Under the July 2025 amendments, an “on-call list” is now strictly defined as nurses who are scheduled to be on call for the specific shift and unit where a violation occurred, or nurses assigned to a regularly scheduled float pool shift to cover shortages across one or more specified units. The bill significantly narrows what hospitals can count as exhausting their on-call list before claiming a staffing exception, explicitly stating that contacting licensed nurses who are not scheduled to be on-call and not assigned to a float pool for that specific unit and shift will not satisfy the on-call list requirement. The bill is sponsored by SEIU California. CAPH is opposed to the bill due to operational and financial concerns for member hospitals and continues to engage with the Administration, legislature, and other stakeholders. CAPH’s position letter can be found here.
SB 632 (Arreguín) — Workers’ Compensation: Hospital Employees
Creates presumptive eligibility for workers’ compensation if hospital workers contract respiratory and infectious diseases like COVID-19, creating the assumption that the employee became ill while working. CAPH was opposed to this bill, warning it could strain resources and impact the financial stability of public hospitals. This is now a two-year bill. CAPH’s opposition letter can be found here.
Support
AB 539 (Schiavo) — Health care coverage: prior authorizations
Requires a health care service plan’s or health insurer’s prior authorization for a service to remain valid for at least one year from the date of approval, or throughout the course of prescribed treatment if less than one year. By reducing redundant paperwork and streamlining administrative processes, this legislation would reduce repeated requests and resubmissions which risk delaying timely patient care. This is now a two-year bill. CAPH’s support letter can be found here.
AB 543 (Gonzalez) Medi-Cal: street medicine
Would require Medi-Cal managed care plans, who opt to contract with street medicine providers, to create care coordination and referral processes when a provider, regardless of their network assignment, serves a Medi-Cal recipient who may be experiencing homelessness. This bill seeks to reduce barriers and improve Medi-Cal care coordination for people experiencing homelessness if they are offered treatment through a street medicine provider. CAPH’s support letter can be found here.
AB 618 (Krell) — Medi-Cal: Behavioral Health: Data Sharing
Requires DHCS to create a statewide data-sharing framework among Medi-Cal plans, counties, and providers, to standardize sharing behavioral health data. CAPH supports this will as it will improve coordinated care for behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment for Medi-Cal patients. CAPH’s support letter can be found here.
State Policy Archive
Learn about CAPH's key state legislative priorities from past legislative sessions.