State Policy 2022-2023

State Legislation 2022-2023

Below is a list of the bills CAPH supported in the 2022-2023 legislative session:

Access to Care

• AB 32 (Aguiar-Curry): Telehealth: This signed bill was co-sponsored by CAPH and made minor changes to the Administration’s recently enacted telehealth budget trailer bill language, including allowing for certain flexibilities for all providers to establish new patients via audio-only telehealth. CAPH submitted a letter of support.
• AB 1900 (Arambula): Medi-Cal: Income Level for Maintenance: This bill would have made it easier it for elderly individuals with low-incomes and people with disabilities to qualify for and maintain coverage in Medi-Cal. Although the bill was held in committee, the policy issue was included in the final budget package. CAPH submitted a letter of support.
• AB 1995 (Arambula): Medi-Cal: Premiums, Contributions, and Copayments:
  This bill would have ensured that Californians with low-incomes can access needed health care services by eliminating Medi-Cal premiums and copayments for children, pregnant people, and people with disabilities. Although the bill was held in committee, the policy issue was included in the final budget package. CAPH has submitted a letter of support.
• SB 872 (Dodd): Pharmacies: Mobile Units: This signed bill authorized counties and hospital authorities to operate licensed mobile pharmacy units to provide much needed prescription medications to residents, including people who are experiencing homelessness. CAPH submitted a letter of support.
• SB 958 (Limón): Medication and Patient Safety Act of 2022: This bill would have supported patient safety and providers’ ability to care for their patients by preventing health plans from requiring that certain medications be delivered to providers for administration, a practice known as “white bagging,” or that patients pick up medications to bring in for administration, a practice known as “brown bagging.” CAPH has submitted a letter of support, however, the bill will not be moving forward this year. 

Health Equity

• AB 2697 (Aguiar-Curry): Medi-Cal: Community Health Workers and Promotores: This signed bill requires the Department of Health Care Services to implement a community health workers (CHW) and promotores (CHW/P) benefit under the Medi-Cal program. Additionally, this bill would advance health equity by ensuring robust take-up of CHW/P services, which have been shown to improve health outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse Californians. CAPH submitted a letter of support.
• SB 923 (Wiener): Gender-Affirming Care: This signed bill requires health plans to have linguistic and cultural competency training for their staff and maintain and update a list of in-network providers who offer and provide gender-affirming services, as well as require providers to have cultural competency training under their continuous medical education. These requirements would support efforts to provide all individuals seeking gender affirming care with the tools to find appropriate providers and help ensure that the care is relevant to their unique health needs. CAPH submitted a letter of support.
• SB 1033 (Pan): Health Care Coverage: This bill would have required commercial health plans to assess the cultural, linguistic, and health-related social needs of their members. These requirements would have supported efforts to identify and eliminate health disparities, improve health care quality and outcomes, and strengthen population health. CAPH has submitted a letter of support, however, this bill did not pass the legislature.