California 2021-2022 Regular Session Status: Enacted Bipartisan · 15 D · 3 R cosponsors

AB 32 — Telehealth.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 515, Statutes of 2022.

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  4. ✓
    Passed Senate
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced December 07, 2020. Enacted.

Odds of enactment

High chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a high chance of becoming law.

Upgrade to see the exact probability and what's driving it.

A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 98% · high confidence

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 26 sponsors

    1 primary, 25 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Bipartisan support

    Sponsored across 2 parties (15 D · 3 R) — cross-party backing.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 8 recorded votes so far.

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Summary

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, Medi-Cal services may be provided pursuant to contracts with various types of managed care health plans, including through a county organized health system. Under existing law, in-person contact between a health care provider and a patient is not required under the Medi-Cal program for services appropriately provided through telehealth. Existing law provides that neither face-to-face contact nor a patient's physical presence on the premises of an enrolled community clinic is required for services provided by the clinic to a Medi-Cal beneficiary during or immediately following a proclamation declaring a state of emergency. Existing law defines "immediately following" for this purpose to mean up to 90 days following the termination of the proclaimed state of emergency, unless there are extraordinary circumstances. Under existing law, federally qualified health center (FQHC) services and rural health clinic (RHC) services are covered benefits under the Medi-Cal program, to be reimbursed, to the extent that federal financial participation is available, to providers on a per-visit basis. "Visit" is defined as a face-to-face encounter between an FQHC or RHC patient and any of specified health care professionals. Under existing law, "visit" also includes an encounter between an FQHC or RHC patient and specified medical professionals when services delivered through that interaction meet the applicable standard of care. Existing law prohibits an FQHC or RHC from establishing a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction and authorizes the department to provide specific exceptions to that prohibition, developed in consultation with affected stakeholders and published in departmental guidance. This bill would authorize the department to authorize an FQHC or RHC to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the visit is related to sensitive services, as defined, and authorize an FQHC or RHC to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the patient requests an audio-only modality or attests they do not have access to video. Existing law provides that face-to-face contact is not required when covered health care services are provided by video synchronous interaction, audio-only synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other permissible virtual communication modalities when those services and settings meet certain criteria. Existing law, effective as specified, requires a provider furnishing services via audio-only synchronous interaction to also offer those same health care services via video synchronous interaction to preserve beneficiary choice. Existing law authorizes the department to provide specific exceptions to that requirement based on a Medi-Cal provider's access to requisite technologies, as specified. Existing law also prohibits a health care provider from establishing a new patient relationship with a Medi-Cal beneficiary via, among other interactions, telephonic (audio-only) synchronous interaction. Existing law authorizes the department to provide specific exceptions to that prohibition, as specified. This bill would authorize the department to take into consideration the availability of broadband access when providing those specific exceptions. The bill would authorize the department to authorize a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the visit is related to sensitive services, as defined, and authorize a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the patient requests an audio-only modality or attests they do not have access to video. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 14132.100 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by SB 966 to be operative only if this bill and SB 966 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 515, Statutes of 2022.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.

  4. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 71. Noes 0.).

  5. In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

  6. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 5367.).

  7. Ordered to special consent calendar.

  8. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  9. Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  10. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  11. Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  12. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  13. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 11).

  14. In committee: Referred to suspense file.

  15. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  16. In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

  17. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  18. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HEALTH.

  19. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

  20. Referred to Com. on HEALTH.

  21. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

  22. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1744.)

  23. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  24. Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.

  25. From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 20).

  26. In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

  27. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (April 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  28. Coauthors revised.

  29. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH.

  30. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. Read second time and amended.

  31. Measure version as revised on April 15 corrected.

  32. Coauthors revised.

  33. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH.

  34. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. Read second time and amended.

  35. Referred to Com. on HEALTH.

  36. From printer. May be heard in committee January 7.

  37. Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 25 co-sponsors · 96 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (25)

Not signed on (96)

96 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 96 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

AB 32 Aguiar-Curry Concurrence in Senate Amendments

Passed 71 Yea · 0 Nay · 9 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 34005
Democratic 32000
Republican 5004
Total 71009
% of votes cast 89%0%0%11%
How each member voted (80)
Member Party Vote
Rodriguez — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Wood — Yea
Kiley — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Ting — Yea
Low — Yea
Levine — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Daly — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Medina — Yea
Gray — Yea
Cunningham — Yea
Cooper — Yea
Smith — Not Voting
Mayes — Not Voting
Bigelow — Not Voting
Mullin — Not Voting
Bloom — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Voepel — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Mathis — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Holden — Yea
Villapudua — Yea
Salas — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Jim Patterson — Not Voting
Luz Rivas — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Vince Fong — Yea
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Alvarez, David Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bennett, Steve Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Bryan, Isaac G. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Haney, Matt Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
McKinnor, Tina Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Yea
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Wilson, Lori D. Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Yea
Choi, Steven S. Republican Not Voting
Dahle, Megan Republican Not Voting
Davies, Laurie Republican Yea
Flora, Heath Republican Yea
Gallagher, James Republican Yea
Lackey, Tom Republican Not Voting
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Not Voting
Valladares, Suzette Martinez Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Special Consent AB32

Passed 40 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 13000
Republican 4000
Unaffiliated 23000
Total 40000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Bates — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Roth — Yea
Gonzalez — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Melendez — Yea
Nielsen — Yea
Wilk — Yea
Pan — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Min — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Newman — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Borgeas — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Allen, Benjamin Democratic Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Becker, Josh Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Cortese, Dave Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Grove, Shannon Republican Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea
Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass

Passed 7 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 2000
Unaffiliated 4000
Republican 1000
Total 7000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Portantino — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Bates — Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Placed on suspense file

Passed 7 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 5000
Democratic 1000
Republican 1000
Total 7000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Bates — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

Passed 10 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 6001
Democratic 3000
Republican 1000
Total 10001
% of votes cast 91%0%0%9%
How each member voted (11)
Member Party Vote
Pan — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Melendez — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Roth — Yea
Gonzalez — Not Voting
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Grove, Shannon Republican Yea

Official roll call →

AB 32 Aguiar-Curry Assembly Third Reading

Passed 78 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 28000
Unaffiliated 40001
Republican 10000
Total 78001
% of votes cast 99%0%0%1%
How each member voted (79)
Member Party Vote
Bloom — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Holden — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Wood — Yea
Smith — Yea
Cunningham — Yea
Cooper — Yea
Villapudua — Yea
Salas — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Low — Yea
Levine — Yea
Daly — Yea
Gray — Yea
Burke — Yea
Mathis — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Mayes — Yea
Chau — Yea
Frazier — Not Voting
Voepel — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Kiley — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Ting — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Medina — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Luz Rivas — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bennett, Steve Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Yea
Bryan, Isaac G. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Yea
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Yea
Choi, Steven S. Republican Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Davies, Laurie Republican Yea
Flora, Heath Republican Yea
Gallagher, James Republican Yea
Lackey, Tom Republican Yea
Patterson, Joe Republican Yea
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Yea
Valladares, Suzette Martinez Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended.

Passed 16 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 8000
Democratic 6000
Republican 2000
Total 16000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (16)
Member Party Vote
Levine — Yea
Holden — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Chau — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Luz Rivas — Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Davies, Laurie Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

Passed 13 Yea · 0 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 3000
Unaffiliated 10001
Republican 0001
Total 13002
% of votes cast 87%0%0%13%
How each member voted (15)
Member Party Vote
Waldron — Yea
Wood — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Burke — Yea
Santiago — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Mayes — Not Voting
Luz Rivas — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Flora, Heath Republican Not Voting

Official roll call →

Subjects

healthcare health-insurance
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Frequently asked questions

What does AB 32 do?
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, Medi-Cal services may be provided pursuant to contracts with various types of managed care health plans, including through a county organized health system. Under existing law, in-person contact between a health care provider and a patient is not required under the Medi-Cal program for services appropriately provided through telehealth. Existing law provides that neither face-to-face contact nor a patient's physical presence on the premises of an enrolled community clinic is required for services provided by the clinic to a Medi-Cal beneficiary during or immediately following a proclamation declaring a state of emergency. Existing law defines "immediately following" for this purpose to mean up to 90 days following the termination of the proclaimed state of emergency, unless there are extraordinary circumstances. Under existing law, federally qualified health center (FQHC) services and rural health clinic (RHC) services are covered benefits under the Medi-Cal program, to be reimbursed, to the extent that federal financial participation is available, to providers on a per-visit basis. "Visit" is defined as a face-to-face encounter between an FQHC or RHC patient and any of specified health care professionals. Under existing law, "visit" also includes an encounter between an FQHC or RHC patient and specified medical professionals when services delivered through that interaction meet the applicable standard of care. Existing law prohibits an FQHC or RHC from establishing a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction and authorizes the department to provide specific exceptions to that prohibition, developed in consultation with affected stakeholders and published in departmental guidance. This bill would authorize the department to authorize an FQHC or RHC to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the visit is related to sensitive services, as defined, and authorize an FQHC or RHC to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the patient requests an audio-only modality or attests they do not have access to video. Existing law provides that face-to-face contact is not required when covered health care services are provided by video synchronous interaction, audio-only synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other permissible virtual communication modalities when those services and settings meet certain criteria. Existing law, effective as specified, requires a provider furnishing services via audio-only synchronous interaction to also offer those same health care services via video synchronous interaction to preserve beneficiary choice. Existing law authorizes the department to provide specific exceptions to that requirement based on a Medi-Cal provider's access to requisite technologies, as specified. Existing law also prohibits a health care provider from establishing a new patient relationship with a Medi-Cal beneficiary via, among other interactions, telephonic (audio-only) synchronous interaction. Existing law authorizes the department to provide specific exceptions to that prohibition, as specified. This bill would authorize the department to take into consideration the availability of broadband access when providing those specific exceptions. The bill would authorize the department to authorize a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the visit is related to sensitive services, as defined, and authorize a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the patient requests an audio-only modality or attests they do not have access to video. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 14132.100 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by SB 966 to be operative only if this bill and SB 966 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Who sponsors AB 32?
AB 32 is sponsored by Kalra, Ash (Democratic), Berman, Marc (Democratic), Calderon, Lisa (Democratic), Choi, Steven S. (Republican), Davies, Laurie (Republican), Lee, Alex (Democratic), Maienschein, Quirk, Salas, Villapudua, Eggman, Wiener, Scott D. (Democratic), Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. (Democratic), Rivas, Robert (Democratic), Arambula, Joaquin (Democratic), Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca (Democratic), Cunningham, Petrie-Norris, Cottie (Democratic), Quirk-Silva, Sharon (Democratic), Rubio, Blanca E. (Democratic), Santiago, Garcia, Robert (Democratic), Gonzalez, Jeff (Republican), Carrillo, Juan (Democratic), and Mark Stone.
What is the current status of AB 32?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced December 07, 2020. Enacted.
Where can I track AB 32?
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