---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care coverage."
description: "Health care coverage."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20032004"
identifier: "AB 254"
citation: "California AB 254 (20032004)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health care coverage."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Montanez"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2003-02-04"
last_action: "2004-06-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c44682c6-55df-451b-9506-73f65310d01b"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200320040AB254"
source_hash: "18a63f902c91bd2fc2c88542d75e3d0599ac4cfd62856ebaca9473354752602d"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 254 (20032004) — Health care coverage.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/04/03 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200320040AB254&version=20030AB25499INT)
2. **03/24/04 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200320040AB254&version=20030AB25497AMD)
3. **06/24/04 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200320040AB254&version=20030AB25495CHP)
4. **09/03/03 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200320040AB254&version=20030AB25498AMD)
5. **AB254** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200320040AB254)
6. **06/17/04 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200320040AB254&version=20030AB25496ENR)

## Votes

- ab 254 montanez assembly third reading — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- ab 254 montanez concurrence in senate amendments — **pass** (pass) · lower
- special consent cale ab254 montanez by kuehl — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Montanez — primary (person)
- Bates — coauthor (person)
- Diaz — coauthor (person)
- Dymally — coauthor (person)
- Florez — coauthor (person)
- Kuehl — coauthor (person)
- Lieber — coauthor (person)
- Lowenthal — coauthor (person)
- Margett — coauthor (person)
- Romero — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2004-06-24** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 64, Statutes of 2004.
- **2004-06-23** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2004-06-21** Enrolled and to the Governor at 2:45 p.m.
- **2004-06-17** Senate amendments concurred in. To enrollment. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 6424.) `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2004-06-14** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after June 16 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2004-06-14** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 33. Noes 0. Page 4104.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2004-06-07** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2004-06-03** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2004-03-24** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Standing Committee on Insurance. `referral-committee, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2004-01-28** Referred to Standing Committee on Insurance. `referral-committee`
- **2004-01-20** In Senate. Read first time. To Standing Committee on Rules for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2004-01-20** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 4296.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2004-01-15** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2004-01-14** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 23. Noes 0.) (January 13). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2003-09-04** Re-referred to Standing Committee on Health. `referral-committee`
- **2003-09-03** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Standing Committee on Health. Read second time and amended. `referral-committee, amendment-passage, amendment-introduction, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2003-04-22** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2003-02-11** Referred to Standing Committee on Health. `referral-committee`
- **2003-02-05** From printer. May be heard in committee March 7.
- **2003-02-04** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c44682c6-55df-451b-9506-73f65310d01b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).