---
type: "Bill"
title: "Healing arts."
description: "(1) Under existing law, the commission of any act of sexual abuse, misconduct, or relations with a patient, client, or customer is unprofessional conduct, except that it is not unprofessional conduct when sexual contact is between a physician and surgeon and his or her spouse or person in an equivalent domestic relationship, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 179"
citation: "California AB 179 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Healing arts."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonilla"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 27
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2015-01-26"
last_action: "2015-10-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3ffec66f-95b3-40b1-a094-2cc465901247"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179"
source_hash: "77fcb25e4d5ad126755be9758cf140e709eed98dd53667ceb7ff4763d4297734"
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 179 (20152016) — Healing arts.

(1) Under existing law, the commission of any act of sexual abuse, misconduct, or relations with a patient, client, or customer is unprofessional conduct, except that it is not unprofessional conduct when sexual contact is between a physician and surgeon and his or her spouse or person in an equivalent domestic relationship, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/26/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179&version=20150AB17999INT)
2. **04/27/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179&version=20150AB17998AMD)
3. **05/05/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179&version=20150AB17997AMD)
4. **06/30/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179&version=20150AB17996AMD)
5. **08/31/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179&version=20150AB17995AMD)
6. **09/04/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179&version=20150AB17994AMD)
7. **10/06/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179&version=20150AB17992CHP)
8. **AB179** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179)
9. **09/16/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB179&version=20150AB17993ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 179 BONILLA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **66–11** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB179 Bonilla By Hill — **32–5** (pass) · upper
- AB 179 BONILLA Assembly Third Reading — **60–17** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **6–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bonilla — primary (person)
- Hill — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-01-26** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-01-27** From printer. May be heard in committee February 26.
- **2015-02-02** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-27** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on B. & P. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-28** Re-referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2015-05-04** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 28). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-05-05** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-06** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2015-05-20** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2015-05-28** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 28). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 60. Noes 17. Page 1702.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-11** Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-30** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (July 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-17** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2015-08-27** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (August 27). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-08-31** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-04** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-08** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-10** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 32. Noes 5. Page 2703.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-10** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2015-09-11** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 66. Noes 11. Page 3131.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-10-06** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 510, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3ffec66f-95b3-40b1-a094-2cc465901247`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).