---
type: "Bill"
title: "Civil damages: medical malpractice."
description: "Existing law, referred to as the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA) , prohibits an attorney from contracting for or collecting a contingency fee for representing any person seeking damages in connection with an action for injury or damage against a health care provider based upon alleged professional negligence in excess of specified limits."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 35"
citation: "California AB 35 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil damages: medical malpractice."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Reyes"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 33
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-12-07"
last_action: "2022-05-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bb930d9c-86dc-4438-93bb-b69a13d000f8"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35"
source_hash: "d6e1637b603103a2d20870a3b5e525e5e5bde58ef8057c99c4d731e519f5782e"
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 35 (20212022) — Civil damages: medical malpractice.

Existing law, referred to as the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA) , prohibits an attorney from contracting for or collecting a contingency fee for representing any person seeking damages in connection with an action for injury or damage against a health care provider based upon alleged professional negligence in excess of specified limits.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/07/20 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35&version=20210AB3599INT)
2. **03/15/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35&version=20210AB3598AMD)
3. **03/24/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35&version=20210AB3597AMD)
4. **04/27/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35&version=20210AB3594AMD)
5. **04/28/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35&version=20210AB3596AMD)
6. **05/23/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35&version=20210AB3592CHP)
7. **07/01/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35&version=20210AB3595AMD)
8. **AB35** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35)
9. **05/13/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB35&version=20210AB3593ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **12–3** (pass) · lower
- 2nd Reading AB35 Reyes et al. By Umberg — **37–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–1** (pass) · lower
- With recommendation: That Senate amendments be concurred in. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 35 Chau Assembly Third Reading — **59–16** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media] — **8–2** (pass) · lower
- AB 35 Reyes Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **66–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Reyes — primary (person)
- Aguiar-Curry — coauthor (person)
- Akilah Weber — coauthor (person)
- Berman — principal coauthor (person)
- Blanca Rubio — coauthor (person)
- Boerner Horvath — coauthor (person)
- Bryan — coauthor (person)
- Caballero — coauthor (person)
- Calderon — coauthor (person)
- Carrillo — coauthor (person)
- Cervantes — coauthor (person)
- Cunningham — coauthor (person)
- Durazo — coauthor (person)
- Flora — coauthor (person)
- Friedman — coauthor (person)
- Gipson — coauthor (person)
- Gonzalez — coauthor (person)
- Hertzberg — principal coauthor (person)
- Holden — coauthor (person)
- Hurtado — coauthor (person)
- Irwin — coauthor (person)
- Kalra — coauthor (person)
- Kamlager — coauthor (person)
- Laird — principal coauthor (person)
- Lee — coauthor (person)
- Limón — coauthor (person)
- Luz Rivas — coauthor (person)
- Mia Bonta — coauthor (person)
- Portantino — coauthor (person)
- Robert Rivas — coauthor (person)
- Roth — coauthor (person)
- Rubio — coauthor (person)
- Stern — coauthor (person)
- Stone — principal coauthor (person)
- Ting — coauthor (person)
- Umberg — author (person)
- Waldron — coauthor (person)
- Wieckowski — coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)
- Wood — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-12-07** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2020-12-08** From printer. May be heard in committee January 7.
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Coms. on JUD. and A.,E.,S.,T., & I.M. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-03-16** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-23** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on A.,E.,S.,T., & I.M. (Ayes 8. Noes 2.) (March 23). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-24** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-03-25** Re-referred to Com. on A.,E.,S.,T., & I.M. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-27** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (April 26). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-28** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-29** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-12** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 3.) (May 20). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 59. Noes 16. Page 1715.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-09** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-01** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-13** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2022-04-27** Senate Rule 26 invoked. (Reyes).
- **2022-04-27** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-05-04** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (May 3). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-05** Senate Rules suspended
- **2022-05-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 1. Page 3616.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-05** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after May 7 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2022-05-09** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. `referral-committee`
- **2022-05-09** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 4600.)
- **2022-05-11** From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (May 11). `committee-passage`
- **2022-05-12** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 66. Noes 0.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-19** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2022-05-23** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-05-23** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 17, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bb930d9c-86dc-4438-93bb-b69a13d000f8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).