---
type: "Bill"
title: "Alternative birth centers: licensing and Medi-Cal reimbursement."
description: "Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various types of clinics, including alternative birth centers, by the State Department of Public Health, and makes a violation of those provisions a crime. Existing law defines an alternative birth center as a clinic that is not part of a hospital and that provides comprehensive perinatal services and delivery care to pregnant women who remain less than 24 hours at the facility. Existing law requires a licensed alternative birth center specialty clinic, and a licensed primary care clinic that provides services as an alternative birth center, to meet certain criteria, including, among others, being located in proximity to a facility with the capacity for management of obstetrical and neonatal emergencies, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "AB 55"
citation: "California AB 55 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Alternativebirthcenters", "licensingandMedi-Calreimbursement"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonta"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 26
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2024-12-02"
last_action: "2025-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1a60c1cb-8784-4188-bb25-86e9b6b8d25b"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB55"
source_hash: "9311b7ed8be3e1a52424392cabcfb4a0464ddb9ec3a7c0c15044db593f5580b9"
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 55 (20252026) — Alternative birth centers: licensing and Medi-Cal reimbursement.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various types of clinics, including alternative birth centers, by the State Department of Public Health, and makes a violation of those provisions a crime. Existing law defines an alternative birth center as a clinic that is not part of a hospital and that provides comprehensive perinatal services and delivery care to pregnant women who remain less than 24 hours at the facility. Existing law requires a licensed alternative birth center specialty clinic, and a licensed primary care clinic that provides services as an alternative birth center, to meet certain criteria, including, among others, being located in proximity to a facility with the capacity for management of obstetrical and neonatal emergencies, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/02/24 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB55&version=20250AB5599INT)
2. **02/25/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB55&version=20250AB5598AMD)
3. **04/10/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB55&version=20250AB5597AMD)
4. **05/29/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB55&version=20250AB5596AMD)
5. **09/02/25 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB55&version=20250AB5595AMD)
6. **10/11/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB55&version=20250AB5593CHP)
7. **AB55** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB55)
8. **09/11/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB55&version=20250AB5594ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB55 Bonta et al. By Caballero — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 55 Bonta Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 55 Bonta Assembly Third Reading — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bonta — primary (person)
- McGuire — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-12-02** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2024-12-03** From printer. May be heard in committee January 2.
- **2025-02-03** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-25** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-02-26** Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-09** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (April 8). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-10** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-04-21** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-23** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (April 23). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-04-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 1317.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-04-29** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2025-05-07** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2025-05-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-06-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2025-06-30** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2025-08-29** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-08-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-09-02** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-09-08** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2602.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-08** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2025-09-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 3099.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-09-16** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2025-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 595, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1a60c1cb-8784-4188-bb25-86e9b6b8d25b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).