--- type: "Bill" title: "Health care coverage: federal health care reforms." description: "(1) Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , enacts various health care market reforms. Among other things, PPACA requires applicable individuals to maintain minimum essential coverage, and imposes a shared responsibility penalty on an applicable individual who does not maintain minimum essential coverage. This provision is referred to as the individual mandate. PPACA prohibits a nongrandfathered health benefit plan from imposing a preexisting condition provision on an individual and requires a nongrandfathered health benefit plan to include coverage for essential health benefits, as defined. PPACA also includes a coverage guarantee that requires each health insurance issuer that offers health insurance coverage in the individual or group market in a state to accept every employer and individual in the state that applies for coverage, and prohibits discriminatory premium rates, as specified." jurisdiction: "us/states/ca" legislature: "California Legislature" session: "20212022" identifier: "SB 326" citation: "California SB 326 (20212022)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["Health care coverage: federal health care reforms."] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Pan"] version_count: 6 action_count: 27 vote_count: 6 first_action: "2021-02-05" last_action: "2021-10-09" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/61a39209-f8a3-430e-b6f8-3826a5dd852f" source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB326" source_hash: "ab2ced0ed54a3eecfc192e025a42a7496985aa342e5483c34efeec366ef9961e" 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 SB 326 (20212022) — Health care coverage: federal health care reforms. (1) Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , enacts various health care market reforms. Among other things, PPACA requires applicable individuals to maintain minimum essential coverage, and imposes a shared responsibility penalty on an applicable individual who does not maintain minimum essential coverage. This provision is referred to as the individual mandate. PPACA prohibits a nongrandfathered health benefit plan from imposing a preexisting condition provision on an individual and requires a nongrandfathered health benefit plan to include coverage for essential health benefits, as defined. PPACA also includes a coverage guarantee that requires each health insurance issuer that offers health insurance coverage in the individual or group market in a state to accept every employer and individual in the state that applies for coverage, and prohibits discriminatory premium rates, as specified. ## Version chain The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment. 1. **02/05/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB326&version=20210SB32699INT) 2. **06/30/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB326&version=20210SB32698AMD) 3. **09/01/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB326&version=20210SB32697AMD) 4. **10/09/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB326&version=20210SB32695CHP) 5. **SB326** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB326) 6. **09/10/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB326&version=20210SB32696ENR) ## Votes - Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · upper - Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **14–0** (pass) · lower - Do pass. — **13–0** (pass) · lower - SB 326 Pan Senate Third Reading By Wood — **62–0** (pass) · lower - Unfinished Business SB326 Pan et al. Concurrence — **38–0** (pass) · upper - 3rd Reading SB326 Pan et al. — **36–0** (pass) · upper ## Sponsors - Pan — primary (person) - Wood — coauthor (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2021-02-05** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction` - **2021-02-08** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 10. - **2021-02-08** Read first time. `reading-1` - **2021-02-17** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee` - **2021-02-22** Set for hearing March 10. - **2021-02-22** Art. IV. Sec. 8(a) of the Constitution dispensed with. - **2021-02-22** (Ayes 32. Noes 4.) - **2021-02-22** Joint Rule 55 suspended. (Ayes 32. Noes 4. Page 272.) - **2021-03-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 457.) (March 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee` - **2021-04-09** Set for hearing April 19. - **2021-04-19** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2` - **2021-04-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-05-06** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 1034.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2021-05-06** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1` - **2021-05-13** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee` - **2021-06-30** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee` - **2021-07-14** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (July 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee` - **2021-08-19** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (August 19). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable` - **2021-08-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-09-01** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2021-09-01** Ordered to third reading. - **2021-09-07** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 62. Noes 0. Page 2815.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2021-09-07** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending. - **2021-09-08** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2521.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable` - **2021-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m. - **2021-10-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature` - **2021-10-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 764, Statutes of 2021. `became-law` ## Source OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/61a39209-f8a3-430e-b6f8-3826a5dd852f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).