republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-1453.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care coverage: essential health benefits."
description: "Commencing January 1, 2014, existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires a health insurance issuer that offers coverage in the small group or individual market to ensure that such coverage includes the essential health benefits package, as defined. PPACA requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that facilitates the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. PPACA defines a qualified health plan as a plan that, among other requirements, provides an essential health benefits package. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (the Exchange) to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 1453"
citation: "California AB 1453 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health care coverage: essential health benefits."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Monning"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 27
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2012-01-05"
last_action: "2012-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2d896546-2cc3-49a7-ab74-0d00905063a6"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1453"
source_hash: "b3cbfe8e2cadb40e5a2e67b235615bb3dbb6f89cce94d8a6ccb06fd8a54d116d"
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 1453 (20112012) — Health care coverage: essential health benefits.

Commencing January 1, 2014, existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires a health insurance issuer that offers coverage in the small group or individual market to ensure that such coverage includes the essential health benefits package, as defined. PPACA requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that facilitates the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. PPACA defines a qualified health plan as a plan that, among other requirements, provides an essential health benefits package. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (the Exchange) to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/05/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1453&version=20110AB145399INT)
2. **03/29/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1453&version=20110AB145398AMD)
3. **04/17/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1453&version=20110AB145397AMD)
4. **08/20/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1453&version=20110AB145396AMD)
5. **08/23/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1453&version=20110AB145395AMD)
6. **09/30/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1453&version=20110AB145393CHP)
7. **AB1453** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1453)
8. **09/11/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1453&version=20110AB145394ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- AB 1453 MONNING Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **53–26** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–3** (pass) · upper
- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1453 Monning By Hernandez — **23–12** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **13–4** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 1453 MONNING Assembly Third Reading — **50–25** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Monning — primary (person)
- Eng — coauthor (person)
- Hernandez — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-01-05** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-01-06** From printer. May be heard in committee February 5.
- **2012-01-19** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-16** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 4.) (April 10). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-17** Read second time and amended. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-18** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-02** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-05-09** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 9). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-10** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-14** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 50. Noes 25. Page 4822.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-14** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-24** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 3.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-06** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2012-08-16** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-20** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-23** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 23. Noes 12. Page 4892.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-28** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-29** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6488.)
- **2012-08-29** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 53. Noes 26. Page 6533.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-12** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:40 p.m.
- **2012-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 854, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2d896546-2cc3-49a7-ab74-0d00905063a6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).