republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20132014/sb-1276.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Health care: fair billing policies.	(1) Existing law requires a hospital, as defined, to maintain an understandable written policy regarding discount payments for financially qualified patients as well as a written charity care policy, and authorizes a hospital to negotiate the terms of a payment plan with a patient. Existing law requires that uninsured patients or patients with high medical costs who are at or below 350% of the federal poverty level be eligible for charity care or a discount payment policy from a hospital, as specified, and requires that specified patients be eligible for discount payments to an emergency physician. Existing law defines a patient with high medical costs as a person whose family income does not exceed 350% of the federal poverty level and who does not receive a discounted rate from the hospital or physician as a result of his or her 3rd-party coverage.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20132014	SB 1276	California SB 1276 (20132014)	bill	Health care: fair billing policies.	enacted	Hernandez	6	22	5	2014-02-21	2014-09-28	openstates	ocd-bill/3341c1ba-66c8-4ef4-805f-7ad11fce1edb	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1276	5b97b3850e3dc5f72ce0969010a817ada182914f322b660300f3ed749873290f	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California SB 1276 (20132014) — Health care: fair billing policies.

(1) Existing law requires a hospital, as defined, to maintain an understandable written policy regarding discount payments for financially qualified patients as well as a written charity care policy, and authorizes a hospital to negotiate the terms of a payment plan with a patient. Existing law requires that uninsured patients or patients with high medical costs who are at or below 350% of the federal poverty level be eligible for charity care or a discount payment policy from a hospital, as specified, and requires that specified patients be eligible for discount payments to an emergency physician. Existing law defines a patient with high medical costs as a person whose family income does not exceed 350% of the federal poverty level and who does not receive a discounted rate from the hospital or physician as a result of his or her 3rd-party coverage.

Version chain

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

1. 02/21/14 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 05/22/14 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
3. 06/26/14 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
4. 09/28/14 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
5. SB1276 (committee substitute) — source
6. 08/15/14 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Do pass. — 5–2 (pass) · upper
• Do pass as amended. — 14–4 (pass) · lower
• 3rd Reading — 23–10 (pass) · upper
• SB 1276 Hernandez Senate Third Reading By WIECKOWSKI — 54–22 (pass) · lower
• Unfinished Business SB1276 Hernandez Concurrence — 24–11 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Hernandez — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2014-02-21 Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. introduction
• 2014-02-22 From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 24.
• 2014-02-24 Read first time. reading-1
• 2014-03-06 Referred to Com. on HEALTH. referral-committee
• 2014-03-27 Set for hearing April 9.
• 2014-04-10 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 3162.) (April 9). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2014-04-21 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1
• 2014-05-22 Read third time and amended. reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage
• 2014-05-22 Ordered to second reading.
• 2014-05-23 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1
• 2014-05-27 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 23. Noes 10. Page 3594.) Ordered to the Assembly. reading-3, reading-1, passage
• 2014-05-28 In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. reading-1
• 2014-06-02 Referred to Com. on HEALTH. referral-committee
• 2014-06-25 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 14. Noes 4.) (June 24). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2014-06-26 Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage
• 2014-06-30 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1
• 2014-08-11 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 54. Noes 22. Page 5965.) Ordered to the Senate. reading-3, reading-1, passage
• 2014-08-11 In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
• 2014-08-13 Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 24. Noes 11. Page 4474.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage
• 2014-08-18 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
• 2014-09-28 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2014-09-28 Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 758, Statutes of 2014.

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/3341c1ba-66c8-4ef4-805f-7ad11fce1edb. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).