republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20132014/sb-1446.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care coverage: small employer market."
description: "Existing federal law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , enacts various health care coverage market reforms that take effect with respect to plan years on or after January 1, 2014. Among other things, PPACA 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 that coverage and to renew that coverage at the option of the plan sponsor or the individual. PPACA prohibits a group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage from imposing any preexisting condition exclusion with respect to that plan or coverage. PPACA allows the premium rate charged by a health insurance issuer offering small group or individual coverage to vary only by rating area, age, tobacco use, and whether the coverage is for an individual or family and prohibits discrimination against individuals based on health status. PPACA requires a health insurance issuer that offers coverage in the small group or individual market to ensure that the coverage includes the essential health benefits package, as defined. However, guidance issued under PPACA grants transitional relief to health insurance coverage in the individual or small group market for policies in effect on October 1, 2013, that are renewed for a policy year starting between January 1, 2014, and October 1, 2016, and exempts that coverage from certain PPACA reforms, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "SB 1446"
citation: "California SB 1446 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health care coverage: small employer market."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DeSaulnier"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 32
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2014-02-21"
last_action: "2014-07-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/46310309-8e5d-407a-a435-75e8f8491d74"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1446"
source_hash: "7ddcf5e403666d4cdaa93bcaed2648111f19078a7410bed2f619e79bd5057e6a"
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 1446 (20132014) — Health care coverage: small employer market.

Existing federal law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , enacts various health care coverage market reforms that take effect with respect to plan years on or after January 1, 2014. Among other things, PPACA 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 that coverage and to renew that coverage at the option of the plan sponsor or the individual. PPACA prohibits a group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage from imposing any preexisting condition exclusion with respect to that plan or coverage. PPACA allows the premium rate charged by a health insurance issuer offering small group or individual coverage to vary only by rating area, age, tobacco use, and whether the coverage is for an individual or family and prohibits discrimination against individuals based on health status. PPACA requires a health insurance issuer that offers coverage in the small group or individual market to ensure that the coverage includes the essential health benefits package, as defined. However, guidance issued under PPACA grants transitional relief to health insurance coverage in the individual or small group market for policies in effect on October 1, 2013, that are renewed for a policy year starting between January 1, 2014, and October 1, 2016, and exempts that coverage from certain PPACA reforms, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/21/14 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1446&version=20130SB144699INT)
2. **03/25/14 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1446&version=20130SB144698AMD)
3. **04/28/14 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1446&version=20130SB144697AMD)
4. **05/12/14 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1446&version=20130SB144696AMD)
5. **05/27/14 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1446&version=20130SB144695AMD)
6. **07/07/14 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1446&version=20130SB144693CHP)
7. **SB1446** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1446)
8. **06/26/14 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB1446&version=20130SB144694ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading (Urgency Clause) — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 1446 DeSaulnier Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **9–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- DeSaulnier — primary (person)
- Anderson — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2014-02-21** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2014-02-23** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 25.
- **2014-02-24** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2014-03-17** Referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2014-03-25** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on T. & H. `committee-passage, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2014-03-26** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2014-03-26** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2014-04-10** Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2014-04-11** Set for hearing April 30.
- **2014-04-23** Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2014-04-24** Set for hearing May 7.
- **2014-04-28** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `committee-passage, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2014-05-08** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 3402.) (May 7). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2014-05-12** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2014-05-13** Set for hearing May 19.
- **2014-05-19** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2014-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2014-05-27** Read third time and amended. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2014-05-27** Ordered to second reading.
- **2014-05-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2014-05-29** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 3692.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2014-05-29** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2014-06-09** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2014-06-09** Joint Rule 62(a) file notice suspended. (Page 5438.)
- **2014-06-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (June 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2014-06-18** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (June 18). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2014-06-19** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2014-06-26** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 5706.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2014-06-26** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2014-06-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2014-07-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2014-07-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 84, Statutes of 2014.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/46310309-8e5d-407a-a435-75e8f8491d74`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).