republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-444.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health facilities: epidural and enteral feeding connectors."
description: "Existing law, as of January 1, 2016, prohibits a health facility, as defined, from using an epidural connector or an enteral feeding connector, that would fit into a connector other than the type it was intended for, unless an emergency or urgent situation exists and the prohibition would impair the ability to provide health care. Existing law also requires a health facility to develop a patient safety plan and, until January 1, 2016, requires that plan to include measures to prevent adverse events associated with misconnecting enteral feeding and epidural lines. Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 444"
citation: "California AB 444 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health facilities: epidural and enteral feeding connectors."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gipson"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2015-02-23"
last_action: "2015-08-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/47cf6239-801e-4504-88d6-f22b8044dc99"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB444"
source_hash: "2352d0a89f914defe92911778bde89b42371d07c00cc43eed9b3330b66c693a3"
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 444 (20152016) — Health facilities: epidural and enteral feeding connectors.

Existing law, as of January 1, 2016, prohibits a health facility, as defined, from using an epidural connector or an enteral feeding connector, that would fit into a connector other than the type it was intended for, unless an emergency or urgent situation exists and the prohibition would impair the ability to provide health care. Existing law also requires a health facility to develop a patient safety plan and, until January 1, 2016, requires that plan to include measures to prevent adverse events associated with misconnecting enteral feeding and epidural lines. Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/23/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB444&version=20150AB44499INT)
2. **06/01/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB444&version=20150AB44498AMD)
3. **08/13/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB444&version=20150AB44496CHP)
4. **AB444** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB444)
5. **07/13/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB444&version=20150AB44497ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar 2nd — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 444 GIPSON Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 444 GIPSON Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **18–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gipson — primary (person)
- Pan — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-23** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-24** From printer. May be heard in committee March 26.
- **2015-03-05** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (April 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-15** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 15). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-16** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-04-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1109.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-23** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-07** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-01** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-18** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 17). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-06-29** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage`
- **2015-06-30** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-07-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1755.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-02** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 4 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2015-07-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2311.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-08-03** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2015-08-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-08-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 198, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/47cf6239-801e-4504-88d6-f22b8044dc99`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).