republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-635.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Medical interpretation services."
description: "Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing federal law provides for increased administrative funding for translation and interpretation services provided in connection with the enrollment, retention, and use of services under the Medicaid program."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 635"
citation: "California AB 635 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Medical interpretation services."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Atkins"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 29
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2015-02-24"
last_action: "2016-09-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fe5a6612-e64c-43c5-be85-8e2fabf450ac"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB635"
source_hash: "e195808decab982593effa0f8c07b07e28df232ef7093f90c38f9abd3890e6ec"
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 635 (20152016) — Medical interpretation services.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing federal law provides for increased administrative funding for translation and interpretation services provided in connection with the enrollment, retention, and use of services under the Medicaid program.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/24/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB635&version=20150AB63599INT)
2. **08/18/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB635&version=20150AB63598AMD)
3. **09/25/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB635&version=20150AB63596CHP)
4. **AB635** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB635)
5. **08/31/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB635&version=20150AB63597ENR)

## Votes

- That the measure be returned to Senate Floor for consideration. Ordered to third reading. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **13–1** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 635 ATKINS Assembly Third Reading — **72–2** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB635 Atkins By Pan — **31–7** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 635 ATKINS Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **69–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **16–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Atkins — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-24** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-25** From printer. May be heard in committee March 27.
- **2015-03-09** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-15** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 14). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-22** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2015-05-28** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 1.) (May 28). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-06-01** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 2. Page 1777.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-11** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-13** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2015-08-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-04** Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Lara.
- **2016-08-08** From inactive file.
- **2016-08-08** Ordered to second reading.
- **2016-08-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-18** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-22** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(b). `referral-committee`
- **2016-08-22** From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on HEALTH pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(b). (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-24** From committee: Return to Senate floor for consideration. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 24). `committee-passage`
- **2016-08-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 7. Page 5421.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-29** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2016-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 69. Noes 5. Page 6466.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-09-08** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2016-09-25** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-25** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 600, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fe5a6612-e64c-43c5-be85-8e2fabf450ac`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).