republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-1261.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Physicians and surgeons: fee exemption: residency."
description: "The Medical Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California and establishes specific requirements for licensure and renewal. That act generally requires that an application for a certificate be accompanied by the fee required by the act, but requires the waiver of the fee for a physician and surgeon residing in California who certifies to the board that the license is for the sole purpose of providing voluntary, unpaid service. The act establishes a parallel fee waiver requirement for the renewal of a physician and surgeon's certificate."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 1261"
citation: "California SB 1261 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Physicians and surgeons: fee exemption: residency."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Stone"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2016-02-18"
last_action: "2016-08-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/430167be-061a-44b6-91d6-bada7ff45d03"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1261"
source_hash: "92de9971e6cc0ed1067606ccbf39d0cdb483cdf303f06b8b70d00bfb60809729"
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 1261 (20152016) — Physicians and surgeons: fee exemption: residency.

The Medical Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California and establishes specific requirements for licensure and renewal. That act generally requires that an application for a certificate be accompanied by the fee required by the act, but requires the waiver of the fee for a physician and surgeon residing in California who certifies to the board that the license is for the sole purpose of providing voluntary, unpaid service. The act establishes a parallel fee waiver requirement for the renewal of a physician and surgeon's certificate.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/18/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1261&version=20150SB126199INT)
2. **05/03/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1261&version=20150SB126198AMD)
3. **08/29/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1261&version=20150SB126196CHP)
4. **SB1261** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1261)
5. **08/12/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1261&version=20150SB126197ENR)

## Votes

- SB 1261 Stone Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **16–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Stone — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-18** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2016-02-19** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 20.
- **2016-03-03** Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-29** Set for hearing April 18.
- **2016-04-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 3592.) (April 18). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-03** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-06** Set for hearing May 16.
- **2016-05-16** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2016-05-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-27** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 3974.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-27** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2016-06-06** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (June 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-03** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (August 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-04** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-11** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 5779.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-11** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2016-08-16** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m.
- **2016-08-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-08-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 239, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/430167be-061a-44b6-91d6-bada7ff45d03`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).