republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-2861.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Medi-Cal: telehealth: alcohol and drug use treatment."
description: "Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and 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 law establishes the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program (Drug Medi-Cal) , under which the department is authorized to enter into contracts with each county, or enter into contracts directly with certified providers, for the provision of various alcohol and drug use treatment services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 2861"
citation: "California AB 2861 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Medi-Cal: telehealth: alcohol and drug use treatment."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Salas"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 26
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2018-02-16"
last_action: "2018-09-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/253101cf-9d3e-44f3-a09b-6daa6c3dbca4"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2861"
source_hash: "549057f56c440d28f9eba2311b579fbc1963ca1c964ba7270292823ec51418dc"
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 2861 (20172018) — Medi-Cal: telehealth: alcohol and drug use treatment.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and 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 law establishes the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program (Drug Medi-Cal) , under which the department is authorized to enter into contracts with each county, or enter into contracts directly with certified providers, for the provision of various alcohol and drug use treatment services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/18 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2861&version=20170AB286199INT)
2. **04/26/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2861&version=20170AB286198AMD)
3. **05/25/18 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2861&version=20170AB286197AMD)
4. **08/06/18 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2861&version=20170AB286196AMD)
5. **09/18/18 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2861&version=20170AB286194CHP)
6. **AB2861** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2861)
7. **08/29/18 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2861&version=20170AB286195ENR)

## Votes

- AB 2861 SALAS Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB2861 Salas By Beall — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 2861 SALAS Assembly Third Reading — **78–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Salas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2018-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 19.
- **2018-03-08** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2018-04-25** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (April 24). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-04-26** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-04-30** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-23** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-25** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 5298.)
- **2018-05-25** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 25). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-05-25** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2018-05-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-05-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 5537.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-05-31** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2018-06-07** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2018-08-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2018-08-06** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2018-08-13** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2018-08-17** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 16). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-08-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2018-08-21** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5550.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2018-08-22** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 24 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2018-08-27** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 6608.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2018-09-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2018-09-18** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2018-09-18** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 500, Statutes of 2018.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/253101cf-9d3e-44f3-a09b-6daa6c3dbca4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).