republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20172018/ab-659.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Medi-Cal: reimbursement rates."
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 by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law restricts the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for clinical laboratory or laboratory services, as specified. Existing law requires that laboratory service providers submit annual data reports to the department, as specified, for the purpose of establishing rates for clinical or laboratory services based on the lowest amounts other payers are paying providers for similar services."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 659"
citation: "California AB 659 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Medi-Cal: reimbursement rates."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ridley-Thomas"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 25
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2017-02-14"
last_action: "2017-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d36553bd-906e-47ce-b798-b106d8781af0"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB659"
source_hash: "68fe03eb93d1354f4726723e1425fdd055ee8e051fd7935e96ecf5a331803359"
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 659 (20172018) — Medi-Cal: reimbursement rates.

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 by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law restricts the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for clinical laboratory or laboratory services, as specified. Existing law requires that laboratory service providers submit annual data reports to the department, as specified, for the purpose of establishing rates for clinical or laboratory services based on the lowest amounts other payers are paying providers for similar services.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/14/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB659&version=20170AB65999INT)
2. **03/21/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB659&version=20170AB65998AMD)
3. **06/26/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB659&version=20170AB65997AMD)
4. **09/28/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB659&version=20170AB65995CHP)
5. **AB659** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB659)
6. **09/15/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB659&version=20170AB65996ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 659 RIDLEY-THOMAS Assembly Third Reading — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 659 RIDLEY-THOMAS Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB659 Ridley-Thomas By Hernandez — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ridley-Thomas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-14** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-15** From printer. May be heard in committee March 17.
- **2017-03-02** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-21** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-22** Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-05** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 4). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-10** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1977.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-14** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-22** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 21). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-26** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-07-11** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2017-08-21** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2699.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-12** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 14 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-09-13** Assembly Rule 77(a) suspended. (Page 3254.)
- **2017-09-13** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 3291.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2017-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 346, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d36553bd-906e-47ce-b798-b106d8781af0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).