republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/sb-1237.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Nurse-midwives: scope of practice."
description: "(1) Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Registered Nursing within the Department of Consumer Affairs for the licensure and regulation of the practice of nursing. A violation of the act is a crime. Existing law requires the board to issue a certificate to practice nurse-midwifery to a person who, among other qualifications, meets educational standards established by the board or the equivalent of those educational standards. Existing law authorizes a certified nurse-midwife, under the supervision of a licensed physician and surgeon, to attend cases of normal childbirth and to provide prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum care, including family-planning care, for the mother, and immediate care for the newborn. Existing law defines the practice of nurse-midwifery as the furthering or undertaking by a certified person, under the supervision of licensed physician and surgeon who has current practice or training in obstetrics, to assist a woman in childbirth so long as progress meets criteria accepted as normal. Existing law requires all complications to be referred to a physician immediately. Existing law excludes the assisting of childbirth by any artificial, forcible, or mechanical means, and the performance of any version from the definition of the practice of nurse-midwifery."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 1237"
citation: "California SB 1237 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Nurse-midwives: scope of practice."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dodd"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 35
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2020-02-20"
last_action: "2020-09-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/860122c4-aa4f-42ad-acfe-e9f8849c0288"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237"
source_hash: "eb4c36e9f0535f8fad5d69c27d17b11b088113d35e1ac0f9b475a8c6063a3304"
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 1237 (20192020) — Nurse-midwives: scope of practice.

(1) Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Registered Nursing within the Department of Consumer Affairs for the licensure and regulation of the practice of nursing. A violation of the act is a crime. Existing law requires the board to issue a certificate to practice nurse-midwifery to a person who, among other qualifications, meets educational standards established by the board or the equivalent of those educational standards. Existing law authorizes a certified nurse-midwife, under the supervision of a licensed physician and surgeon, to attend cases of normal childbirth and to provide prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum care, including family-planning care, for the mother, and immediate care for the newborn. Existing law defines the practice of nurse-midwifery as the furthering or undertaking by a certified person, under the supervision of licensed physician and surgeon who has current practice or training in obstetrics, to assist a woman in childbirth so long as progress meets criteria accepted as normal. Existing law requires all complications to be referred to a physician immediately. Existing law excludes the assisting of childbirth by any artificial, forcible, or mechanical means, and the performance of any version from the definition of the practice of nurse-midwifery.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/20/20 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237&version=20190SB123799INT)
2. **05/13/20 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237&version=20190SB123798AMD)
3. **05/19/20 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237&version=20190SB123797AMD)
4. **06/18/20 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237&version=20190SB123796AMD)
5. **07/27/20 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237&version=20190SB123795AMD)
6. **08/24/20 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237&version=20190SB123794AMD)
7. **08/25/20 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237&version=20190SB123793AMD)
8. **09/18/20 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237&version=20190SB123791CHP)
9. **SB1237** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237)
10. **09/04/20 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB1237&version=20190SB123792ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. — **15–1** (pass) · lower
- SB 1237 Dodd Senate Third Reading By Burke — **68–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB1237 Dodd et al. — **35–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **16–1** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB1237 Dodd et al. Concurrence — **31–3** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended — **6–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dodd — primary (person)
- Burke — principal coauthor (person)
- Low — coauthor (person)
- Mitchell — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-02-20** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2020-02-21** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 22.
- **2020-03-05** Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-12** Set for hearing March 30.
- **2020-03-18** March 30 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-05-13** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-05-14** Set for hearing May 18.
- **2020-05-18** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0. Page 3550.) (May 18). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2020-05-19** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-05-26** Set for hearing June 1.
- **2020-06-02** Hearing rescheduled due to Capitol closure.
- **2020-06-03** Set for hearing June 9.
- **2020-06-09** June 9 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2020-06-11** Set for hearing June 18.
- **2020-06-18** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 3770.) (June 18). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2020-06-18** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-06-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-06-26** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 35. Noes 1. Page 3876.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-06-26** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2020-06-29** Referred to Com. on B. & P. `referral-committee`
- **2020-07-27** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on B. & P. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-07-27** July 27 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2020-08-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 16. Noes 1.) (August 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2020-08-18** August 18 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2020-08-20** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 15. Noes 1.) (August 20). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2020-08-24** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-08-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2020-08-25** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-08-25** Ordered to third reading.
- **2020-08-31** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 68. Noes 0. Page 5420.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2020-08-31** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2020-08-31** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 31. Noes 3.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2020-09-18** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2020-09-18** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 88, Statutes of 2020.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/860122c4-aa4f-42ad-acfe-e9f8849c0288`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).