republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-359.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Physicians and surgeons: licensure: examination.	Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, requires the Medical Board of California to issue a physician's and surgeon's certificate to a qualified applicant. Under the act, an applicant for a physician's and surgeon's certificate is required to include specified information in the application and to obtain a passing score on an entire examination or on each part of an examination. Existing law requires an applicant to obtain a passing score on all parts of Step 3 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination within not more than 4 attempts in order to be eligible for a certificate. Existing law provides an exception to the 4-attempt requirement for an applicant who holds an unlimited and unrestricted license as a physician and surgeon in another state, and has held that license continuously for a minimum of 4 years prior to the date of application, meets certain postgraduate training requirements and is certified by a specialty board, and is not subject to specified licensure denials or disciplinary action.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20212022	AB 359	California AB 359 (20212022)	bill	Physicians and surgeons: licensure: examination.	enacted	Cooper	8	25	8	2021-02-01	2021-10-07	openstates	ocd-bill/f8b83248-6179-4a36-a09a-054d0831e8bd	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB359	5b455f96598e33caac320769cf364a8f48a506ec03cfc448217bf6ffa4dfad9d	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California AB 359 (20212022) — Physicians and surgeons: licensure: examination.

Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, requires the Medical Board of California to issue a physician's and surgeon's certificate to a qualified applicant. Under the act, an applicant for a physician's and surgeon's certificate is required to include specified information in the application and to obtain a passing score on an entire examination or on each part of an examination. Existing law requires an applicant to obtain a passing score on all parts of Step 3 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination within not more than 4 attempts in order to be eligible for a certificate. Existing law provides an exception to the 4-attempt requirement for an applicant who holds an unlimited and unrestricted license as a physician and surgeon in another state, and has held that license continuously for a minimum of 4 years prior to the date of application, meets certain postgraduate training requirements and is certified by a specialty board, and is not subject to specified licensure denials or disciplinary action.

Version chain

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

1. 02/01/21 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 03/22/21 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
3. 06/15/21 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
4. 07/15/21 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
5. 08/26/21 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
6. 10/07/21 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
7. AB359 (committee substitute) — source
8. 09/13/21 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — 16–0 (pass) · lower
• Placed on suspense file — 7–0 (pass) · upper
• AB 359 Cooper Consent Calendar Second Day — 77–0 (pass) · lower
• AB 359 Cooper Concurrence in Senate Amendments — 79–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — 18–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — 14–0 (pass) · upper
• Special Consent AB359 Cooper et al. By Pan Urgency Clause — 38–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass as amended — 7–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Cooper — primary (person)
• Smith — principal coauthor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2021-02-01 Read first time. To print. reading-1
• 2021-02-02 From printer. May be heard in committee March 4.
• 2021-02-12 Referred to Com. on B. & P. referral-committee
• 2021-03-22 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on B. & P. Read second time and amended. amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2
• 2021-03-23 Re-referred to Com. on B. & P. referral-committee
• 2021-04-07 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (April 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee
• 2021-04-14 From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 14). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2021-04-15 Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. reading-1, reading-2
• 2021-04-22 Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1152.). passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2021-04-26 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. reading-1
• 2021-05-12 Referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. referral-committee
• 2021-06-15 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
• 2021-07-14 From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (July 12). amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee
• 2021-07-15 Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee
• 2021-08-23 In committee: Referred to APPR suspense file. referral-committee
• 2021-08-26 From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 26). amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage
• 2021-08-26 Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2
• 2021-08-30 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-1, reading-2
• 2021-09-03 Ordered to special consent calendar.
• 2021-09-08 Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2488.). passage, reading-1, reading-3
• 2021-09-08 In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
• 2021-09-09 Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3048.). amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2021-09-17 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
• 2021-10-07 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2021-10-07 Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 612, Statutes of 2021. became-law

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/f8b83248-6179-4a36-a09a-054d0831e8bd. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).