republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-1761.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "California Health Benefit Exchange."
description: "Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014. Existing law prohibits certain unfair insurance practices specifically and unfair business practices in general."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 1761"
citation: "California AB 1761 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["California Health Benefit Exchange."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John A. Pérez"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2012-02-17"
last_action: "2012-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dcd94b02-ff94-4da2-9865-e2414fd2b570"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1761"
source_hash: "98df20431c2c3d41776f17feba0fdf3b213cc0823864fafe394c97f288657282"
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 1761 (20112012) — California Health Benefit Exchange.

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014. Existing law prohibits certain unfair insurance practices specifically and unfair business practices in general.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1761&version=20110AB176199INT)
2. **08/14/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1761&version=20110AB176198AMD)
3. **09/30/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1761&version=20110AB176196CHP)
4. **AB1761** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1761)
5. **09/11/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1761&version=20110AB176197ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations Recommend Consent. — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1761 PÉREZ, J. Consent Calendar Second Day — **74–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1761 PÉREZ, J. Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **73–3** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1761 John A. Pérez By Alquist — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John A. Pérez — primary (person)
- Alquist — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-02-21** From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.
- **2012-03-01** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 19. Noes 0.) (March 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-18** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 18). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-19** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-04-26** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 4568.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-04-26** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-03** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: to consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-06-27** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-08-06** In committee: Set, second hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-08-13** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 13). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-14** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 5006.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-30** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2012-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 73. Noes 3. Page 6688.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2012-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 876, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dcd94b02-ff94-4da2-9865-e2414fd2b570`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).