republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/sb-156.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health facilities: emergency medical services."
description: "Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate various health facilities, including general acute care hospitals. Existing law requires the department to issue a special permit, in addition to a license, to a health facility to offer one or more special services, such as an emergency center, if specified requirements are met, including that the department finds that the standards of care and services are adequate and appropriate. Existing regulations generally require emergency medical services and care to be provided within a hospital. Existing law provides that a special permit issued under these provisions expires on the expiration date of the license, which occurs 12 months from the date of the issuance of the license."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "SB 156"
citation: "California SB 156 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health facilities: emergency medical services."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nielsen"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-01-23"
last_action: "2019-10-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/75d53e86-14e3-4d13-8771-46c449f305b2"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156"
source_hash: "df76e7e92f58d1cb90ddd4b63f810d912719b6308c7ca1c2c3aceab74e0084e3"
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 156 (20192020) — Health facilities: emergency medical services.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate various health facilities, including general acute care hospitals. Existing law requires the department to issue a special permit, in addition to a license, to a health facility to offer one or more special services, such as an emergency center, if specified requirements are met, including that the department finds that the standards of care and services are adequate and appropriate. Existing regulations generally require emergency medical services and care to be provided within a hospital. Existing law provides that a special permit issued under these provisions expires on the expiration date of the license, which occurs 12 months from the date of the issuance of the license.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/23/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156&version=20190SB15699INT)
2. **03/19/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156&version=20190SB15698AMD)
3. **04/11/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156&version=20190SB15697AMD)
4. **04/30/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156&version=20190SB15696AMD)
5. **07/05/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156&version=20190SB15695AMD)
6. **09/05/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156&version=20190SB15694AMD)
7. **10/12/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156&version=20190SB15692CHP)
8. **SB156** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156)
9. **09/13/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB156&version=20190SB15693ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB156 Nielsen et al. — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB156 Nielsen et al. Concurrence — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 156 Nielsen Senate Third Reading By Gallagher — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **15–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Nielsen — primary (person)
- Aguiar-Curry — coauthor (person)
- Gallagher — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-23** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-01-24** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 23.
- **2019-01-31** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-19** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-27** Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-09** Set for hearing April 24.
- **2019-04-11** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-29** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 848.) (April 24). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-04-30** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-05-03** Set for hearing May 13.
- **2019-05-13** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2019-05-14** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-20** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1153.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-21** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-30** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2019-07-03** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (July 2). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2019-07-05** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-1, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2019-08-14** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (August 14). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-08-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-09-05** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-05** Ordered to third reading.
- **2019-09-10** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3253.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-09-10** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2019-09-11** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2019-09-11** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 3865.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-09-18** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2019-10-12** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-12** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 839, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/75d53e86-14e3-4d13-8771-46c449f305b2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).