republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-138.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Employment: health care benefits: unemployment insurance: policies and practices."
description: "(1) The Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act (PEMHCA) , which is administered by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System, governs the funding and provision of postemployment health care benefits for eligible retired public employees and their families. PEMHCA requires the employing office of a state employee or state annuitant, pursuant to standards established by the Department of Human Resources, to possess documentation verifying eligibility of an employee's family member prior to the enrollment of a family member in a health benefit plan and to verify continued eligibility pursuant to a specified schedule. PEMHCA requires the employing office to obtain verifying information for certain family members, including children and stepchildren, at least once every 3 years."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 138"
citation: "California AB 138 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill", "appropriation"]
subjects: ["Employment: health care benefits: unemployment insurance: policies and practices."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Committee on Budget"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 27
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2021-01-08"
last_action: "2021-07-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4b7b0f09-5363-4651-b6b2-d122eecdd2fe"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB138"
source_hash: "eb829bda9ca794651d712832e472e982773e65cd5056ac9a68858335612008dc"
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 138 (20212022) — Employment: health care benefits: unemployment insurance: policies and practices.

(1) The Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act (PEMHCA) , which is administered by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System, governs the funding and provision of postemployment health care benefits for eligible retired public employees and their families. PEMHCA requires the employing office of a state employee or state annuitant, pursuant to standards established by the Department of Human Resources, to possess documentation verifying eligibility of an employee's family member prior to the enrollment of a family member in a health benefit plan and to verify continued eligibility pursuant to a specified schedule. PEMHCA requires the employing office to obtain verifying information for certain family members, including children and stepchildren, at least once every 3 years.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/08/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB138&version=20210AB13899INT)
2. **02/18/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB138&version=20210AB13898AMD)
3. **06/27/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB138&version=20210AB13897AMD)
4. **07/16/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB138&version=20210AB13895CHP)
5. **AB138** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB138)
6. **07/01/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB138&version=20210AB13896ENR)

## Votes

- AB 138 BUDGET Assembly Third Reading By TING — **56–18** (pass) · lower
- AB 138 BUDGET Concurrence in Senate Amendments By TING — **62–14** (pass) · lower
- 2nd Reading AB138 BUDGET (Ting) By Skinner — **33–5** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **15–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Committee on Budget — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-08** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2021-01-09** From printer. May be heard in committee February 9.
- **2021-01-11** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2021-01-28** Referred to Com. on BUDGET. `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-18** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on BUDGET. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-02-22** Re-referred to Com. on BUDGET. `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-22** Assembly Rule 96 suspended. (Ayes 53. Noes 17. Page 432.)
- **2021-02-22** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2021-02-22** Ordered to second reading.
- **2021-02-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-02-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 56. Noes 18. Page 480.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-02-25** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-03-11** Referred to Com. on B. & F.R. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-24** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Ayes 29. Noes 9. Page 1627.)
- **2021-06-27** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B. & F.R. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-28** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Ayes 31. Noes 9. Page 1658.)
- **2021-06-30** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 1.) (June 30). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-01** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-07-01** Senate Rule 29 suspended. (Ayes 31. Noes 9. Page 1750.)
- **2021-07-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 33. Noes 5. Page 1756.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-07-01** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 3 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2021-07-01** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 56. Noes 19. Page 2192.)
- **2021-07-01** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 56. Noes 19. Page 2192.)
- **2021-07-01** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 62. Noes 14. Page 2198.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2021-07-16** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-16** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 78, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4b7b0f09-5363-4651-b6b2-d122eecdd2fe`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).