republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-2581.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care coverage: mental health and substance use disorders: provider credentials."
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 disability insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, that provides hospital, medical, or surgical coverage to provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 2581"
citation: "California AB 2581 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health care coverage: mental health and substance use disorders: provider credentials."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Salas"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 28
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2022-02-18"
last_action: "2022-09-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/13987e4c-f10a-465f-bf47-ad2a79016818"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2581"
source_hash: "3427d79d92f79b8a9fd7a02c57b819addc2e3d3789ceacc8773b94f769960173"
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 2581 (20212022) — Health care coverage: mental health and substance use disorders: provider credentials.

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 disability insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, that provides hospital, medical, or surgical coverage to provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions, as specified.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/18/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2581&version=20210AB258199INT)
2. **04/18/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2581&version=20210AB258198AMD)
3. **06/13/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2581&version=20210AB258197AMD)
4. **08/17/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2581&version=20210AB258196AMD)
5. **09/25/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2581&version=20210AB258194CHP)
6. **AB2581** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2581)
7. **08/26/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2581&version=20210AB258195ENR)

## Votes

- Special Consent AB2581 — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 2581 Salas Assembly Third Reading — **74–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2581 Salas Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Salas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-18** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2022-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2022-03-10** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-18** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HEALTH. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-04-19** Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-05-18** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-05-19** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 4736.)
- **2022-05-19** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 19). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 4857.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-24** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2022-06-01** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-09** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 8). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-13** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-27** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-17** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-22** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2022-08-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 4981.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-23** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 25 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2022-08-24** Assembly Rule 77(a) suspended.
- **2022-08-24** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 0.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-31** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2022-09-25** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-25** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 533, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/13987e4c-f10a-465f-bf47-ad2a79016818`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).