republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-532.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care: fair billing policies."
description: "Existing law requires a hospital, as defined, to maintain an understandable written policy regarding discount payments for financially qualified patients as well as a written charity care policy, and requires a hospital to negotiate the terms of a discount payment plan with an eligible patient, as specified. Existing law requires each hospital to provide patients with written notice about the availability of the hospital's discount payment and charity care policies, including information about eligibility and contact information for a hospital employee or office from which the patient may obtain further information about the policies."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 532"
citation: "California AB 532 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health care: fair billing policies."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wood"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 24
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-02-10"
last_action: "2021-10-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/080cdc31-b83e-4053-a012-a95414548db8"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB532"
source_hash: "5c1937bb7765ad6363fd60a9c72432d090aab97863312cf6e7412665b72032e8"
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 532 (20212022) — Health care: fair billing policies.

Existing law requires a hospital, as defined, to maintain an understandable written policy regarding discount payments for financially qualified patients as well as a written charity care policy, and requires a hospital to negotiate the terms of a discount payment plan with an eligible patient, as specified. Existing law requires each hospital to provide patients with written notice about the availability of the hospital's discount payment and charity care policies, including information about eligibility and contact information for a hospital employee or office from which the patient may obtain further information about the policies.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/10/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB532&version=20210AB53299INT)
2. **05/27/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB532&version=20210AB53298AMD)
3. **08/31/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB532&version=20210AB53297AMD)
4. **10/04/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB532&version=20210AB53295CHP)
5. **AB532** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB532)
6. **09/10/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB532&version=20210AB53296ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 532 Wood Consent Calendar Second Day — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB532 Wood By Pan — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 532 Wood Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Wood — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-10** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-11** From printer. May be heard in committee March 13.
- **2021-02-18** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. 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. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1153.) `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 HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-27** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-21** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2021-06-22** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-24** From Consent Calendar.
- **2021-06-24** Ordered to third reading.
- **2021-08-31** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-01** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-07** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2458.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-07** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 9 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2021-09-08** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 59. Noes 17. Page 2875.)
- **2021-09-08** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2904.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-15** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2021-10-04** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-10-04** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 465, 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/080cdc31-b83e-4053-a012-a95414548db8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).