republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-718.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care coverage: small employer groups."
description: "(1) 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 provides for the regulation of individual, small employer, grandfathered small employer, and nongrandfathered small employer health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies, as defined."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 718"
citation: "California SB 718 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health care coverage: small employer groups."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bates"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 38
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-02-19"
last_action: "2021-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/475a211a-9e90-4785-86e5-594b0ed05c62"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB718"
source_hash: "334ef9b5a074606942fd441bb61fc6efedce6a1550ea01ad050b05b8c80a7940"
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 718 (20212022) — Health care coverage: small employer groups.

(1) 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 provides for the regulation of individual, small employer, grandfathered small employer, and nongrandfathered small employer health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies, as defined.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/19/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB718&version=20210SB71899INT)
2. **03/09/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB718&version=20210SB71898AMD)
3. **05/05/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB718&version=20210SB71897AMD)
4. **06/29/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB718&version=20210SB71896AMD)
5. **09/02/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB718&version=20210SB71895AMD)
6. **10/08/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB718&version=20210SB71893CHP)
7. **SB718** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB718)
8. **09/13/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB718&version=20210SB71894ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB718 Bates Concurrence — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent SB718 — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 718 Bates Senate Third Reading By Maienschein — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bates — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-19** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2021-02-22** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 24.
- **2021-02-22** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-22** Art. IV. Sec. 8(a) of the Constitution dispensed with.
- **2021-02-22** (Ayes 32. Noes 4.)
- **2021-02-22** Joint Rule 55 suspended. (Ayes 32. Noes 4. Page 272.)
- **2021-03-03** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-09** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-18** Re-referred to Coms. on HEALTH and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-26** Set for hearing April 14.
- **2021-04-12** April 14 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-04-13** Set for hearing April 21.
- **2021-04-21** April 21 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-04-22** Set for hearing April 28.
- **2021-05-04** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 956.) (April 28). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-05** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-07** Set for hearing May 17.
- **2021-05-17** May 17 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2021-05-18** Set for hearing May 20.
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1201.) (May 20). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-24** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1347.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-02** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-10** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-28** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (June 22). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-29** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-19** August 19 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-02** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-02** Ordered to third reading.
- **2021-09-08** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 2895.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-08** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2021-09-09** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2589.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-17** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.
- **2021-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 736, 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/475a211a-9e90-4785-86e5-594b0ed05c62`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).