republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-838.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care: prescription drugs."
description: "Existing law, the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020, requires the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA) to enter into partnerships, in consultation with other state departments as necessary to, among other things, increase patient access to affordable drugs. Existing law requires CHHSA to enter into such partnerships to produce or distribute at least one form of insulin, if a viable pathway for manufacturing a more affordable form of insulin exists at a price that results in savings. Existing law, for the purposes of implementing the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020, until December 31, 2027, permits CHHSA and its departments to enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts on a bid or negotiated basis."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 838"
citation: "California SB 838 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health care: prescription drugs."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Pan"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 26
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2022-01-06"
last_action: "2022-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b44496b4-ba6d-42a5-83aa-4eb3dbcb4a92"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB838"
source_hash: "b8d499ed368796aa295ca2b4297e6d61226b7c5161c224494afdb0891fe18754"
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 838 (20212022) — Health care: prescription drugs.

Existing law, the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020, requires the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA) to enter into partnerships, in consultation with other state departments as necessary to, among other things, increase patient access to affordable drugs. Existing law requires CHHSA to enter into such partnerships to produce or distribute at least one form of insulin, if a viable pathway for manufacturing a more affordable form of insulin exists at a price that results in savings. Existing law, for the purposes of implementing the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020, until December 31, 2027, permits CHHSA and its departments to enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts on a bid or negotiated basis.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/06/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB838&version=20210SB83899INT)
2. **04/07/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB838&version=20210SB83898AMD)
3. **05/02/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB838&version=20210SB83897AMD)
4. **08/15/22 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB838&version=20210SB83896AMD)
5. **09/27/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB838&version=20210SB83894CHP)
6. **SB838** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB838)
7. **09/01/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB838&version=20210SB83895ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. — **12–4** (pass) · lower
- SB 838 Pan Senate Third Reading By Blanca Rubio — **61–10** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading SB838 Pan et al. — **27–8** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB838 Pan et al. Concurrence — **31–7** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **12–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Pan — primary (person)
- Rubio — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-06** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2022-01-07** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 6.
- **2022-01-19** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2022-04-07** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-04-14** Set for hearing April 27.
- **2022-04-28** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 1. Page 3542.) (April 27). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-02** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-05-06** Set for hearing May 16.
- **2022-05-16** May 16 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2022-05-17** Set for hearing May 19.
- **2022-05-19** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 3771.) (May 19). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-24** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 27. Noes 8. Page 3866.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-25** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2022-05-27** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-30** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 1.) (June 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-03** August 3 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (August 11). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-15** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-29** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2022-08-30** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 31. Noes 7. Page 5315.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-09-06** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2022-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 603, 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/b44496b4-ba6d-42a5-83aa-4eb3dbcb4a92`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).