republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/sb-621.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care coverage: biosimilar drugs."
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. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer that provides coverage for prescription drugs to require step therapy if there is more than one drug that is clinically appropriate for the treatment of a medical condition, but requires a plan or insurer to expeditiously grant a step therapy exception request if specified criteria are met. Existing law does not prohibit a plan, insurer, or utilization review organization from requiring an enrollee or insured to try an AB-rated generic equivalent or interchangeable biological product before providing coverage for the equivalent branded prescription drug."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 621"
citation: "California SB 621 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health care coverage", "biosimilar drugs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Caballero"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-02-15"
last_action: "2023-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/aef24676-50bc-417d-ac53-7d7df92bdece"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB621"
source_hash: "9db5dbca49511dcd866727a2b6174f9d9a1c735e9469bb5f1a38d895ad9765df"
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 621 (20232024) — Health care coverage: biosimilar drugs.

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. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer that provides coverage for prescription drugs to require step therapy if there is more than one drug that is clinically appropriate for the treatment of a medical condition, but requires a plan or insurer to expeditiously grant a step therapy exception request if specified criteria are met. Existing law does not prohibit a plan, insurer, or utilization review organization from requiring an enrollee or insured to try an AB-rated generic equivalent or interchangeable biological product before providing coverage for the equivalent branded prescription drug.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/15/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB621&version=20230SB62199INT)
2. **05/02/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB621&version=20230SB62198AMD)
3. **10/08/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB621&version=20230SB62196CHP)
4. **SB621** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB621)
5. **09/01/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB621&version=20230SB62197ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 621 Caballero Consent Calendar Second Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Caballero — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-15** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-16** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 18.
- **2023-02-22** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-12** Set for hearing April 26.
- **2023-05-01** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 941.) (April 26). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-02** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-05** Set for hearing May 15.
- **2023-05-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1082.) (May 15). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-24** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1269.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-25** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2023-06-01** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-08-23** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (August 23). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-08-31** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2865.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-08-31** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2023-09-07** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2023-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 495, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/aef24676-50bc-417d-ac53-7d7df92bdece`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).