republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/sb-951.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health care coverage: essential health benefits."
description: "Commencing January 1, 2014, existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires a health insurance issuer that offers coverage in the small group or individual market to ensure that such coverage includes the essential health benefits package, as defined. PPACA requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that facilitates the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. PPACA defines a qualified health plan as a plan that, among other requirements, provides an essential health benefits package. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (the Exchange) to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "SB 951"
citation: "California SB 951 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health care coverage: essential health benefits."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hernandez"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 27
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2012-01-05"
last_action: "2012-09-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/344a9ef1-b4f7-4b28-8f95-3f78c3a001a0"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB951"
source_hash: "7ebcba69a89c70f26722c72f655345f4988aa3497b3a1ab8d11b797870c54233"
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 951 (20112012) — Health care coverage: essential health benefits.

Commencing January 1, 2014, existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires a health insurance issuer that offers coverage in the small group or individual market to ensure that such coverage includes the essential health benefits package, as defined. PPACA requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that facilitates the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. PPACA defines a qualified health plan as a plan that, among other requirements, provides an essential health benefits package. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (the Exchange) to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/05/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB951&version=20110SB95199INT)
2. **03/26/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB951&version=20110SB95198AMD)
3. **04/16/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB951&version=20110SB95197AMD)
4. **08/20/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB951&version=20110SB95196AMD)
5. **08/24/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB951&version=20110SB95195AMD)
6. **09/30/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB951&version=20110SB95193CHP)
7. **SB951** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB951)
8. **08/31/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB951&version=20110SB95194ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB951 Hernandez Concurrence — **22–13** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **11–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **25–13** (pass) · upper
- SB 951 Hernandez Senate Third Reading By MONNING — **52–27** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–3** (pass) · upper
- SB 951 Hernandez Senate Third Reading By MONNING Amend By MONNING Set #1 — **51–25** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Hernandez — primary (person)
- Monning — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-01-05** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2012-01-06** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 5.
- **2012-02-02** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-26** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, reading-1, committee-passage, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-30** Set for hearing April 11.
- **2012-04-12** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 3. Page 3142.) (April 11). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-16** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-04-20** Set for hearing April 30.
- **2012-05-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 3387.) (April 30). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-07** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 25. Noes 13. Page 3427.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-07** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-17** Referred to Com. on HEALTH. `referral-committee`
- **2012-07-05** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 5.) (July 3). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-08** Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2012-08-16** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (August 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-20** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-24** Read third time and amended. (Ayes 51. Noes 25. Page 6259.) `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-24** Ordered to third reading.
- **2012-08-28** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 52. Noes 27. Page 6451.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-28** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2012-08-29** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 22. Noes 13. Page 4979.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-06** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
- **2012-09-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 866, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/344a9ef1-b4f7-4b28-8f95-3f78c3a001a0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).