AB 1415: California Health Care Quality and Affordability Act.

Official summary

Legislative Counsel’s Digest (official, as of the latest version). Written by nonpartisan legislative staff; reproduced verbatim.

Existing law, the California Health Care Quality and Affordability Act, establishes within the Department of Health Care Access and Information the Office of Health Care Affordability to analyze the health care market for cost trends and drivers of spending, develop data-informed policies for lowering health care costs for consumers and purchasers, set and enforce cost targets, and create a state strategy for controlling the cost of health care and ensuring affordability for consumers and purchasers. Existing law requires the office to conduct ongoing research and evaluation on payers, fully integrated delivery systems, and providers to determine whether the definitions or other provisions of the act include those entities that significantly affect health care cost, quality, equity, and workforce stability. Existing law defines multiple terms relating to these provisions, including a health care entity to mean a payer, provider, or a fully integrated delivery system and a provider to mean specified entities delivering or furnishing health care services.

This bill would update the definitions applying to these provisions, including defining a provider to mean specified entities delivering or furnishing health care services. The bill would include additional definitions, including, but not limited to, a hedge fund to mean a pool of funds managed by investors for the purpose of earning a return on those funds, regardless of strategies used to manage the funds, subject to certain exceptions. The bill would require the office to conduct ongoing research and evaluation on management services organizations, as specified, and to establish requirements for management services organizations to submit data and other information as necessary to carry out the functions of the office.

Existing law requires a health care entity to provide the Office of Health Care Affordability with written notice of agreements or transactions that do specified actions, including sell or transfer, among other things, a material amount of its assets to one or more entities.

The bill would similarly require a noticing entity, as defined, to provide the office written notice of agreements or transactions between the noticing entity and a health care entity or management services organization, or an entity that owns, or controls the health care entity or management services organization that perform the same specified actions described above. The bill would additionally require a management services organization to provide the office with written notice of any agreement or transaction between the organization and any other entity.

Sponsors

Sponsors by party (alphabetical): Democratic 2

“Support” is shown only as formal sponsorship recorded by the legislature. Roll-call votes are available on the official bill page.

Recent official actions

1. October 11, 2025Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 641, Statutes of 2025.
2. October 11, 2025Approved by the Governor.
3. September 15, 2025Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
4. September 8, 2025Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 51. Noes 19. Page 3038.).
5. September 4, 2025In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
6. September 4, 2025Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 26. Noes 10. Page 2506.).
7. August 25, 2025Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
8. August 21, 2025Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
9. August 20, 2025Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
10. August 19, 2025From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.
11. July 2, 2025From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR.
12. June 27, 2025Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.