SB 1284 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Medi-Cal benefits: employer reports.

Summary

Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services Agency, headed by the Secretary of California Health and Human Services. Existing law further establishes, within the agency, a number of departments and other entities, including the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, after obtaining specified information from the Employment Development Department (EDD) , to prepare a report that includes information regarding employers in California that employ 100 or more employees and have any employees who receive benefits from the Medi-Cal program, including, among other things, the estimated total annual cost of Medi-Cal services provided to employees, and the dependents of those employees, of each employer, and submit that report to the Legislature no later than September 1, 2027, and annually thereafter. The bill would provide that individually identifiable information about employees or Medi-Cal enrollees contained in the report is exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act, and would authorize the department and EDD to enter into data-sharing agreements, as provided. The bill would also repeal an obsolete reporting requirement. Under existing law, the information obtained in the administration of the Unemployment Insurance Code is for the exclusive use and information of the Director of Employment Development in the discharge of their duties and is not open to the public. However, existing law permits the use of the information for specified purposes, and allows the director to require reimbursement for direct costs incurred. Existing law provides that a person who knowingly accesses, uses, or discloses this confidential information without authorization is guilty of a misdemeanor. The bill would require the Director of Employment Development to permit the use of specified information in their possession by the State Department of Health Care Services to prepare and submit the above-described report. By requiring this information to be provided to the department for these purposes, this bill would expand the crime of unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of this information, and would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, subject to certain exceptions, also requires all types of information concerning a person, made or kept by any public officer or agency in connection with the administration of the Medi-Cal program, to be confidential, and makes knowingly releasing or possessing this confidential information punishable as a misdemeanor. The bill would make individually identifiable information about employees or Medi-Cal enrollees contained in the above-described report subject to these confidentiality requirements. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law establishes within the Department of Industrial Relations the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, headed by the Labor Commissioner, for the purposes of enforcing labor laws. Existing law prohibits an employer from discharging or in any manner discriminating against an employee for specified actions, including, among other things, taking time off to serve on a jury or because of an employee's status as a victim of crime or abuse, as specified. This bill would additionally prohibit an employer from discharging or in any manner discriminating or retaliating against an employee who applies for, or is enrolled in, the Medi-Cal program. The bill would also prohibit an employer from refusing to hire a person because that person is enrolled in the Medi-Cal program. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Aug 2026

Senate Passage

May 2026

Assembly Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 20, 2026 Last action Aug 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

05/14/26 - Amended Senate → SB1284 · 1 edit

MINOR

The final version of SB 1284 made a substantive change to Section 11024.5(c)(9), changing the required report language from 'the estimated annual cost to the Medi-Cal program provided to each identified employer's employees and their dependents enrolled in the Medi-Cal program' to 'total annual cost of Medi-Cal services provided to employees, and dependents of employees, of each employer.' This removes the word 'estimated,' making the reported figure a definitive total rather than an estimate, and reframes the metric from cost 'to the Medi-Cal program' to cost 'of Medi-Cal services.' The remaining changes are formatting and presentation differences between the amended Senate document and the final published web version.

REQUIREMENT

Section 11024.5(c)(9) changed the reporting requirement from 'the estimated annual cost to the Medi-Cal program provided to each identified employer's employees and their dependents enrolled in the Medi-Cal program' to 'total annual cost of Medi-Cal services provided to employees, and dependents of employees, of each employer.' This removes the qualifier 'estimated,' making the reported figure a definitive total rather than an estimate, and shifts the framing from cost borne by the program to cost of services provided.

03/25/26 - Amended Senate → 04/23/26 - Amended Senate · 6 edits · Apr 23, 2026

MODERATE

SB 1284 was substantially revised between the March 25 and April 23, 2026 Senate amendments. The most significant change is the addition of a new Labor Code section (230.9) that prohibits employers from firing, discriminating against, or refusing to hire individuals based on their Medi-Cal enrollment. The bill also removed its original public health/EMS component, raised the employer size threshold for the Medi-Cal cost report from 50 to 100 employees, and updated agency references to reflect a reorganization from the California Health and Human Services Agency to the State Department of Health Care Services.

REQUIREMENT

New Labor Code Section 230.9 prohibits employers from discharging or discriminating/retaliating against an employee who applies for or is enrolled in Medi-Cal, and also prohibits refusing to hire a person because they are enrolled in Medi-Cal. This creates a new employment protection specifically tied to public health insurance status.

SCOPE

The amendment to Health and Safety Code Section 1797 (relating to emergency medical services) was removed entirely from the bill, eliminating the public health/EMS component that was present in the prior version.

ELIGIBILITY

The employer size threshold for the Medi-Cal cost report was raised from 50 or more employees to 100 or more employees, narrowing which employers would be subject to the annual legislative report on Medi-Cal costs.

TECHNICAL

References to the California Health and Human Services Agency were updated to the State Department of Health Care Services, reflecting an agency reorganization. The responsible agency for preparing the report also shifted from the Department of Finance to the health care services department.

Senator McNerney was added as a coauthor, and the old sunset date (January 1, 2020) on the data-sharing provision in Section 1095 was removed, making that authority permanent rather than time-limited.

ENFORCEMENT

The bill now explicitly subjects individually identifiable information in the employer report to existing Medi-Cal confidentiality requirements (misdemeanor penalties for unauthorized release), and the fiscal committee and state-mandated local program designations both changed from 'no' to 'yes', indicating new cost implications for local agencies.

04/23/26 - Amended Senate → 05/14/26 - Amended Senate · 6 edits · May 14, 2026

MODERATE

The May 14 amendment to SB 1284 narrows the employer reporting requirement from 50 to 100 employees, adds a new category of covered employers (those required to file pay data reports under Section 12999), pushes the first report deadline from July 1 to September 1, 2027, and removes the requirement to publish summaries of the 100 employers with the lowest Medi-Cal enrollment. These changes significantly reduce the number of employers subject to public reporting while adding a new transparency mechanism tied to existing pay data reporting obligations.

SCOPE

The employer size threshold for the Medi-Cal cost reporting requirement was raised from 50 or more employees to 100 or more employees, meaning only larger employers will be subject to the public report.

Assembly Members Bonta, Elhawary, Kalra, and Lee were added as coauthors of the bill.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'employer' was rewritten. It now covers (1) private employers with 100 or more employees and (2) any employer required to file an annual pay data report under Section 12999 of the Government Code that has Medi-Cal-enrolled employees. The prior definition covered any individual or organization employing 50 or more people.

TIMELINE

The deadline for the first report submission to the Legislature was changed from July 1, 2027 to September 1, 2027, giving the State Department of Health Care Services two additional months to prepare the initial report.

REQUIREMENT

The requirement to include summaries of the 100 employers with the lowest number (and lowest percentage) of employees and dependents enrolled in Medi-Cal was removed. The report will now only include summaries of the top 100 employers by enrollment count and by enrollment percentage.

TECHNICAL

Throughout the bill, references to the 'California Health and Human Services Agency' were replaced with 'State Department of Health Care Services,' and redundant parenthetical abbreviations like 'Department (EDD)' were simplified to just '(EDD).'

02/20/26 - Introduced → 03/25/26 - Amended Senate · 9 edits · Mar 25, 2026

MAJOR

SB 1284 was transformed from a simple technical typo fix in the Health and Safety Code into a major data-sharing and employer reporting bill. The amended version requires the California Health and Human Services Agency to compile and submit an annual report identifying employers with 50 or more employees who have workers enrolled in Medi-Cal, including the estimated cost those employees impose on the program. It also rewrites the Unemployment Insurance Code's information-sharing provisions to authorize broad data access by numerous state agencies and repeals an obsolete reporting requirement.

SCOPE

The bill now amends Section 1095 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, adds Section 11024.5 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, and repeals Section 11026.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, in addition to the original Health and Safety Code fix.

Comprehensively rewrites Section 1095 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, adding numerous new subdivisions authorizing various state agencies (including CHHS, the California Health Benefit Exchange, the Labor Commissioner, the Civil Rights Department, and others) to access EDD data for specified purposes.

REQUIREMENT

Creates a new annual reporting requirement: CHHS must prepare a report identifying all California employers with 50 or more employees who have any employees enrolled in Medi-Cal, including employer name, address, parent company, EIN, NAICS code, total employee count, number of Medi-Cal enrollees by category, months of benefits received, number of dependents enrolled, and estimated annual cost to the Medi-Cal program.

Repeals Section 11026.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, which had required DHCS to annually provide EDD with names and Social Security numbers of all Medi-Cal recipients and related cost data (a provision that was set to expire January 1, 2020).

TIMELINE

The first report is due to the Legislature no later than July 1, 2027, with annual reports required thereafter.

ELIGIBILITY

The employer threshold for inclusion in the report is set at 50 or more employees (the prior law referenced in the repealed section used a threshold of 100).

ENFORCEMENT

Individually identifiable information about employees or Medi-Cal enrollees in the report is exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act, and no identifying information may be published.

TECHNICAL

Authorizes CHHS and the Employment Development Department to enter into data-sharing agreements consistent with state and federal privacy laws to implement the reporting requirement.

FISCAL

The fiscal committee answer changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now has fiscal implications requiring review. The state-mandated local program designation also changed from 'no' to 'yes.'

Floor votes · Senate May 27, 2026

How they voted

30–9

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 40

May 27, 2026

D Democratic30

30 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican10

9 Nay 1

90% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Aug 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

August 13 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

lower

Jun 25, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Jun 17, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on L. & E. (Ayes 12. Noes 2.) (June 16). Re-referred to Com. on L. & E.

lower

Jun 8, 2026

Committee

Referred to Coms. on HEALTH and L. & E.

lower

May 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 30. Noes 9. Page 4500.) Ordered to the Assembly.

upper

May 14, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

upper

May 14, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 4271.) (May 14).

upper

Apr 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Apr 22, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 4013.) (April 22).

upper

Apr 16, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on L., P.E. & R. (Ayes 8. Noes 1. Page 3901.) (April 15). Re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R.

upper

Apr 8, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Coms. on HEALTH and L., P.E. & R.

upper

Mar 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Mar 4, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 20, 2026

Introduced

Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 11 co-sponsors