The California Medical Association (CMA) released its sponsored bill package for the 2025 legislative session. The seven-bill package tackles issues relating to bureaucratic delays in providing care, private equity’s influence on medicine, the use of artificial intelligence in health care, and increasing the physician workforce.

“CMA is advancing bold solutions that protect patients and prioritize their care,” said CMA President Shannon Udovic-Constant, M.D. “We are taking a strong stand against private equity’s profit-driven interference in medicine and pushing to end bureaucratic delays that harm patients. Our proactive approach to regulating artificial intelligence ensures that technology supports, rather than replaces, physician decision-making. We are driving change to ensure that patients always come first in our health care system.”

The bills in CMA’s sponsored bill package include:  

SB 351 by Senator Christopher Cabaldon (SD 3): Private equity firms are gaining influence in our health care system, leading to rising costs and undermining the quality of care. SB 351 empowers the Attorney General to hold private equity groups accountable for interfering with the practice of medicine, allowing the Attorney General to investigate and take action against private equity firms that unlawfully interfere in the patient-physician relationship. The goal is to restore trust in the health care system, ensuring that medical decisions are made in the best interest of patients, not financial shareholders.

AB 489 by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (AD 18): While AI can be a useful tool in health care, it should not replace physician decision making. This bill would ban companies from marketing artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots as licensed medical professionals.

AB 967 by Assemblymember Avelino Valencia (AD 68): California is facing a physician shortage, leaving millions of residents waiting weeks and months to get critical care. This bill will streamline the process for licensing out-of-state physicians looking to practice in California.

Additionally, CMA is sponsoring a bill package entitled “Prioritizing Patients, Empowering Physicians” to cut bureaucracy in the health system that harms patients and delays the ability to provide care. The red tape, called prior authorization, has been shown to unnecessarily delay care and lead to serious adverse events such as hospitalizations, permanent bodily damage and even death. The Prioritizing Patients, Empowering Physicians package includes:

AB 510 by Assemblymember Dawn Addis (AD 30): Requires that appeals of prior authorization denials be performed by a provider of the same or similar specialty. This will help ensure that providers can discuss prior authorization denials with a professional peer who understands the recommended treatment and underlying condition. 

AB 539 by Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo (AD 40): Extends the validity of an approved prior authorization to one year (current industry standard is 60 to 90 days). This will provide patients with a longer window of time to receive medically necessary care and avoid the cumbersome prior authorization review and appeal processes.

AB 512 by Assemblymember John Harabedian (AD 41): Requires health plans to respond to urgent prior authorization requests within 24 hours and respond to nonurgent requests within 48 hours. Currently, health plans have 72 hours for urgent requests and five days for nonurgent requests. This change will ensure more patients can receive care or appeal denials in a timely fashion.  

SB 306 Senator Josh Becker (SD 13): Requires health plans to remove the requirement for prior authorization from any service that they approve more than 90% of the time. This will reduce the overall volume of prior authorization requests and ensure that patients can receive the care they need with minimal delay and physicians can spend more time focusing on patient care.

CMA thanks our partners in the Assembly and Senate for championing legislation to improve the quality, integrity and accessibility of our health care system.