Summer Policy Corner: California Legislation & Budget Updates
As the California legislature breaks for summer recess, we’ve been busy tracking legislation and budget updates related to health care, technology, and artificial intelligence.
California’s Budget Deficit and Health Care Programs
California’s budget deficit remains a major headline of 2024, as the legislature works to balance the budget while preserving critical health care programs. We are relieved to see CalAIM funding remains—critical to our work in ensuring Medi-Cal members with complex needs get access to all of the services they need to stay healthy. While many programs saw reductions or eliminations in the budget, we were also relieved to see public health funding maintained by the legislature after proposed cuts in the May Revise. The FY 2024-25 budget took effect July 1.
Legislative Updates: Health Care and Artificial Intelligence
On the legislative side, we continue to track dozens of health care bills as they make their way through the second year of California’s two-year legislative cycle. Of note is the large number of Artificial Intelligence bills being considered by lawmakers this year, including multiple bills aiming to require disclosure statements or transparency around the data sets being used to train generative AI tools. For a full list of AI bills we are tracking, visit here.
Key Bills and Initiatives
AB 1331 (Wood): Connecting for Better Health continues to support this two-year bill introduced last year that would strengthen the state’s Data Exchange Framework by establishing a governance structure and accountability measures. AB 1331 is likely to be considered in the Senate Appropriations committee in mid-August.
AB 2339 (Aguiar-Curry): The California Telehealth Policy Coalition—which BluePath Health provides backbone facilitation support for—is supporting this bill that would allow the use of asynchronous telehealth (sometimes called “store and forward”) in Medi-Cal when asynchronous is requested by the patient and the visit is related to sensitive services. Sponsored by Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, this bill would allow for greater access to telehealth services for patients seeking sensitive services, including reproductive health care and gender-affirming care.
Looking Ahead
What’s next? The legislature has until August 31 to pass bills and send them to the Governor for his signature. Governor Newsom has until September 30 to sign or veto bills. Stay tuned for further updates as we continue to monitor these important legislative and budget developments.
